[Nexus]:Louv're Tower

[Hattish Thing]

Louv're Tower

Description:This is a massive building. The large chrome tower is built of glass and special metal alloys. The intimidating tower is home to Marciano Louv're and his force of stormtrooper soldiers. Here, Marciano Louv're generally sits around and does nothing while other people work for him. The tower has eighty floors and an extra three hidden floors. The tower is heavily guarded and well secured. Marciano has installed Defense Mechanism ZETA, a powerful supercomputer that constantly watches over the tower. This computer might be the most powerful ever made and is in fact sentient but completely obedient to Marciano. The levels are organized by card access. Each special card can be swiped through a door, it reads the person's access level and Defense Mechanism ZETA makes sure of the person's identity, then a door would open. The place is installed with heavy weaponry, special mecha-cannons on every fifth floor balcony. Only the first thirty floors are available to the public, the next 40 to guards and special guests, the last ten to Marciano, and the hidden floors contain the top secret lab, bio-engineering facility, and Defense Mechanism ZETA's programming room.

The First Thirty Floors [For Public Viewing](Save Lobby): These floors are lavishly decorated, showing off that Marciano is very, very rich and eager to gloat about it. The floors are mainly guest sleeping areas, pools, meeting rooms, and other hotel-like rooms. The in-door pool is very clean, and kept tidy. All of these floors are covered in camera's, the eyes and ears of Defense Mechanism ZETA. These camera's can see through materials, walls, and can even fire lasers at those attempting to break in. The rooms are very comfortable and well-kept. A crew of cleaning people work to keep the place nice and inviting. They do not know what goes on in this tower save that a very wealthy hobbit owns it. There are about one-hundred rooms.

Lobby: This is the big room that seems to welcome all! This nice place is furnished with beautiful oaken desks, fine red carpets, and all sorts of nice things. A few special people run the front desk. Director Braker is always hovering about, earpiece and other special equipment constantly running a scan over any who enter. Director Braker is not very interesting. The man is in his late forties and almost completely mindless, controlled by Defense Mechanisms ZETA, as are all the guards. This room is also monitored heavily by camera's and stormtrooper guards.

The Next Forty Floors [Restricted] These rooms are not at all like the first thirty. The walls are barren and chrome and all doors require key-cards and identification to enter. These floors are mainly guard sleeping facilities and weapon storage. Thousands of weapons are stored in airtight and heavily guarded vaults, accessible only by Marciano and a few others. The vaults contain pieces to larger machines, hundreds of guns, and ammo storage.


Top Ten Floors [Heavily Restricted] These rooms are for Marciano, Grantair, and their close friends, associates, and business partners. A large casino is run here, several pools, arcades, and a well-stocked bar are here, run by mind-controlled cleaning crew members. There's just about everything anyone could ever want up here.


The Three Hidden Rooms [Accessible Only By Marciano] The three floors contain three different things, listed in the spoiler below.



The Lab: These rooms contain sever tables of test tubes, potions, mixers, and blueprints. A team of dedicates scientists work here building the newest creations. Currently, they are working on The Spirit Engine with several Amenite scientists. Huge tubes are built into the walls. Inisde the tubes are strange creatures that the scientists designed. These monstrous creatures float about in an odd liquid that preserves life and allows any inside to breathe and not require water or food. These creatures are horrible, some wielding terrible claws, or spiked tentacles and many eyes. One of the creatures inside can be recognized as the Grundlegrug that NO encountered in Louv're Mines. The creature was built by the scientists here. The scientists are lead by a Mr. Josh Brant. Professor Brant is a medical genius and has several degrees in bioengineering, machine design, and is not too friendly.

Defense Mechanism ZETA Program RoomThis room is very secured. The walls cannot be penetrated by any known laser, weapon, or gun. The metal that envelopes the room is an odd greenish alloy. Inside this room is the massive computer that is Defense Mechanism ZETA. Tubes and wiring connect ZETA to the main control room and allows it to watch over the tower and control the mecha-cannons. This machine also controls the stormtrooper guards with the use of a potent ray that is activated when a guard would put on a helmet, that being said the guards can fight even when dead as long as ZETA isn't damaged or otherwise distracted. The massive machine is at the end of a long hall entered through thick metal doors only opened by Marciano's fingerprint, eyeprint, accent reading, spit sensory, and key-card. ZETA is a powerful machine and is a powerful combatant due to many machines it controls at it's disposal.

Defense Mechanism ZETA This huge computer lies at the end of a long hallway. The powerful machine is sentient and can easily obliterate the average low-level paladin or other enemies of Marciano. Whilst the computer itself has no combat abilities, several machines drop through the roof, hoisted by special cables. These machines will be lowered to the floor in front of ZETA and attack or defend. There are two machines that land.

Mystic Defense System Beta: This is a giant see-through tube. Inside the tube is a giant brain. This brain is sentient and once belonged to a young god. How Marciano got it is unknown by any not a member of the Sanctum of Dust. This heavily improved "Brain in a Jar" is sentient and constantly attacks any assailants with powerful magical attacks. However, the glass that encases it is very strong and shields the brain. Once the brain is pierced, Physical Defence Alpha is deactivated.

Physical Defense Alpha: This machine drops in front of Mystic Defense Mechanism Beta in battle. It is a giant cube that is unpenetrable by anything. The machine constantly keeps a powerful shield up that makes it invincible, however, the shield relies on a special gasoline that has to be refilled every five minutes of shield activation. Physical Defense Mechanisms Aplha will raise up to the roof and tubes will, connect to it. While the blue gasoline flows into it and recharges it's shield, it leaves Mystic Defense System Beta unshielded and open to attacks. The Physical Defense System Alpha will drop down to the floor after recharging and resume shielding. Any attackers will have to be smart and attack only when Alpha is exposed, and heal themselves when Beta is shielding. Once Mystic Defense System Beta is destroyed, Physical Defense System Alpha is destroyed.

(This thread is for those helping Matrciano build the spirit engine, and anyone else who visits.)

[Lord Magtok]

Louv're Tower

Magtok fidgets uncomfortably, and has totally been here the whole time. All this magicky nonsense bothers the hell out of him. You never know when something as dumb and ugly and lame as wizardry is going to backfire, and when this much of your equipment depends entirely upon it, a catastrophic meltdown is almost guaranteed to happen sooner or later. Let's hope it's later, and long after Magtok has left this dump for greener pastures.

When it's time for everyone to step in the elevator, Magtok winces visibly. Oh gods, trapped in a small metal box with Marciano's stench for more than a zillion floors? Did he die and fall into hell just a moment ago, or is life in the Nexus really being this cruel? Gods, what did he ever do to deserve this torment? :smallyuk:

There. Reposted.

[Murkus]

Louv're Tower

There is, all of a sudden, a new passenger in the elevator. Never mind that there wasn't enough space to begin with, he fits without touching anyone or anything. The walls seem to stretch and bend, just enough so they don't have to touch him either.

A tall, middle-aged man in a dapper grey suit stands with the others, quietly looking around at the assembled party. He says nothing, ruffling his similarly grey hair and grinning, repulsiveness only intensifying because of it.

((This is all assuming the Tower is not dimension-locked in some way))

R-r-r-reposted!

[Hattish Thing]

Louv're Tower Elevator

(I think I'll use the FFRP golden rule and just skip after 24 hours.)

The elevator dings shut as the passengers are whisked up the tower. The elevator ride is smooth, and the the right side of the elevator is clear glass, and a huge helicopter can be seen flying around the tower. This helicopter is huge, and stationed with plenty of special weapons never before seen by any of the elevators occupants. There's no way Marciano thought of any of them either. Soon, the group is transported to the very top floors, the hidden rooms. Marciano walks out of the elevator and moves to a huge metal door right outside. He then proceeds to push in a code, his card, and jam his finger into a sensor. He then spits out the same little riddle and walks on top a pressure sensitive part of the floor. The door opens with a ding exposing the laboratory. hese rooms contain sever tables of test tubes, potions, mixers, and blueprints. A team of dedicated scientists work here building the newest creations. Huge tubes are built into the walls. Inisde the tubes are strange creatures that the scientists designed. These monstrous creatures float about in an odd liquid that preserves life and allows any inside to breathe and not require water or food. These creatures are horrible, some wielding terrible claws, or spiked tentacles and many eyes. One of the creatures inside can be recognized as the Grundlegrug that NO encountered in Louv're Mines. The creature was built by the scientists here. The team of scientists are huddled around a large room, and inside this room is the very base of The Spirit Engine. They look stumped. A man with grey hair and a small pencil mustache walks over to Marciano. Sir, we have done as much as we could....the plans are awfully difficult. He looks up at Magtok. Ah! Hello! You must be Magtok! And the rest of you are the other team members? Great! Um..I'm Dr. Brant. Me and my team will do our best to help you. He turns to Marciano. Your friend from the Sanctum was here today....he wanted me to give you this....Also, we might have had a major breakthrough with Mystic Defense System Beta, we've managed to activate it. Also, A "Rick Brutal" had arrived earlier...apparently he is none to keen with our methods of experimentation... Marciano frowns...so many big words! Uh...talk t' Director Braker abou' tha' stuff....righ' now I think tha' it's time for ye t' 'elp me friends make tha' machine. We're already behind schedule!

[Mindfreak]

Where-ever
Megan sighs. This job was going to be TERRIBLE. I mean, who hires scientists to help make a machine that uses souls for fuel?
That's just plain stupid.
What Marciano should have done was search for some sort of techno-mage.
That'd have been smart.
And he certainly shouldn't have gone to AMEN, I mean, that's just asking to be ripped off.:smalltongue:

[BladeofObliviom]

Labs

Well, there's a reason Cyrus and Jack were brought along, you know! One is an expert in the area of Soul manipulation, and the other has experience with blending magic and technology together!

Anyway, Cyrus himself follows wordlessly, still gathering information on the magic around him. Since I don't think I made it clear last time, he's not only looking for the presence of magic, but for the function. He wants all the detail he can gather without drawing undue attention to himself.

[Lord Magtok]

Labs

Magtok points to the rest of the group, introducing everyone else as quickly as possible to Dr. Brant. "That's Jack Empty, our souls guy. He bites, so try not to spend any time alone with him if you can help it. Megan Don't-Know-Her-Last-Name, one of our techies, and as far as I know she doesn't have a time bomb sewn into her stomach, set to go off and take out everything in a three-block radius if anyone tries to eat her soul. Cyrus the Virus as played by John Malkovich here, his specialty is betting on the wrong horse when we head down to the racetrack, and also magicky stuff or something, I think."

Wow Magtok, what a wonderfully charming first impression you must've given him of the entire team. Let's hope his quivering terror doesn't get in the way later on, the last thing we want to do is spend any more time here than strictly necessary.

"Anyways, since we're behind schedule, which strikes me as a little odd seeing as how your reinforcements only just got here, I think it's time we cut the nonsense and got right to work. Where do we begin?"

As far away from Marciano as possible, Maggy's hoping. That guy desperately needs someone to explain the meaning of the word 'hygiene' to him.

[Hattish Thing]

Louv're Labs

Mr. Brant's ego seems to shrink down a few feet. This was certainly a strange experience. He wasn't used to anyone treat him like an idiot save for Marciano. Um....okay? Ug....g-great....um... Meanwhile, Cyrus will be able to see that a heavy amount of magic is traced behind a massive green tinted door down a hallway to the left. Huge traces of strange magic that seem to power odd machines. He'll also notice that the whole tower is kept up and straight by a magical force-field that keeps the tower perfectly straight and well-shielded from aerial attacks. This whole tower is a veritable fortress of security, magic, and technology. He'll also see that inside the tubes that are built into the wall, the creatures inside are very magical. In fact, a new tube is now empty, and suddenly a roar can be heard from a locked door to the right. Marciano speaks up now. Nevermind tha', me new pet is grumpy. WEll..uh...I'm goin' t' let you guys work...I have to meet with someone... He'll then head down the elevator again. ERm...so.....uh...follow me...by the way, don't ever go anywhere but the labs or the guards will shoot you....it happened to my second in command a few weeks ago. He got curious as to what was behind that green door. Don't go near it. Soon, he leads the group to a huge room, in the middle is a massive machine. This machine is circular, and has pipes that stretch into the walls. A large section of it is incomplete. About 12 guards watch from the corners armed with strange weapons about the size of the guards themselves. The machine has a few large tubes sticking out of it that are see-through, inside those tubes are some odd blue liquids, probably some form of special gasoline. Several strange cranes around the room lift strange pieces of metal onto the ground near the machine. Pipes, metal plates, and strange circuitry. There....the prototype spirit engine. It's not completed yet. We're not sure how to get the souls into power in a way that won't overshot the power plugs on this thing. We've never seen anything like it....interesting possibilities. We must have some of the greatest machines ever built in this tower. This spirit engine will be revolutionary. But uh....it's not done. WE need some kind of magic to break down the souls and effectively send it into the generator built inside, this special generator will grind the base of the soul and launch a burst of power which is stored in a large tube, which is then sent through these pipes and into the massive holding area built underneath, then we just simpl;y put the soul power into these canisters. Plug one of these canisters into a machine, and that machine will have enough power to last millions of years...though this whole operation must break several rules of physics, we believe the right mixture of magic and technology will effectively cause this machine to run. Of course, the drill is being built in the other lab space over there. That one's a lot more simple. Cyrus will notice that the spirit engine has no magic yet.

[Mindfreak]

Megan is silent for a few moments as she digested this information. Then, she spoke up. "I've got a question. How many people that are working on it, aside from us, are only plain Jane scientists?"

[Murkus]

Louv're Labs

"Do you lot actually know how to siphon souls off of Hell? I assume you have something for that?" Jack guesses that something is himself. Perhaps Cyrus, too.

[Hattish Thing]

He looks nervous. Well...yes. Um...that's uh...classified? You'll meet them later...As soon as you meet the man in cgarge of the magucal programming, he'll be here soon.

[Mindfreak]

Megan resigns herself to waiting.
Boooooring!

[Lord Magtok]

Louv're Labs

Magtok frowns, and slowly lifts up his left hand, one finger wiggling about in the air like a squirmy little worm as his limb extends out and upwards, until it's pointed roughly a few inches to the left of Mr. Brant's head, at something entirely unimportant and not worth mentioning. The whole arm movement takes about a good three seconds or so, until the tip of that finger abruptly pops off, revealing what looks an awful lot like a tiny little gun barrel, made entirely of Magtok's left index finger.

"Pow."

A loud bang follows Magtok's onomatopoetic whisper. The finger abruptly gets flung upward, as if it had shot a bullet at Mr. Brant (which it didn't, it missed him entirely), and was being knocked back by the recoil one would expect if this was a revolver we were talking about, and not Magtok's goddamned finger. The cyborg looks at the tip of that finger, lifts it up to his lips, and blows the smoke trailing out from it

"You see that, Doctor Brant? That's my hand gun. I just used it to raise my team's security clearance, so forget whatever Marcy might've told you to the contrary, and start respecting all of us as equals on this project, okay? Now, I'll let your mistake slide this time, and I won't press you for more information since we're on the way there to meeting that guy anyways, but I don't want it happening again, understand? We're all friends here, or at the very least, associates, and should be treated with respect. Nobody is going to leak anything to the enemy, nobody's going to try to sabotage this project from within, and nobody's going to go running off with your precious secrets, either, alright? Alright. Thank you, you can continue now."

[BladeofObliviom]

Louv're Labs

"Agreed, on that point at least. Besides, I'm not exactly sure how one would expect us to solve any of your existing problems without the information pertinent to said problems."

[Hattish Thing]

Louv're Labs

Magtok frowns, and slowly lifts up his left hand, one finger wiggling about in the air like a squirmy little worm as his limb extends out and upwards, until it's pointed roughly a few inches to the left of Mr. Brant's head, at something entirely unimportant and not worth mentioning. The whole arm movement takes about a good three seconds or so, until the tip of that finger abruptly pops off, revealing what looks an awful lot like a tiny little gun barrel, made entirely of Magtok's left index finger.

"Pow."

A loud bang follows Magtok's onomatopoetic whisper. The finger abruptly gets flung upward, as if it had shot a bullet at Mr. Brant (which it didn't, it missed him entirely), and was being knocked back by the recoil one would expect if this was a revolver we were talking about, and not Magtok's goddamned finger. The cyborg looks at the tip of that finger, lifts it up to his lips, and blows the smoke trailing out from it

"You see that, Doctor Brant? That's my hand gun. I just used it to raise my team's security clearance, so forget whatever Marcy might've told you to the contrary, and start respecting all of us as equals on this project, okay? Now, I'll let your mistake slide this time, and I won't press you for more information since we're on the way there to meeting that guy anyways, but I don't want it happening again, understand? We're all friends here, or at the very least, associates, and should be treated with respect. Nobody is going to leak anything to the enemy, nobody's going to try to sabotage this project from within, and nobody's going to go running off with your precious secrets, either, alright? Alright. Thank you, you can continue now."

Mr. Brant yelps and flops to the floor as a shot is fired off. Gah! He crawls away a few feet and some of the guards in the room look over and glare. ER...r-right! Sir! Uh! Okay...um... He gets up and scatters away from Magtok. A man walks in behind Magtok from the elevator. He wears a long red cloak and cape with dark blue robes. His grey beard is more of a glorified goatee. He strides over with black boots. Hello. I am Anihil. You shall address me as The Grandfather however. I am in charge of the magic part of this operation. My associates will help.

[Mindfreak]

Labs
Megan just bursts out laughing.
Like, rib tickling, funny boning, crying laughter.
"Oh no....no. Just no. I'm not referring to you as "The Grandfather." That is just ridiculous."
"Now Anihil, show me to this machine and then you shall answer my questions."
She laughed again.
"God..."The Grandfather"...hilarious!"

[BladeofObliviom]

Labs

Cyrus continues to analyze anything and everything within the building, looking for specific enchantments and possible weak points in case such a thing becomes necessary. He makes no response to the people addressing the group, save for a slight *snrk* sound when an individual demands to be referred to as a grandparent.

[Murkus]

Labs

"I'm so sorry Grandfather. AMENites can be very childish," Jack says, with a grin that betrays his subtly mocking nature. "Now, why don't you show us around your little machine so we can get started?"

[Hattish Thing]

The man laughs with the group. Good, a sense of humor. Keep it while you can children. You are not that important, and certainly not irreplaceable to me, but for Louv're Industries, you are. So I will not harm you over petty name-calling. Just then, a group arrives out of the elevator, about a dozen cultists, in red and blue cloaks and robes. Several are bleeding. They walk over to The Grandfather and bow their heads. Sir. One says. The assault on Trogs and Blue Dragons Den worked, blue dragon was destroyed. We were repelled off Trogs before any lasting damage could ensue. Hmm...good, for now. Rest, heal. Soon we pitche a more....larger scale battle. Now, Amenites, follow. You too, chosen. Mr. Brant? Come. They won't hurt you. Mr. Brant growls and whimpers a bit, stuck between Amenites, end of the world cultists, and mechanical abominations...fun. He piped up. In here, just beyond the Plague Chemistry Room. We've made a plague germ capable of wiping out a whole city in 24 hours, we just don't know how to use it....yet. Past the monster laboratory, and the slime pipes. He strides over to a huger steel, iron, and some other strange metal door. In here. He pokes in his card to a slot and pokes in an activation key on a keyboard. A camera then examines him before the doors slide open. Cyrus would find something very magical about the camera's. Te room that opens is all chrome. In the middle is a massive machine, half-made, that loooks like a gigantic generator. Tubes stick out, which dig into the tower ground. Strange white things pass through the tubes and into the machine, which splutters nonchalantly. Half of it, is incomplete, wires sticking out. A huge crane hangs over the machine, lowering parts down to the team of 12 scientists, now the dozen cultists spread in and use magic to help lower the big piece. This whole room radiates magic, foul magic....necromancy mixed with technomagic. The Grandfather walks forward. Amenites, have fun. My cultists will assist you, should you need a larger spell or supply of magic, I'll be right here. Mr. Brant walks over to the Spirit Engine, many camera's look around the room.

[Mindfreak]

The Lab
Megan follows along, not looking impressed.
Eh, she's been around that sort of virus before, and everything else just wasn't very impressive for her.

[Ashen Lilies]

[A Fair Distance from the Tower]

Flash! Pop! These are the actions accompanying the sudden appearance of a pudgy, sickly looking devil in a charcoal grey suit and charcoal grey bowler hat. He stumbles around for a moment, disoriented from the sudden teleportation, before pausing deliberately to pull out a small, charcoal grey handkerchief, which he uses to dab away at the sweat beading around his charcoal grey mask, and then a small wrapped sweet (lemon) which he pops into his mouth.

The devil then adjusts his charcoal grey umbrella and, letter in hand, walks deliberately towards the tower.

[Hattish Thing]

The big glass, plastic, and metal tower looms in the distance, the sun shines off the solar panels, and a big helicopter-based flying object circles the tower at all time. A sign in the ground reads "Clarke Executive Tower; Wing Omicron, Paving the roads of science!"

[BladeofObliviom]

((I suppose if we've gone this long without a post, I must be the one being waited on.))

Research Labs

Cyrus sighs, and speaks to both Anihil and Brant.

"Listen, I have performed projects blending technology and magic together before, and I can tell both of you right now that you can't use magic in a modular fashion quite like technology. The magic won't stay constrained to just its role, but will spread across the entire machine.

If you want us to be useful at all, you can't merely tell us about the small part that you expect us to work on. We'll need all of the blueprints, the details of the device. We will need access to the entire project, not just the specific part that you desire AMEN's help with. Jack and I could whip you up the simplest form of what you're asking for in a few minutes without any trouble, but I guarantee you that it would not only destroy the rest of the machine, it would likely cause a catastrophic chain reaction and level this entire tower, regardless of materials or abjurations.

Unless you decide to give us the materials necessary to understanding the nature and construction of the project, the ENTIRE project, any attempt at aid will cause infinitely more harm than good. We're not playing with wires here, we're quite literally rewriting the flow of reality. Things are rarely pretty when that goes wrong. With all of the information we need, however, we can work around that issue, and find a solution that will be easily contained and not interfere with the rest of the device's operations."

TLDR: "We're going to need more information than you seem to think we need if you expect us to be helpful and not accidentally kill everything in a ten mile radius."

[Hattish Thing]

((Now, this whole scene is in a different timeline than the siege of Louv're Tower that's about to happen.))

Mr. Brant frowns. ...Fine...Fine then. The Spirit Engine is supposed to combust souls like coal, turning the ectoplasmic energy into electricity through a magic that turns ectoplasm into friction. We can do the ectoplasm heating and spirit destruction, but we can't make the energy controlled, it just disappears....I've no idea how to get the energy to actually transfer to another thing. Soon, we plan on testing the spirit engine power supplies on ZETA...er...nevermind...ignore that bit. So, we need you guys to find a way to transfer the magical energy to another electrical device without making the device explode...Every time too much energy goees into the device and it overrides the device...we plugged the spirit engine into a lightbulb and the bulb melted.... He frowns. A cultists in red robes walks up to Brant and whispers into his ear something. Brant's face hardens. Er...I've received word that Marciano 4 has just been murdered by...triplets. I need to go speak to Marciano Prime....uh....see if you can brainstorm. Mr. Brant diappears into an elevator as a man walks in with three bodyguards, all female and wearing white and red magic plate armor. They look much alike, and are possibly sisters. The man in the middle looks young, only 20, and has a permanently arrogant smile on his face. He wears a green coat, brown pants, and a sleek yellow cape. He seems like royalty, considering how fine the clothes are. He moves towards the small group of Amenites. Ah. You must be the Amenites Marciano hired. I am Parliamentarian Batiste. The Nexus is a beautiful place, and it is an honour to get to make a fortune off of it. He smiles arrogantly before striding away down to the elevator leading downstairs.

((Meanwhile, in a different timeline))

Marciano Prime sits in his big yellow chair at the top of the tower. He grinns rather evilly. Excellent, he spammed those wall trolls into a rage. They would attrack the Tower and die...Louv're Tower was a fortress, no way in save for through the elevators and lobby door. The elevators were constantly patrolled by riot soldiers and the giant missilecopters that would hover around the tower. The magical forcefield around the tower ensured that no one could get in any other way. The walls of the place were made of a greenish metal completely impenetrable by any weapon. His metal golems and Aulder creatures brought by Batiste from Medea could guard the tower completely. His automatons, riot guards, and cultists would make sure no one got in, and if the group somehow got in, The Grandfather would be waiting...and if they miraculously got by him, Defense Mechanism ZETA would activate Physical and Magical Mechansims Alpha and Beta to make sure no one got even close to Marciano. Of course, Louv're Tower was not the only Tower owned by Louv're Industries around the Nexus, another exact replica stood on the other side of the Nexus. If one tower fell...there'd always be another...The Tower went on lockdown.

[Ashen Lilies]

[An Appreciably Closer Distance to the Tower]

The grey-garbed umbrella man looks for a door. :smalltongue:

Assuming he can find one, he walks toward it. Carrying a letter.

((Hopefully this is in a different timeline from the upcoming siege, as well.))

[Hattish Thing]

Glass Door (Different Timeline)

Quite a few riot gear guards wait in front of Tower armed with large magic rifles and bazookas. A man dressed in a black pin-striped suit and shades walks up to the demon. "Who's there? What's your business with Wing Omnicron?"

[Ashen Lilies]

[Glass Door]

The devil in the grey suit brandishes the letter, trying to look as officious as his shabby attire allows him to.
"I have one letter here addressed to one Marciano Louv're, sent by The Masked Lady, Governer of Dis. My orders are to deliver it personally."

[Hattish Thing]

Outside Louv're Tower

The man replies, "Personally? Sorry, that's against protocol. Who is this "Masked Lady"? I'll need your name, I'll make sure the letter gets to him. Pass it over."

[Ashen Lilies]

[Outside Louv're Tower]

"The Masked Lady is... the Governor of Dis."
Duh. Seriously, weren't you listening?
"I must deliver the letter personally."
I don't think Umbrella-Men get names.

[Hattish Thing]

Outside Louv're Tower

"Mm....fine. You will be escorted by me." He waves a few riot gear soldiers over, and then he enters The Tower. He walks to a large elevator and waves for the devil to enter. The elevator will then go up to Marciano's Ofdice. The door opens and Marciano is asleep in his chair.

[Ashen Lilies]

The devil attempts to give Marciano the letter. Does the devil care that Marciano is sleeping? Of course not. The devil attempts to give him the letter anyway.

[Hattish Thing]

Marciano's Office

The rather ugly halfing snores loudly, then as his letter is placed on him, he wakes up in a spasm. Gah! Who-What?! He growls at the devil. Wha are you?! What? Letter? What are you? He'll grab the letter angrily, and tear into it.

[Ashen Lilies]

The equally ugly devil has the letter grabbed out of his hand!

It reads thusly:


Dear Puny Mortal Scum,

It has come to my attention that you have made unauthorized use of the damned souls of Hell through the function of a generator device hereafter known as the 'Soul Engine'. Let it be made clear that the damned souls of Hell are the sole property of the Nine Hells, as mandated by the Divine Rule of all Existence and enforced by Zeus, King of Mount Olympus and Lord of All Creation; Hades, King of the Nine Hells (deceased) and The Iron Queen Persephone, Lady of the Nine Hells, and all the Divine and Infernal agents thereof, and we do not appreciate you nicking our stuff.

We demand that you immediately cease all operation of the device known as the 'Soul Engine' and that you deliver said device, in its entirety, as well as all accompanying plans and blueprints to agents of the Nine Hells for immediate destruction. Failure to comply with this demand shall result in the horrible fiery doom and eternal suffering of yourself, your immortal soul, and the immortal souls of all sapient beings under your employ, followed by legal action with lawyers and stuff. DIABOLICAL LAWYERS.

Sincerely,

Sel
Face of the Masked Lady

[BladeofObliviom]

[Research Labs]

Cyrus thinks a moment.

"All right, with that knowledge in mind, I think I know how to go about doing this."

Someone who is both impressively observant and capable of seeing magical auras may well notice a thin, nearly invisible flicker of blue light floating off of Cyrus' hair, for but a split second as Cyrus views the Soul Engine blueprints. An attempt at identifying it will reveal it as an analysis charm, cast by Cyrus upon himself, likely so he wouldn't have to waste time looking at the schematics again.

In any case, he turns to the rest of the group.

"Alright, I believe I understand the problem. What we'll need is lower-energy souls, preferably broken down in a manner that doesn't create excess ectoplasmic wastage. Given a proper understanding of the problem, I think we can come to a solution. My personal suggestion is a Mana filter, to pull excess Red Mana out of souls that enter the engine.

If my theory is correct, that should stabilize the souls with little difficulty, allowing them to be used without any danger of explosive overclocking.

Any questions? Or shall I begin construction?"

[Hattish Thing]

The equally ugly devil has the letter grabbed out of his hand!

It reads thusly:

Marciano reads the letter, and his face turns a darker shade of red each few lines. By the end of the letter, Marciano's face is a dark purple. He looks up at the devil. You.....walk into my office....wake me up....and then deliver a death threat? You....have the nerve?! Tell whoever sent this, that Marciano Louv're says that the spirit engine will be completed, and once it is....I'll drain Hell. Now, get out before I have the urge to shoot you, ugly little imp.


[Research Labs]

Cyrus thinks a moment.

"All right, with that knowledge in mind, I think I know how to go about doing this."

Someone who is both impressively observant and capable of seeing magical auras may well notice a thin, nearly invisible flicker of blue light floating off of Cyrus' hair, for but a split second as Cyrus views the Soul Engine blueprints. An attempt at identifying it will reveal it as an analysis charm, cast by Cyrus upon himself, likely so he wouldn't have to waste time looking at the schematics again.

In any case, he turns to the rest of the group.

"Alright, I believe I understand the problem. What we'll need is lower-energy souls, preferably broken down in a manner that doesn't create excess ectoplasmic wastage. Given a proper understanding of the problem, I think we can come to a solution. My personal suggestion is a Mana filter, to pull excess Red Mana out of souls that enter the engine.

If my theory is correct, that should stabilize the souls with little difficulty, allowing them to be used without any danger of explosive overclocking.

Any questions? Or shall I begin construction?"

Oh? A mana filter..ah. No, questions...just begin constructing...I'll watch...um, if you need magic power, I can go find The Grandfather... Brant looks rather confused. What was a mana filter? :smallconfused:

[Murkus]

Research Labs

"Thank you very much, Cyrus," Jack says with a markedly respectful nod. He turns to grin Dr. Brant. Needless to say, it is disturbing as ever. "Now how 'bout we get diggin'? Hell isn't gonna wait forever. I assume you've got a giant drill or something similarly ridiculous?"

[Hattish Thing]

Research Labs

Mr. Brant nods. Yes, a drill...with a magical tip. It igs to hell, then a giant mechanism like a vacuum activates, sucking up the damned souls of the underworld like a household vacuum, then these souls are transported here, through a network of magical pipes, where it connects to The Spirit Engine! The middle-aged man nods nervously. The...uh...operation is happening in Outside, by Winterview Lake. The drill will be activated there...if you'd like to come watch it being assembled, I can arrange a trip.

[BladeofObliviom]

((This post assumes that Louv're Tower lacks a dimension lock or similar system that prevents Cyrus from just summoning materials to work with. If there is something like that and the OP just doesn't mention it, do tell me so. I don't actually know if Megan and Magtok's players are still interested in this plot, and I apologize for skipping them if they are.))

Research Labs

Within less than a minute, Cyrus appears to have constructed a shockingly large cylindrical device, appearing much like a dreary gray hole in reality. It is just under the width of the Soul Engine's intended drill shaft in diameter, and about ten feet in height. There is a small lever marked "mana disposal" on top of the device, with no other indication of its function.

This must be that mana filter that Cyrus mentioned.

"It's easy enough to operate. As it absorbs excess red mana, it will start to turn pink, and then a vivid crimson. When it looks like a pool of blood, pull the lever and it'll turn grey again. If you let it get all the way to a dark burgundy it might explode and release all of that pent-up energy at once, so I'd recommend having someone watch it and pull the lever when needed. Just put it somewhere in the shaft before you start processing the souls and it should work. I've already calibrated its absorption rate to meet the rest of your engine's needs efficiently. That should solve the overload problem, if those blueprints were accurate."

...

"They were accurate, right? Because if they weren't, this thing could very well destroy the local fabric of reality."

[Darkcomet]

[Outside Louv're Tower]

Marciano cannot have expected to go ignored forever, and indeed, it seems someone has come ahead of that apparent infiltration party.

But whoever masterminded this attack is smart, and does not attack the fortress head-on. Instead, they opt to attempt to weaken the outer defenses first.

A pair of stealth fighter planes approaches the tower, their anti-radar technology, optical cloaks, and unusually quiet engines making them difficult to detect. Then, when they get in missile range, they lock on to any 'missilecopters' flying around the tower as noted earlier in the thread, decloak, and fire a full barrage of missiles at as many as possible-the stealth fighters are not numerous, nor do they have hyperspace storage, so that's just twelve missiles. Twelve, deadly missiles.

Afterward, regardless of the result, the fighters will immediately recloak and retreat. Should their trajectories be noted and projected, they are retreating back to Inside.

This is not an assault, this is a raid.

[Hattish Thing]

((This post assumes that Louv're Tower lacks a dimension lock or similar system that prevents Cyrus from just summoning materials to work with. If there is something like that and the OP just doesn't mention it, do tell me so. I don't actually know if Megan and Magtok's players are still interested in this plot, and I apologize for skipping them if they are.))

Research Labs

Within less than a minute, Cyrus appears to have constructed a shockingly large cylindrical device, appearing much like a dreary gray hole in reality. It is just under the width of the Soul Engine's intended drill shaft in diameter, and about ten feet in height. There is a small lever marked "mana disposal" on top of the device, with no other indication of its function.

This must be that mana filter that Cyrus mentioned.

"It's easy enough to operate. As it absorbs excess red mana, it will start to turn pink, and then a vivid crimson. When it looks like a pool of blood, pull the lever and it'll turn grey again. If you let it get all the way to a dark burgundy it might explode and release all of that pent-up energy at once, so I'd recommend having someone watch it and pull the lever when needed. Just put it somewhere in the shaft before you start processing the souls and it should work. I've already calibrated its absorption rate to meet the rest of your engine's needs efficiently. That should solve the overload problem, if those blueprints were accurate."

...

"They were accurate, right? Because if they weren't, this thing could very well destroy the local fabric of reality."

Mr. Brant's eyes open wide. I...um..hope..I'm just supposed to build it! I've no clue who wrote the blueprints...this machine isn't supposed to even exist! And....I...yes, we'll have a person there....Um, sir? Might I ask....uh...what could this thing....power? He...wants to power it to.....a different machine...and it's....dangerous...if the Spirit Engine reloads during the process, it could overide ZETA, then this whole tower would implode....And I'd be out of a job...uh...The Grandfather says it'll work...as does Mr. Louv're....But....To be honest? I....don't really trust they realize what could go wrong...If ZETA malfunctioned and reconnected power in a siege, or if someone tripped on a plug...the results would be catastrophic...the amount of power this thing can hold...admittedly, the engine always was a bit of a loose cannon idea...I don't know what kind of madman thought up this...monstrosity....but I fear that Mr. Louv're doesn't realize it...He's been very upset...and Wing Omnicron hasn't visited in a while...and there's been attacks...I....what if the machine got damaged? I hypothesized, the power explosion would set everything in a 50 yard radius on fire, and send radiation waves out another 20 yards...the magic would tear a hole through time, sucking in reality and spitting out...bad things...then, when the electric surge reached ZETA, it will lose the mind control of the soldiers and self-destruct...killing everything in 10 miles...it could kill everyone in the tower...



[Outside Louv're Tower]

Marciano cannot have expected to go ignored forever, and indeed, it seems someone has come ahead of that apparent infiltration party.

But whoever masterminded this attack is smart, and does not attack the fortress head-on. Instead, they opt to attempt to weaken the outer defenses first.

A pair of stealth fighter planes approaches the tower, their anti-radar technology, optical cloaks, and unusually quiet engines making them difficult to detect. Then, when they get in missile range, they lock on to any 'missilecopters' flying around the tower as noted earlier in the thread, decloak, and fire a full barrage of missiles at as many as possible-the stealth fighters are not numerous, nor do they have hyperspace storage, so that's just twelve missiles. Twelve, deadly missiles.

Afterward, regardless of the result, the fighters will immediately recloak and retreat. Should their trajectories be noted and projected, they are retreating back to Inside.

This is not an assault, this is a raid.

The strange helicopters seem to be gigantic assault weapons, capable of annihilating enemy ships easily...if they could actually see them. Suddenly, one of the missilecopters receives all twelve missiles and explodes, causing shrapnel to fly around wildly, at this however, an alarm is sent out all over the tower. They were under attack. Soldiers began heading to places of defense. Marciano sat in his leather chair and swears loudly when he hears the news. It was either Remnant, AMEN, that tiny siege group, or Wing Omnicron...sent back to take back what Marciano stole. Either way, Marciano would be ready. He gave the command to ready the cannons, and have Zeta control the soldiers to the right places. no one got in, no one got out.

[Darkcomet]

[Outside Louv're Tower]

There is no immediate follow-up on that. Another raid will likely wait for some time.

Whoever they are, it's clear these attackers are not committing to an all-out assault. That would be pointlessly bloody.

Instead, they decided to perform this raid. Perhaps to send a message, perhaps to whittle defenses down.

But there's no further attack, regardless, and again-if they can tell where the planes were headed from when they were visible, they are headed back to Inside.

[Ashen Lilies]

Marciano reads the letter, and his face turns a darker shade of red each few lines. By the end of the letter, Marciano's face is a dark purple. He looks up at the devil. You.....walk into my office....wake me up....and then deliver a death threat? You....have the nerve?! Tell whoever sent this, that Marciano Louv're says that the spirit engine will be completed, and once it is....I'll drain Hell. Now, get out before I have the urge to shoot you, ugly little imp.


A pause.

"Is that... erm... your official response?" Asks the umbrella-man.

[Hattish Thing]

Inside Louv're Tower

Marciano growls. Yes, it is! GET OUT.

[Ashen Lilies]

"Very well."
And then the devil walks back to the lift. Unless stopped, he'll leave.

[Hattish Thing]

Marciano gives a quick nod to one of the men in black government suits that escorted the demon up. The man in the suit, shades, and wireless nods back. The man lifts up a Louv're Brand pistol from a holster, and will then proceed to shoot the demon in the back. The bullet that flies out is a special magic bullet, that will cause the demon to most likely freeze in it's spot, in great pain. Marciano speaks out, Sorry...demon....I just can't let you return....I can't have the nine hells attacking me too...Sorry. The Grandfather will deal with you... Marciano will press a button on his desk, and then the noise of the lift lowering and then rising is heard.

[Ashen Lilies]

The charcoal suited Umbrella-man does indeed appear to freeze as the bullet embeds itself into the Umbrella-man's back. Appears to. Then the umbrella man raises a hand to its charcoal colored bowler hat and grabs at an invisible zipper, pulling it down to shrug the Umbrella-man disguise as though a wet suit.

It turns around slowly.

Where the Umbrella-man was ugly and shabbily dressed, all empty bluster and shallow disdain (perhaps like a certain other someone in the room?) this new devil is handsome, with chiseled features and perfectly arranged dark hair, and seems to drip with arrogance. Instead of a disheveled suit, he instead wears a perfectly cut tuxedo, tastefully disarranged into a display of easy confidence - the jacket unbuttoned, the bow untied, top buttons undone and collar popped as he settles into an easy, lounging slouch, reaching into the (perfectly normal!) gray umbrella to pull out a tiny pistol equipped with a long silencer.

The Lounger points the gun at Marciano.

"Sorry." Says the Lounger with a liquid smooth voice, giving a cocky little grin with perfect white teeth.
"Sorry, but I never allow anyone to call me a demon and get away with it."

The Lounger pulls the trigger, and out from the end of the pistol comes a massive bolt of explosive Hellfire, headed straight for Marciano. Predicted casualties include him, his desk, and just about anything directly behind or around him, up to and including the wall.

[Hattish Thing]

The charcoal suited Umbrella-man does indeed appear to freeze as the bullet embeds itself into the Umbrella-man's back. Appears to. Then the umbrella man raises a hand to its charcoal colored bowler hat and grabs at an invisible zipper, pulling it down to shrug the Umbrella-man disguise as though a wet suit.

It turns around slowly.

Where the Umbrella-man was ugly and shabbily dressed, all empty bluster and shallow disdain (perhaps like a certain other someone in the room?) this new devil is handsome, with chiseled features and perfectly arranged dark hair, and seems to drip with arrogance. Instead of a disheveled suit, he instead wears a perfectly cut tuxedo, tastefully disarranged into a display of easy confidence - the jacket unbuttoned, the bow untied, top buttons undone and collar popped as he settles into an easy, lounging slouch, reaching into the (perfectly normal!) gray umbrella to pull out a tiny pistol equipped with a long silencer.

The Lounger points the gun at Marciano.

"Sorry." Says the Lounger with a liquid smooth voice, giving a cocky little grin with perfect white teeth.
"Sorry, but I never allow anyone to call me a demon and get away with it."

The Lounger pulls the trigger, and out from the end of the pistol comes a massive bolt of explosive Hellfire, headed straight for Marciano. Predicted casualties include him, his desk, and just about anything directly behind or around him, up to and including the wall.

Marciano does look confused for a second, as it appears the demon unzips itself. Marciano growls as the demon appears in the nice tuxedo. He moves his head to the side confused. Who are-GAH! The little man jumps underneath his desk and would have been completely incinerated by the magic, had not the elevator opened up, and a man in red and blue robes, a grey goatee-beard, and a hood entered through the elevator. This man cast a spell quickly as the hellfire sped across the room, causing a shield of purple black magic to cover around Marciano. The man walks in, and the demon's sensors should go off immediately. This man was very old, and very evil. An aura of deep dark magic follows him around. The Grandfather speaks out. I apoligize, but I simply cannot allow you to slay the prophet. Mr. Louv're will guids humanity to the final cataclysm, where Ick Thelloth will fall from the skies and rule. We are his servants, and Louv're is our ticket to eternal service, and therefore life. The Grandfather grins evilly, madness in his eyes.

[Ashen Lilies]

Oh no! Very old ancient evil full of deep darkness! The devil from the Nine Hells has certainly never faced THAT before! What a completely new experience!

The Lounger doesn't bother responding to The Grandfather's mad ramblings. No witty repartee. No rapid fire quipping. He just shoots. Rapidly.

[Hattish Thing]

The Grandfather grins. He hadn't gotten to test out his black magic on a subject in battle in a while. However, as he's ranting, suddenly a few shots of Hellfire come blasting his way. He places a shield up quickly, but because he wasn't expecting to be fired at right away, the shield is weak and splutters out in the end, causing a burst of hellfire to strike his side. The Grandfather groans in pain as purple blood drips down the burned robes. He growls, he wasn't expecting to be shot at immediately. He turns to the devil again and summons up several purple balls with sickly green centers. The magical balls fly toward the devil and will explode in a burst of purple flames all over the devil should they hit. The Grandfather simultaneously readies another spell. I will crush you under the weight of reality....

[Ashen Lilies]

The Lounger casually dodges the Grandfather's attacks, effortlessly sidling past them as one might a man in a crowd. Given that Marciano is right behind him, that could mean trouble.
"I reject your reality and substitute my own!" Says the devil, firing this time at the floor below the Grandfather, attempting to blow it out.

[Hattish Thing]

The Grandfather launches another spell as the floor buckles away, the Grandfather floats as a huge hole opens up in the floor, the sounds of the elevator filling up is heard. The Grandfather growls. You're good devil, but I've been around longer...I am the pure manifestation of the darkest magic! DIE! Purple lightning bolts fly toward the devil, whilst the purple balls shot off, flip back around and fly towards the devil's back.

Marciano is jamming the "Reinforcement" button wildly from under his desk.

[Ashen Lilies]

"Well I do despise having to beat up an old geezer." Says the Lounger, backflipping over the returning energy balls and under the lightning.
"So I believe it's time to make my exit."
The Lounger swirls, attempting to blast a hole in the wall with his pistol as he sprints towards it. Should he succeed, he'll leap out of it.

[Hattish Thing]

The Grandfather growls angrily. No, stay and fight you cowardly devil! I will drain your blood, and with that blood I'll concoct a poison...with that poison I'll make a fog of death.....I....Whuh? Wait, come here! He'll launch one final attack, as several strands of dark purple fly toward the devil, he should hopefully be able to escape before the tendrils bore into the devil.

[Ashen Lilies]

Indeed, the Lounger swan-dives straight out of the hole in the tower, attempting to open up a portal at the last second to plunge through in order to avoid becoming an embarrassing stain on the ground.

[The Alexandrian]

[Rapping, Rapping At Your Chamber Door!]

Yeehaw! I'm back in black (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwIvBNsSywQ), folks! And free of the lassitude that's been the standard fare of the past four or five months! Adapting and not dying! Hooray! Alacrity rules and melancholy drools! And I'm stuck for words! Harumph and not so hooray!

But, seeing as this is a fairly straightforward sortie that I set abroach, I think I'm up for functioning on this level until I'm once more in the swing of things! 'T isn't beyond the ken of my somewhat abraded FFRP repertoire, though I do so hope that my justified but truculent mentality doesn't blend with the tone I'm harnessing herein!

And now for...
What we had cooked up before that furlough!

Ah! Yes!

Charge! Blitz! Sally forth! Today is a good day to make other sorry saps die for what they believe in! Coup de main! Andele! Let's get ready to rumble!

In other words...

Attack!

Boom! Out of the treeline skips Clarissa! Wait... Skips? She's wearing an adorable lil flowery cream-colored kimono and a charming lil smile!

Wait... Something is definitely wrong here! That's not Clarissa! Clarissa isn't a child! Or maybe she is... Either way, it looks like she's twisted Father Time's arm and turned back the clock! That's a temporary inconvenience for her *ahem* adult relationships with people but an OP advantage on this battleground!

Wanna see how?
Let me show you something!

With enough temerity to put King Leonidas to shame, kid Clarissa attempts to skip up to Marciano's front door and knock on it as any other sane visitor would do! She's humming a merry tune to herself as she does so! Of course, she's abstaining from any hostile activities while she patiently waits for a guard to answer the door!

Security checkpoints aren't fun for Clarissa! Diversions are!

Especially diversions like this!

Skit: Fire Marshall Bill At School (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIZLsOtUpJM) - In Living Color

Diversions galore! Soon!:smallbiggrin:

[BladeofObliviom]

Mr. Brant's eyes open wide. I...um..hope..I'm just supposed to build it! I've no clue who wrote the blueprints...this machine isn't supposed to even exist! And....I...yes, we'll have a person there....Um, sir? Might I ask....uh...what could this thing....power? He...wants to power it to.....a different machine...and it's....dangerous...if the Spirit Engine reloads during the process, it could overide ZETA, then this whole tower would implode....And I'd be out of a job...uh...The Grandfather says it'll work...as does Mr. Louv're....But....To be honest? I....don't really trust they realize what could go wrong...If ZETA malfunctioned and reconnected power in a siege, or if someone tripped on a plug...the results would be catastrophic...the amount of power this thing can hold...admittedly, the engine always was a bit of a loose cannon idea...I don't know what kind of madman thought up this...monstrosity....but I fear that Mr. Louv're doesn't realize it...He's been very upset...and Wing Omnicron hasn't visited in a while...and there's been attacks...I....what if the machine got damaged? I hypothesized, the power explosion would set everything in a 50 yard radius on fire, and send radiation waves out another 20 yards...the magic would tear a hole through time, sucking in reality and spitting out...bad things...then, when the electric surge reached ZETA, it will lose the mind control of the soldiers and self-destruct...killing everything in 10 miles...it could kill everyone in the tower...

Research Labs

Cyrus scoffs.

"This? This won't power anything. This is a stabilizing filter, not a giant alkaline. This will, unless I was lied to about the blueprints, not allow any overloading to happen. Just in case though, I intend to be quite far from the tower by the time this thing gets turned on.

...You might consider taking a sick day too. Just in case. Let a grunt take the risk, since you seem to be where most of the intelligence in this place is stored."

[Hattish Thing]

Girl at the Louv're Tower

The tall glass, special greenish metal, and plastic tower looms over her an a barren hill. Guards constantly patrol the place, and the tower is currently tele-locked everywhere save for the Lobby. Marciano would not like all his security to be bypassed so easily! He didn't want to die so very fast. The engine was set up. It was designed, the drilling was happening, and as soon as the group got to him, he'd be waiting to test out the Spirit Engine on ZETA. Then...the raiding group would be a piece of proverbial cake. Marciano was waiting in the Research labs, along with a few guards, and one rather frightened scientist. The scientists is playing around with the spirit engine mournfully. Grantaire was dead, which meant Marciano would have no friends should he die...well, if nothing else seemed to be working, he accepted the fact he would be dying. Now, he had the ultimate power. He got to choose his time of death. History lied before him. He would kill them all. In one beautiful final light-show!

The Grandfather: The guards were all situated, blocking the elevators and vents with the help of The Sanctum of Dust Cultists. The Grandfather waited in his giant library in the middle of the tower. He waited there, floating in the air, books floating about, cultists around him, casting powerful spells of combat advantage to power him up and prepare him for the attack. The Grandfather was ready to give his life for the prophet. But...He'd been having his doubts with Marciano. The halfling had lost it. Should he begin to lose, he was more than prepared to betray him. He knew everything about this tower, he could simply remove all the shields around the place. Making the tower a hundred times more invulnerable. Then he would escape back to Inside, and gather another host.

Guards and Riot Soldiers: These guys are in every hallway almost, patrolling and watching the elevators. They have shields and greatclubs, whilst the soldiers have Louv're Industries giant weapons. Metal constructs and automatons also run around. One elevator is left free, and the big b helicopter flies up and down, ready to fire every last explosive shell.

Lobby: Guards wait right inside, along with the brunt of their weaponry. Huge guns and platform lasers are all pointed on the doors inside. Louv're Agents in shades and black suits make sure everything is going fine and send reports to Louv're. Then, they're a ridiculous knocking! An agent goes to check, and opens the doors slowly, exposing all the guard with high-powered weapons. Yes? Who are you child, drop everything. NOW.

Different Timeline: Brant

Brant fidgets rather nervously. Er...rumour has it Louv're stole this thing from the labs of Veroonai Pay. Er...Executive Pay. It was a prototype...never been tested, and he wants to power it to ZETA. Which could be catastrophic. I should take a sick day...but then I"ll be out of a job...maybe...I can work with AMEN? I specialize with machinery...I could m ayee help remake this thing? Anything...I have a family to feed, and this job is about to be destroyed...

[The Alexandrian]

[Little Halfling, Little Halfling, Let Me Come In!]

Kid Clarissa gives the guard a friendly wave.

"Hi there! I'm Akoraun! I'm here to see Mister Marciano about that job I took on the Wall!"

Kid Clarissa empties her sleeves. A wave of candy washes out of them. Individually wrapped chocolates, gummy animals, and suckers of every color spill to the ground in a tidy mountain of saccharine sweets! :smallbiggrin:

That was everything in Clarissa's inventory. She's really taken to this role. And she's experiencing a sugar rush.

A beast resembling a terrier puppy yips playfully as it zooms out of the forest at full tilt, rushing toward its master, a wooden stick stuffed between its teeth.

Kid Clarissa kneels to pick up her evil beast of death and destruction.

"Sorry! I told Rocko to stay home, but he wouldn't listen to me!" :smallsmile:

[Hattish Thing]

Lobby of Doom!

The agent smiles. Of course...I am Mr. Smith Bronchs. Follow me, Mr. Louv're gave me special directions with you. Follow me, your reward is in this room. He'll awlk into a small door, unlocking it with a key card. Inside the room is a table and a chair. Tied to that chair is Rick Brutal, wearing a bright yellow leather musketeer's coat, with a matching cape, brown pants and green shirt, large shades, and a yellow bandana. He is about 35, with only a few hairs on his prematurely balding head. Rick has a gold rifle on his back. Rick Brutal is a ham, wearing a yellow tabard and cape, green pants and a shirt, topped with shades and a bright yellow bandana. He's about 35, prematurely balding, with shiny white teeth, (He flosses.) Hazel eyes, and a usually arrogant grin. Now he's bloody, and it seems his nose is broken, he's gagged with his own magical bandana. Mm! MMMMH! Mhmhmh! Mhhhm... Agent Bronchs simply moves to gently grab Akouron's hand. He'll try and move the kid to the center of the room. Stand on the "X", we're going to take your picture. Ignore Rick...he's....angered Mr. Louv're.

[The Alexandrian]

[Lobby of Prohibited Flash Photography]

Dave is Mister Smith! And Clarissa is Missus Smith! Mr. and Mrs. Smith is the movie title that best describes them! But Mister Bronchs should psych himself up to face Neo. Or the Wrath of Khan. Take your pick and mine that ore.

Kid Clarissa moves to step up into the lobby and follows the Agent through Marcy's animal house. Upon spying Rick Brutal she halts dead in her tracks feet from the door and refuses to budge this way or that. Now that she's inside, they can catch her if they can. Kid Clarissa forecasts that the Agent will start trying to pull her through the doorway. If he does, she'll attempt to slam the door shut on his head until he's dead.

Rick can rot for all Clarissa cares. But this Agent could open doors for her! She wants his hands and his eyes and his keycard too! And his flesh. His flesh could be assimilated by her beast with ease. And the stronger the beast gets, the fewer men Marcy will have to guard him and his property.

[Hattish Thing]

Lobby of Oh My Gods You Just Scarred Rick Brutal

The agent will indeed try to drag her in, trying to get her to the "X" of dooom. Rick Brutal growls about, it seems that Rick may have been trying to escape, he has somehow managed to bite through his bandanna, but is faking it still being there. I'm not sure what use that'll be. The Agent will drag her in, right as the ten year old grabs him and drops him into he door, where the door comes smashing onto the agents face, breaking his neck. Rick Brutal drops the bandanna out his mouth in shock. A ten year old just brutally murdered his captor. Er...Don't eat me....um...Hail? I'm Rick Brutal! Please get me out!@ I...I can help you! There are camera's everywhere, Zeta knows. Get me out! They'll be more coming! Sure enough, the sound of footsteps from the lobby is heard.

[The Alexandrian]

[Lobby of Yummy Snacks!]

Hooray! Clarissa has just scored a grisly pick me up!

Kid Clarissa hastily bends to loot the Agent's corpse, pocketing his eyes and hand if she can along with his keycard and carving out his heart and wolfing it down. Om nom nom!

The bandanna is a handy-dandy cloth to store in one's possession! Very versatile! It can function as a makeshift tourniquet or an absorbent napkin to clean up after murdering someone. Kid Clarissa attempts to steal Rick's bandanna and dab the Agent's blood from her mouth with it. Meanwhile, the beast attempts to nom the corpse, growing in size and physical prowess with every bite it takes, transforming into a bipedal wrecking ball of a monster.

Clarissa then searches for an obscure exit to the chamber.

"Excuse me, Mister Brutal, but I'm in no position to drag you around like a sack of potatoes. Maybe I'll release you after I claim Marciano for myself and extinguish him. Unless you've got something to trade. Something cool. Not something lame like...like information."

Bleh! Clarissa doesn't want to know anything more about Marciano! She wants to slay him. That's 'bout it.

[Hattish Thing]

Rick Bouncing About

Rick grumbles and tries to bounce his chair, but his cape gets stuck under the leg and he falls. He looks over at the creepy kid and scratches what little hair he has left using the desk leg. It's quite pathetic really...He wiggles about. No! Please! I'll help! I wanna help! I am Rick Brutal! Hero extraordinaire! You'll need all the help you can get! He's got ZETA pumped up for combat! I know this tower! I...uh...well. It's hard to...Heh. I used to be a bodyguard here...I was fired. He frowns and tries to look cool. Sure enough, the agent is picked up and robbed, then eaten messily. Rick grumbles about wasting such a good bandana. Then, three soldiers run up to the little room and are across the hall, looking rather confused at the horrid smell...Rick speaks up. I'm your ticket outta here, I know a way to get out before they bring the whole freaking tower force. COME ON.

[The Alexandrian]

[Lobby -to- Elsewhere]

Hmm...

To free or not to free, that is the question! :smalltongue: Whether 'tis better that Rick Brutal here should perish in Marcy's hands or valiantly on the field of glory!

She won't gamble with her health for the clumsy clown! But he could cause a sweet disturbance... Maybe...

"Right. I'm Clarissa. Villain extraordinaire!"

Kid Clarissa introduces herself with a polite curtsy.

"And you're Rick Brutal. A hero, you say! The villain's code of conduct spells it out on page 11835. I'm not to assist you."

"I'm to use you for my own ends. Only one of us is leaving this floor, Rick. Me. You'll stay put and keep 'em busy for a bit! M'kay?"

Clarissa chuckles and smiles, attempting to cut Rick loose from his bindings, pick him up, and lob him at the guards in the hallway! His head did faintly resemble a bowling ball what with the balding and all. She'll latch on to the back of her adult-sized beast as the beast attempts to sprint toward the guards and tackle/maul whichever ones haven't been knocked to the ground yet!

For Kvatch! :smallbiggrin::smalltongue:

[Hattish Thing]

Small Room- To Chucking Rick

Rick grumbles, trying to be scary. Blowing away a small spider perched on his nose. Huh? I didn't catch that? You're names what? He tries to look valiant strapped to a chair, lying on the floor. It's rather hard to do. No! You! Don't leave me! I! I'm too beautiful to die! Er...those books are more...guidelines! Yeah! Guidelines! Please take me! He grumbles. No I'm not staying put! They'll kill me! Grah! I am Rick Brutal! You can't do this! He's cut and briefly smiles happily. Thank you! I knew you'd come to reasoning after a while! I will help you on thi- Then he's grabbed by the scruff of his neck and promptly chucked into the small mob of agents and guards. He smashes into quite a few. He even accidentally made a guy shoot himself. The guards shout out angrily at Rick and try to get up. Then, the giant thing smashes into the hall, scraping the walls and mauling or stepping on the rest. Sickly squelching is heard as bones shatter. Rick lands on the lobby desk. He quickly makes a running jump onto the beast. Gah!!!!

[The Alexandrian]

[Ha-ha-ha-hallways!]

Clarissa is no Chuckya, but she is pals with a "Chargin' Chuck"! And Rick is a prized tool after all! He's a first-rate projectile! And he instinctively returns to whatever tosses him! Resplendent! :smallbiggrin::smalltongue:

Six fleshy tentacles peel out of the beasts back! These tentacles attempt to implant pods inside of the dead/dying soldiers. These pods should hatch into large carnivorous beetles armed with flamethrowers, much like heavily modified bombardier beetles! Clarissa is feeling like a good sport and decrees that the battle shall be a fair or challenging one by limiting the number of beetles spawning in to six at max. Marcy hasn't pushed her dander up just yet!

Clarissa jumps and rolls off of her beast as Rick mounts it and attempts to take off down the hallway that the soldiers were previously flooding out of!

"You are helpful, Ricky! Have fun! Bye-bye now!"

"Help, help! There be monsters down the hall and the stranger riding the monster is responsible for their birth!"

[Hattish Thing]

Security Breech...Incoming!

Rick has been frequently used as a projectile. He's rather good at flying into things. After all, he was the one, when him and a few others from Trog's went to raid a goblin settlement, swung from a tree on a rope, and ended up catapulting into the camp...landing right on the lich that was leading the goblins!

Rick lands on the beast happily. Then, the creature grows tentacles and icky stuff! Needless to say, Rick Brutal is absolutely terrified and slides off the back of the thing, landing on the cold floor. The pods are effectively hatched inside the poor soldiers. Rick retches on the ground. EW! Oh...gods...oh....blech...Gah... The beetle-soldiers rise, I'm guessing the beetles are controlling the guards dead bodies? If that' so, the beetles will find that each of the guards carry a Sparkometer Louv're Brand. These guns fire electrical shots.

Oh...god....my eyes....AH! Rick is still throwing up all over his own cape. :yuk: He still however, manages to wave at Clarissa stupidly.

Clarissa will reach a hallway with four doors. Each of the doors are metal and have little key-card slots. The floor has a wonderfully expensive rug. A few soldiers rush right past Clarissa, running to where they heard the sound of their comrades brutally mutilated. At the end of the hallway, there's a "T" turn.

[The Alexandrian]

[Exploring Yon Labyrinthine Stronghold!]

That rug... That wonderfully expensive rug... @_@

Yoink! Clarissa attempts to steal the rug out from under the soldiers' noses and, most crucially, the soldiers' feet! Kid Clarissa laughs at the possibly fallen soldiers if this prank is a smashing success! It is a hoot to her!

"Have a nice trip! See you next fall!"

Clarissa will attempt to advance down the hallway that the soldiers rushed out of, swiping her keycard to unlock the door if it is closed!

The large beetles will not possess the corpses of the guards. They'll use them as cover for a strategic ambush and burst out of the corpses to char the living soldiers when they approach and are in range like the Xenomorphs in Alien vs Predator! The beast positions itself behind a corner so that the guards cannot hit it without shooting through the wall.

Will Rick ever be the same after surviving all this horror?

[Hattish Thing]

Marcy Really Liked That Rug... -> Room Number 1?

Clarrissa pulls the rug off of a few poor soldiers, they hit their heads on the floor with a grunt. Then, they face Clerissa. Hey! What the hell was that for kid? Then, they're a zap coming from every soldiers head. The electricity zaps their whole body through the suit. The guards stop talking. Instead, they begin walking on the end of the hallway, looking into the beetle room. It's as if they suddenly knew the beetles were there.

Sure enough, a camera from behind the beetles had seen everything. This camera had relayed it's information to ZETA. ZETA had then simply started controlling the soldiers through their helmets, knocking them out and having their equipment move for them. A pair of guards will toss grenades into the room, the grenades are white and seem to glow with a strange brightness. Then, the grenades will explode, and the whole beetle hall will just be obliterated by the grenades smashing down a hole in the roof, and catching fire to everything else...Including Rick Brutal and the beast. His yellow, sick-covered, silk cape is now burning up. He starts screaming about before running into a wall. He rolls about on the ground trying to roll the fire away. It miraculously is quenched. Rick just lies there, his head hurting, his cape burnt up, and his poor left glove and boot are missing.

Clarrissa walks into room 1/4 in this hall. She swipes the card, and it opens up to a large room full of cubicle offices. People inside bumble about, and a printer is going on. They're making counterfeit money. Except....they don't even react to Clarrissa. They all have matching white and orange headbands on, and a big camera moves to stare straight at Clarrissa.

Meanwhile...Marciano watches everything go down from his office. He's watching it on his giant flat-screen TV. Hehe... He presses a little button on his desk, and his voice will echo over the intercom all over the tower. They're slaves now...Clarissa? Yes...slaves to ZETA, and therefore me. I control everything in this tower. Good luck. All you've got is one useless yellow idiot. I've got a fortress, hundreds of soldiers, an airforce, and all my machines! Good luck...lll be amazed if you get past the Grandfather. You're playing my chess game now...You'll never get through the security. A dead guard to Clarissa's lefty has an odd piece of paper in his pocket that had fallen out and landed on the shiny floor. It Reads:

Floor 1
http://donjon.bin.sh/dungeon/lib/preview.cgi?preview=1&seed=544872482&dungeon_size=Preview&room_size=Small&map_style=Steampunk&grid=Square&dungeon_layout=Keep&peripheral_egress=Yes&add_stairs=Many&room_layout=Complex&door_set=Basic&corridor_layout=Straight&remove_deadends=

[ThirdEmperor]

Outside the Tower

An enormous Thwoom sounds somewhere in the distance, echoing once, twice, thrice before over the horizon line comes sailing an enormous boulder, pursued by a dozen smaller fragments broken off from the whole during flight.

For a second it looks as if it might actually strike it's target, but poor aiming coupled with shoddy machinery and distance take their toll. Within moments it should be clear to anyone with a good head for trajectories that the boulder will in fact miss, it's arc bringing it within a few feet of a direct hit but falling just short.

Not that it's by any means harmless. A solid three hundred pounds of stone raining down on you is never harmless and unless Louv're Tower has the defenses to stop it entirely, everyone on the ground or in the air is endangered, both from the immediate impact and from the hail of shrapnel following.

[Hattish Thing]

Outside Louv're Tower

The giant glass and metal tower looms over the small forest around it. Most of the forest had already been cut down for Louv're Industries abominable Eco-detrimental machines. A few riot soldiers with large shields and handguns had been guarding the door, which was now trapped to the fullest of Louv're Industries abilities, needless to say....it'll be hard getting in that way without explosives or a really, really, good mage. Inside Louv're Tower, guards were being assembled to stop the raging inferno that was Clarrisa. That means that only the missilecopter B-12-06Q was monitering the outside. The huge helicopter was up in the air though, watching for an unsuspecting raid group to take the elevator, whee it would promptly blow up the elevator, even if it crashed a huge hole into the tower.

The huge boulder flew to the ground right in front of the tower, landing on a few riot guards, smashing their armour and killing them, before skidding all the way to the very door of Louv're Tower, where a few guards almost soil themselves, just to find the cloud of shrapnel descending to them, killing the group of guards at the gate. Any shrapnel that hit the door was disintegrated however, as was an unlucky guard that fell into it. Marciano was watching from his office with the use of ZETA's camera's, planted all over Louv're Tower. He giggles as a few guards gfet smashed. This was all fun to him, he whispered the words into the intercom at his desk. Incoming....return fire...

Then, the tip of Louv're Tower begins to open up. It open revealing a giant helipad, and on it, was a strange contraption, much like the missilecopters, but oh so much larger and scarier looking. The big assault helicopter has metal plates and huge guns mounted on it. The helicopter will be ready for liftoff very soon.

Meanwhile....Marciano slid a large keyboard onto his desk. This thing controlled the entire towers defense system, including ZETA, ALPHA, and BETA Defense Systems. Though those were for much later...He entered in his little password. Vidistine Fortunam. He chuckles. He wasn't going to make it out of here alive, he reasoned...what with the drill massacre ending his only true chance of becoming a power in the Nexus. He had already begun his preparations to return. He would end it all, as soon as the raid par5ty reached the labs...Then, the party would have to get through Alpha and Beta...if they survived, Marciano would pull out his ace...He had found out a way to hack into the very system of reality with The Spirit Engine...he had absolutely no clue what he could do, but he was willing to try it...Now, he was to wait...and watch.

[ThirdEmperor]

Look Out Below!

Another dramatic crash sounds on the horizon, heralding a second boulder coming soaring over it towards the tower. This one too is accompanied by a pursuing flock of smaller fragments, chips and shards broken free by the initial explosion, and this one too is a near miss, landing, if it's natural course is allowed, on the opposite side of the tower from the last shot.

This one comes closer, getting within about half a foot of the mark. That should put the newly revealed missile-copter two-point-oh well within the rain of shrapnel, and while I'm sure the main chassis is quite able to withstand that, I'm slightly dubious of whether the propeller blades are as well armored.

[The Alexandrian]

[Room Number...Where'd You Get That Nifty Map?]

*Cue fanfare!* Map get! Because Clarissa is going to nick that map before anyone else does!

Hmm... Clarissa can't help but wonder... Are these slaves smart enough to reason that money isn't printed on paper? 'S printed on linen. But be it paper or linen, it is flammable!

And Clarissa is a raging inferno! Woosh! Not literally. Figuratively. But that's a great idea come to think of it! Raging Infernos + Cubicles + Locked Doors = Barbecue!

Allow Clarissa to demonstrate...

Jets of flame and the biological equivalent of napalm rocket out of the palms of Kid Clarissa's hands as she attempts to light the office on fire and roast the office workers. Mmmm! There's nothing like the smell of burning flesh and charred hair to start the day! While some have their roasted bean coffee and some have their piping hot tea, Clarissa has toasted sacrifices and chalices of blood! And if she's lucky, she's dredged up some totally heinous memories for Marcy to have flashbacks of! But Marcy was probably correct in teasing that nobody will miss a would-be gutterpup-derelict-person or thirty on the Wall!

"These poor, poor, staid souls! To lead a life of humdrum drudgery! How boring! Let's rectify this and sprinkle excitement into their lives a little! I hope you've invested in fireproof pajamas, Marcy, 'cause I'm on fire! Or is that your enslaved staff and your blood boiling? I know I can't tell the difference!"

"Oh, and here's a tip. You'll need more than your hundred senile pugilists doddering and lolling in the hallways to stop me! I've a flair for destruction! Or is it flare? No matter! Zoom!"

Clarissa attempts to sprint across the room, twirling and giggling, fire spraying everywhere.

Q.E.D. (Quidquid latine dictum, sit altum videtur. :smalltongue:)

Oh, and before I forget, if that much structural damage has been dealt to the tower hallway with the monsters and Marcy sprung for any contractor not related to Cheap, McCheapo, or Cheaperson, the monsters Clarissa commanded to spawn in will be dedz. Dedz liek disco.

[Hattish Thing]

Look Out Below!

Another dramatic crash sounds on the horizon, heralding a second boulder coming soaring over it towards the tower. This one too is accompanied by a pursuing flock of smaller fragments, chips and shards broken free by the initial explosion, and this one too is a near miss, landing, if it's natural course is allowed, on the opposite side of the tower from the last shot.

This one comes closer, getting within about half a foot of the mark. That should put the newly revealed missile-copter two-point-oh well within the rain of shrapnel, and while I'm sure the main chassis is quite able to withstand that, I'm slightly dubious of whether the propeller blades are as well armored.

The boulder rains toward the massive glass, metal, and steel tower. It misses the mark of course, but manages to smash into a few unlucky guards, flattening them. The boulder flies and misses the tower. However, the shrapnel, assorted metal, and rock smash into the missile-copters propeller blades. The large helicopter blades crush the smaller rocks, but a few pieces get jammed, and two propellers go flying, one embedding itsle fin the tower, the other smashing the ground, the ship begins to fall to the ground quickly, and a fire starts by the engine.


[Room Number...Where'd You Get That Nifty Map?]

*Cue fanfare!* Map get! Because Clarissa is going to nick that map before anyone else does!

Hmm... Clarissa can't help but wonder... Are these slaves smart enough to reason that money isn't printed on paper? 'S printed on linen. But be it paper or linen, it is flammable!

And Clarissa is a raging inferno! Woosh! Not literally. Figuratively. But that's a great idea come to think of it! Raging Infernos + Cubicles + Locked Doors = Barbecue!

Allow Clarissa to demonstrate...

Jets of flame and the biological equivalent of napalm rocket out of the palms of Kid Clarissa's hands as she attempts to light the office on fire and roast the office workers. Mmmm! There's nothing like the smell of burning flesh and charred hair to start the day! While some have their roasted bean coffee and some have their piping hot tea, Clarissa has toasted sacrifices and chalices of blood! And if she's lucky, she's dredged up some totally heinous memories for Marcy to have flashbacks of! But Marcy was probably correct in teasing that nobody will miss a would-be gutterpup-derelict-person or thirty on the Wall!

"These poor, poor, staid souls! To lead a life of humdrum drudgery! How boring! Let's rectify this and sprinkle excitement into their lives a little! I hope you've invested in fireproof pajamas, Marcy, 'cause I'm on fire! Or is that your enslaved staff and your blood boiling? I know I can't tell the difference!"

"Oh, and here's a tip. You'll need more than your hundred senile pugilists doddering and lolling in the hallways to stop me! I've a flair for destruction! Or is it flare? No matter! Zoom!"

Clarissa attempts to sprint across the room, twirling and giggling, fire spraying everywhere.

Q.E.D. (Quidquid latine dictum, sit altum videtur. :smalltongue:)

Oh, and before I forget, if that much structural damage has been dealt to the tower hallway with the monsters and Marcy sprung for any contractor not related to Cheap, McCheapo, or Cheaperson, the monsters Clarissa commanded to spawn in will be dedz. Dedz liek disco.

Oh, ew. Nasty burned up barbecue office workers. Well, the thirty staff members were printing linen, not paper, but it doesn't matter much. Clarissa grabs the map! Yay! Well, as Clarissa sets fire to the office workers, and locks them in, the smell of burning flesh, and the shrieks of the unfortunate souls can be sensed. the office is eventually in flames, along with the large amount of counterfeit money they were printing. That explains the loads of cash Marciano was bragging about. Marciano's hall cameras just stare, Marciano looking a little worried, disgusted, and amused.

Without going into gory details, the office workers are roasted corpses within ten minutes. The monsters will be dead, considering the contractor was not cheap in any sense of the word. Now, the guards that were on the floor are dead as well. Only an elevator to head up now! Meanwhile, up on the hundreth floor, Marciano calls the laboratory. He speaks through the speakers on his desk. ...Mr. Brant? Are you seeing what is going on at the first floor? There's a pause, and a shaky voice speaks back. Y-Yes....Gods...I...h-have never s-seen that kind of....ultimate d-destruction from a human being. Shall...I...prepare the Enshadu Artificial Intelligence chip? Should you fail? Marciano pauses and replies. Yes. Do, and prepare the surgical room, I'm sending down my last clone now. I will live through this, also....let the Grandfather know what's coming, and arm Defense Mechanisms Alpha, and Beta. Nothing get's in this room, understand? Y_
Yes sir...w-will do.

[BladeofObliviom]

Different Timeline: Brant

Brant fidgets rather nervously. Er...rumour has it Louv're stole this thing from the labs of Veroonai Pay. Er...Executive Pay. It was a prototype...never been tested, and he wants to power it to ZETA. Which could be catastrophic. I should take a sick day...but then I"ll be out of a job...maybe...I can work with AMEN? I specialize with machinery...I could m ayee help remake this thing? Anything...I have a family to feed, and this job is about to be destroyed...

Research Labs

Cyrus grins as he begins to notice the sounds of battle reverberating through the building. This was better than he could have hoped.

"Well, it doesn't sound like you're keeping this job much longer regardless of your actions, but don't let me make your decisions for you. As for AMEN, there is always a place for those who can make themselves useful."

The grin fades as he looks up at the mana filter and Marciano sends in his message.

"It sounds like you have something to do, if you'd like to keep this job after all! Don't worry, I can handle the rest of the construction myself."

Meanwhile, the Mana Filter emits a low hum as it draws Red Mana out of its environment and into itself. Clarissa might find that her fires take just slightly more energy to start, and might even seem a tad dimmer once they're lit. The guards throughout the tower might find that their weapons aren't firing nearly as effectively as the explosions that power guns in the first place have some strength sucked out of them. The electrical systems and lights may begin to flicker as electricity is drained from them. The very stone and steel itself in the walls may seem to grow crude and weak as something... ...vital is drained from them. Almost as if they were never really forged in the first place. Even the ambitions and passions of those nearby might find themselves dampened slightly as the filter attempts to drain everything connected to Red mana away from its position and into itself.

The filter begins glowing rather brightly, turning a hot pink quickly and progressing toward red...

[The Alexandrian]

[First Floor - Going Up!]

So that's why Marciano had money to burn!

Oh boy! Free barbecued office snacks! Yummy! Kid Clarissa will just have a bite of one of those to keep her energy up and whet her appetite for mortal flesh! Then she'll be on her way! :smallbiggrin::smalltongue:

Don't look at her like that. The office workers weren't in control of their own bodies or minds. They didn't have families that Clarissa cared about and might as well have been heartless robots sans sentience! They should be thankful that Clarissa liberated them from their tender prisons and is trying to collect their souls! :smalltongue:

Clarissa attempts to rip the elevator doors out of the elevator shaft so that she can recreate a Spiderman movie by climbing straight up one of the elevator walls!

Spiderwoman! Spiderwoman! Does whatever a spider can (and then some)!

[ThirdEmperor]

Outside the Tower

Giant boulders raining down, volleys of shrapnel, not to mention a crashing gunship now... I'd say that ought qualify as one hell of a diversion, wouldn'tcha agree?:smallamused:

Amidst the chaos, the loud *whooomph!* of spontaneously compressed air could easily go unheard. But I suppose it would be rather more difficult to ignore what the teleportation spell leaves in it's wake- A mean green killing machine standing half again as tall as a mortal man, armored in bulletproof scales and armed with a modified turret gun.

With a pull of a lever the turret's internal battery switches on, dumping power into the magnetic gauss coils. There's no need for spinning barrels or warming up the mechanism- A half-second after the trigger's pulled, there's a barrage of angry metal hornets zipping at barely hypersonic speeds towards any guards who've foolishly remained at their posts.

[Hattish Thing]

Research Labs

Cyrus grins as he begins to notice the sounds of battle reverberating through the building. This was better than he could have hoped.

"Well, it doesn't sound like you're keeping this job much longer regardless of your actions, but don't let me make your decisions for you. As for AMEN, there is always a place for those who can make themselves useful."

The grin fades as he looks up at the mana filter and Marciano sends in his message.

"It sounds like you have something to do, if you'd like to keep this job after all! Don't worry, I can handle the rest of the construction myself."


Meanwhile, the Mana Filter emits a low hum as it draws Red Mana out of its environment and into itself. Clarissa might find that her fires take just slightly more energy to start, and might even seem a tad dimmer once they're lit. The guards throughout the tower might find that their weapons aren't firing nearly as effectively as the explosions that power guns in the first place have some strength sucked out of them. The electrical systems and lights may begin to flicker as electricity is drained from them. The very stone and steel itself in the walls may seem to grow crude and weak as something... ...vital is drained from them. Almost as if they were never really forged in the first place. Even the ambitions and passions of those nearby might find themselves dampened slightly as the filter attempts to drain everything connected to Red mana away from its position and into itself.

The filter begins glowing rather brightly, turning a hot pink quickly and progressing toward red...

Mr. Brant nods at Cyrus slowly. No...Mr. Cyrus, we have quite the security on the upper floors. Marciano likes his security to be perfect. I doubt they'll get past that wizardy guy....never understood magic too much about magic. I think I'll just stay here, by the way...um....there's some pastries in the little room outside the laboratory for when you get hungry. I should go prepare the Defense Mechanisms, by the way, wheel that thing over to the big chrome room upstairs when you can. We installed wheels, and it weighs almost nothing, we built it with special metal called "elementium". Marciano plans on using this thing as the last defense. Just intercom me when it's done. Marciano nods and passes a bluetooth to Cyrus. He'll then head up the elevators and get ready by activating the supercomputer ZETA.


[First Floor - Going Up!]

So that's why Marciano had money to burn!

Oh boy! Free barbecued office snacks! Yummy! Kid Clarissa will just have a bite of one of those to keep her energy up and whet her appetite for mortal flesh! Then she'll be on her way! :smallbiggrin::smalltongue:

Don't look at her like that. The office workers weren't in control of their own bodies or minds. They didn't have families that Clarissa cared about and might as well have been heartless robots sans sentience! They should be thankful that Clarissa liberated them from their tender prisons and is trying to collect their souls! :smalltongue:

Clarissa attempts to rip the elevator doors out of the elevator shaft so that she can recreate a Spiderman movie by climbing straight up one of the elevator walls!

Spiderwoman! Spiderwoman! Does whatever a spider can (and then some)!

So, Clarissa manages to rip out the chrome elevator door. The door goes flying, and the elevator shakes. The buttons on the elevator say that there are eighty floors, all filled with stormtrooper living areas, so unless Clarissa has no common sense, or is confident enough that she can take on all the staff, she should probably try to skip those floors. At maximum, she'll be able to climb up to floor sixty, but it's a long, sweaty, and difficult climb. After about....twenty-five minutes or so, she'll have made it up.


Outside the Tower

Giant boulders raining down, volleys of shrapnel, not to mention a crashing gunship now... I'd say that ought qualify as one hell of a diversion, wouldn'tcha agree?:smallamused:

Amidst the chaos, the loud *whooomph!* of spontaneously compressed air could easily go unheard. But I suppose it would be rather more difficult to ignore what the teleportation spell leaves in it's wake- A mean green killing machine standing half again as tall as a mortal man, armored in bulletproof scales and armed with a modified turret gun.

With a pull of a lever the turret's internal battery switches on, dumping power into the magnetic gauss coils. There's no need for spinning barrels or warming up the mechanism- A half-second after the trigger's pulled, there's a barrage of angry metal hornets zipping at barely hypersonic speeds towards any guards who've foolishly remained at their posts.

By now, any guards outside are scrambling and running pathetically around like keystone cops in some cartoon. A few organized ones bunch up in front of the door, and one manages to get an anti-matter shot off. However, then a swarm of hornets blast their way, puncturing holes in their armour, killing the guards quickly. Now, there's a pile of dead guards, and one of the big glass panes a story up blasts open, fire blasting out. The gunship finally connects to the ground about thirty feet from the green thing, exploding, sending shrapnel and bits of metal everywhere.

[The Alexandrian]

[Elevator - Taking the Stairs Might've Been Faster...]

25 minutes! Oh no! Kid Clarissa doesn't meet the attention span prerequisite to navigate this tower that slowly! Think, Clarissa! Think! Ask yourself What Would Spiderman Do?

Spiderman would attempt to slingshot himself up to the top of the elevator shaft using webbing! So that's what Clarissa must do too! She'll substitute elastic black goo for webs and give it a go at once!

If that all goes to plan and she successfully catapults herself up to floor sixty, she'll attempt to peek through the elevator door with x-ray vision! Her instinct warns her that something is waiting for her behind door number 1, but what could it be? :smallconfused:

[BladeofObliviom]

[Research Labs]

"Alright, Dr. Brant."

As Dr. Brant leaves, Cyrus... ...does nothing. At all.

...Oh, look. He's checking his watch. Fascinating.



Meanwhile, that Mana filter is starting to look a bit like a pool of congealed blood. The temperature in the room has probably dropped a few degrees since a minute ago as well...

[ThirdEmperor]

Outside the Tower

The explosion catches Markus at it's outer edge, the hydratroll stumbling forward a step as a long shard of metal sinks through his shoulder. That's nothing. With an angry grunt he simply digs his claws into the wound and pulls the shrapnel out, flesh knitting back together almost instantly once it's removed. What can't be so easily repaired is the battery-pack, which now sports several punctures, lithium flames licking at the edges.

Shrugging the battery pack off his shoulders, Markus slices through the cord connecting it to the gun. That leaves him with a roughly fifty-pound metal club, which he's now going to employ upon the poor saps still firing at him, roaring as he charges at the last few guards.

[Hattish Thing]

[Elevator - Taking the Stairs Might've Been Faster...]

25 minutes! Oh no! Kid Clarissa doesn't meet the attention span prerequisite to navigate this tower that slowly! Think, Clarissa! Think! Ask yourself What Would Spiderman Do?

Spiderman would attempt to slingshot himself up to the top of the elevator shaft using webbing! So that's what Clarissa must do too! She'll substitute elastic black goo for webs and give it a go at once!

If that all goes to plan and she successfully catapults herself up to floor sixty, she'll attempt to peek through the elevator door with x-ray vision! Her instinct warns her that something is waiting for her behind door number 1, but what could it be? :smallconfused:

Stairs probably would've been faster, yes. :smalltongue: Luckily, the walls of the elevator shaft are not the slippery chrome that makes up the rest of the tower. The black goo sticks, and she catapults up to floor sixty easily, and just in time, seeing as the elevator up further in the shaft, starts to descend. Unless she enters floor sixty, the elevator might smash into Clarissa. Using her x-ray vision, she can see that behind door number 1, there are a few life-forms, humanoid, wearing long draping cothing. They are waiting.


[Research Labs]

"Alright, Dr. Brant."

As Dr. Brant leaves, Cyrus... ...does nothing. At all.

...Oh, look. He's checking his watch. Fascinating.



Meanwhile, that Mana filter is starting to look a bit like a pool of congealed blood. The temperature in the room has probably dropped a few degrees since a minute ago as well...

Mr. Brant leaves, a little creeped out by Cyrus's weird addition to The Spirit Engine. He heads up the elevator, which is...slower than usual. A camera is staring straight at Cyrus, controlled by Zeta, who's systems are not at all effected by the red mana loss. The temperature does seem to descend. Mr. Brant heads up to the very top floors, to activate the systems and prepare them for battle...


Outside the Tower

The explosion catches Markus at it's outer edge, the hydratroll stumbling forward a step as a long shard of metal sinks through his shoulder. That's nothing. With an angry grunt he simply digs his claws into the wound and pulls the shrapnel out, flesh knitting back together almost instantly once it's removed. What can't be so easily repaired is the battery-pack, which now sports several punctures, lithium flames licking at the edges.

Shrugging the battery pack off his shoulders, Markus slices through the cord connecting it to the gun. That leaves him with a roughly fifty-pound metal club, which he's now going to employ upon the poor saps still firing at him, roaring as he charges at the last few guards.

The four soldiers in front of the door keep firing, even as the hydratroll heals...When they realize that the thing is healing, they lower their weapons in horror, they couldn't even kill this thing without magic...Instead, they attempt to turn their backs to the hydratroll, and scramble to the door, which has been locked on them. They scratch at the door, pleading to be let in, while the gun-ship continues to burn, almost exploding.

[Lady Serpentine]

((As this is going again, and Mayhala had volunteered to help kill off Marciano, I believe I'll bring her in now, if there are no objections...))

[Behind the Guards]

A seething maelstrom, purple and black, crawling with what would seem, were there any from the proper universe, to be pure Chaos, opens behind the guards, and a tall woman, with bone-white skin, inky black hair, coming to perhaps her shoulders, though it's hard to tell with the way it's swirling about her head, pulled by the silent wind from the portal, and eyes which seem to eat light, steps through, a hollow laugh echoing around them as she does.

"You want to be safe, little mortals? Perhaps you should have considered how many enemies would be made by your employer, then..."

With that, she gestures negligently at them, laughing again, the sound seeming to sink into their hearts, chilling their blood, leaving pure terror in its wake*, even as a massive beast of shadow and flesh, perhaps half again as large as the hydratroll, bipedal, even humanoid, but with legs jointed backwards, arms ending in masses of flesh with long, spindly-seeming - though as thick as a man's wrist, only the beast's massive nature causing them to appear fragile - tendrils sprouting from them, a four-part mouth in its belly, and a chaotic mass of spines growing from its back and tail, steps from the hell-mouth behind her.

*Unless they're immune to magic or some such, that is.

[The Alexandrian]

[Elevator Shaft - They're Waiting For You, Gordon]

In the test chamber...

Waiting. The cultists are patiently awaiting their imminent death! Maybe they called that elevator that is rappelling down the chute, but with another elevator stationed below that could very well occupy the same space as this one sooner or later, a collision is inevitable. Perhaps it won't happen today, but it is inevitable nonetheless. She's saving these slaves from the horrible torture of being forced to listen to brain-ravaging elevator music for minutes on end without any foreseeable intermission!

With world-splitting telekinetic power and her foot, Clarissa attempts to kick the elevator doors off of their tracks at the long-robed cultists guarding the passageway on the other side! She'll then attempt to invade the adjoining chamber on foot!

[BladeofObliviom]

[Research Labs]

Cyrus... ...continues to be astonishingly inactive, continuing to watch the mana filter. It's almost black now; The battle raging outside is producing enough red mana to feed it in a microfraction of what would be the normal reasonable time. It doesn't hurt that Cyrus is quietly feeding it some dark magic to chew on so it picks up more energy without actually exploding.

It's subtle enough that it probably wouldn't be noticed even by a camera that could see magic. Even if one could, Cyrus is already magically connected to the thing because he created it. It would be difficult to discern the difference.

*Yawn*

[ThirdEmperor]

Outside the Tower

And besides the shadowbeast, the guards have a very angry bearing down on them with every intent of stomping them into two dimensional pancakes.:smallbiggrin:

[Hattish Thing]

((As this is going again, and Mayhala had volunteered to help kill off Marciano, I believe I'll bring her in now, if there are no objections...))

[Behind the Guards]

A seething maelstrom, purple and black, crawling with what would seem, were there any from the proper universe, to be pure Chaos, opens behind the guards, and a tall woman, with bone-white skin, inky black hair, coming to perhaps her shoulders, though it's hard to tell with the way it's swirling about her head, pulled by the silent wind from the portal, and eyes which seem to eat light, steps through, a hollow laugh echoing around them as she does.

"You want to be safe, little mortals? Perhaps you should have considered how many enemies would be made by your employer, then..."

With that, she gestures negligently at them, laughing again, the sound seeming to sink into their hearts, chilling their blood, leaving pure terror in its wake*, even as a massive beast of shadow and flesh, perhaps half again as large as the hydratroll, bipedal, even humanoid, but with legs jointed backwards, arms ending in masses of flesh with long, spindly-seeming - though as thick as a man's wrist, only the beast's massive nature causing them to appear fragile - a four-part mouth in its belly, and a chaotic mass of spines growing from its back and tail, steps from the hell-mouth behind her.

*Unless they're immune to magic or some such, that is.

:eek: Well. The guards are absolutely terrified, and are not immune to magic. The poor soldiers clump up and start firing at the beast, Holy ****! Ah! The guards are terrified. Please don't eat us! We'll let you in!


[Elevator Shaft - They're Waiting For You, Gordon]

In the test chamber...

Waiting. The cultists are patiently awaiting their imminent death! Maybe they called that elevator that is rappelling down the chute, but with another elevator stationed below that could very well occupy the same space as this one sooner or later, a collision is inevitable. Perhaps it won't happen today, but it is inevitable nonetheless. She's saving these slaves from the horrible torture of being forced to listen to brain-ravaging elevator music for minutes on end without any foreseeable intermission!

With world-splitting telekinetic power and her foot, Clarissa attempts to kick the elevator doors off of their tracks at the long-robed cultists guarding the passageway on the other side! She'll then attempt to invade the adjoining chamber on foot!

Well, Clarissa blasts the elevator doors in, just to have said elevator doors disintegrated in front of her with a potent spell. Three cultists stand in the hall now. One having just casted, the other two launch horrible purplish-reddish bolts of energy at Clarissa. Die! Non-believer!


[Research Labs]

Cyrus... ...continues to be astonishingly inactive, continuing to watch the mana filter. It's almost black now; The battle raging outside is producing enough red mana to feed it in a microfraction of what would be the normal reasonable time. It doesn't hurt that Cyrus is quietly feeding it some dark magic to chew on so it picks up more energy without actually exploding.

It's subtle enough that it probably wouldn't be noticed even by a camera that could see magic. Even if one could, Cyrus is already magically connected to the thing because he created it. It would be difficult to discern the difference.

*Yawn*

:confused: What is going on? Hm. None of the security do anything, they don't care about some weird scientist dude playing with the big machine.


Outside the Tower

And besides the shadowbeast, the guards have a very angry bearing down on them with every intent of stomping them into two dimensional pancakes.:smallbiggrin:

The guards are effectively stomped, and crushed by the hydratrolls foot!

[Hattish Thing]

Are we waiting for someone in particular?


Marciano sits in his big leather chair at the top floor feeling very smug indeed. His plan was working, and if it did fail, he already made the E chip and the elementium body to meld with his final clones. There would be a Marciano Louv're returning. This would not be the end, not really. There would always be a Marciano Louv're in the world. He sat there, in his dim room, and thought of what he'd done so far in his life. Not much to be proud of, even by his standards. He'd make his legacy shine today. This would be the day chaos died. He'd tear a rip in space and time, upsetting the natural equilibrium. If Marciano had to go, he'd be sure to rip away anything he can with him. Marciano never did amount to much. He sat there, almost hoping for the time to come, for him to pass. At least then he'd be remembered. A shadow of another force brought low before the Nexus.

He'd show them all. All who doubted Marciano would ever be something. He remembered his first day in The Nexus, looked down on...seen as...lesser. This'd be the day. He'd destroy time. He'd break order. He'd destroy everything. If The Spirit Engine failed, he could override ZETA, jamming stolen souls into it, there aren't many souls due to the massacre at the drill site, just enough. He'd rip a hole in the stars. He'd do something Magtok couldn't, he'd destroy all matter. Kill them all off, before dying as well....finally as someone's equal. That's all he ever really wanted.

[ThirdEmperor]

Outside the Tower

Pausing a moment to grind the last guard's corpse into the dirt and appreciate the squish of jellied flesh between his toes, Markus turns the double doors. Tucking his chin down and raising up his shoulder, the hydratroll throws himself forward full tilt, ready to brute force his way through whatever traps Marciano has set for intruders.

[BladeofObliviom]

[Research Labs]

Cyrus simply mutters one line under his breath.

"My apologies, Dr. Brant."

And with that, the invisible magical wire he'd been working on connects on one end to the Mana Filter, and attempts to connect on the other side to the wire in the wall leading to ZETA's power feed. With ALL of the energy that the Mana Filter had been absorbing over the past several turns, skimming off the top of all the energy expended upon the battlefield for the various bits of running around and explosions and gunshots and everything else in addition to Cyrus' own power, nearly five petajoules of electricity rush through the wire. This is approximately (in wide terms, given the enormous amounts we're talking about) the total energy released by a megaton of TNT.

Needless to say, this is something that nobody wants to be near. If the magical channel connects properly, the wire it connects to probably explodes, as I doubt that it was designed or even could be designed with such a high level of capacitance. Of course, since electrons bounce through wires at just short of the speed of light, anything connected to that wire probably explodes too. ZETA's defense systems may or may not allow it to survive, but forcing it to overclock while melting its power feed with the sheer amount of energy might not exactly be a good thing.

In whatever case, as soon as the connection is made and the energy transferred, Cyrus winks out of existence in a tiny burst of fire.

[Hattish Thing]

Outside the Tower

:smallyuk: Jellied flesh between the toes.

Well, Markus rushes straight at the door, and with the cracdck of broken glass and security locks, the door bursts open, revealing a room full of dead soldiers and burnt walls. A man sits in the middle of the room, he looks like a complete doofus, bald, clothed in yellow, and caped. He has a bunch of gold medallions around his neck, and it looks like he threw up on his cape a few times. He speaks out. I'm R-*Retch* Rick...Brutal...*Retch*. I don't feel so...*Retch* ...good....You with Clarrissa? *Retch* She killed *Retch* all these guys....I'm Rick Brutal....*Retch*...She went...up there...elevator....* Retch* Then the "hero" flops to the floor, unconscious or asleep.

Research Labs

Mr. Brant is gone, but a camera watches. It does not pick up his line, but the camera suddenly feels a rush of electricity as the systems are blasted with too much power. The Spirit Engine promptly attempts to automatically shut down, for the team had made sure if something like this happened, it would deactivate. However, the huge bursts of power caused a wave of electricity to blow quite a few circuits around the tower. ZETA is the machine that sends electricity all around the tower, so as you can imagine, it's sending far more energy than it's designed to send. '

BaseWide:

The lights suddenly burst very high, lighting up every inch of the tower, temporarily blinding some guards, suddenly machines are functioning much faster than normal, then, hundreds of lightbulbs shatter around the tower, for the weaker bulbs aren't meant to channel this sort of energy. So, the people might notice the explosions of glass, and the burst of light.

[Lady Serpentine]

[Outside]

The bullets pass through the shadow-beast harmlessly, leaving only ripples in the shadow sections, and being absorbed into its flesh, the wounds sealing behind them.

For a moment, all that can be seen of the next abomination is a pair of massive, scythe-like, limbs, curling around the edge of the great portal. Then a head, elongated and fanged, with eyes studding its surface, mounted on a long, serpentine, neck is pulled through, followed by a thick torso, and a smaller, comparatively more delicate, though still large, set of arms, each almost human, but with a folded spine on the backs, along with a pair of bladed wings, set on four shadowy, seemingly mechanical, legs.

The new creature will need some time to reorient itself, however, and thus doesn't do much just yet.

The first one, though, follows the hydratroll inside, Mayhala walking behind it, gracefully avoiding the gore, and attempts to wrap the tendrils on its left 'hand' around Rick, then lift him off the floor.

[The Alexandrian]

[Elevator Shaft Hallway Thingy - Meh! Die He-retic!]

Meeeehhhh!

Annoying horrible purplish-reddish bolts of energy! :smallyuk: Clarissa no likey! Clarissa no approve of it!

Clarissa voices her disapproval by attempting to telekinetically yank the walls of the hallway together, possibly crushing the cultists and their crazy likely demonic pact-based balls of pure disintegration energy!

If that doesn't work, Clarissa attempts to duck out of the way of the projectiles!

Clarissa doesn't want to be disintegrated today!

[ThirdEmperor]

Lobby

Grunting incoherently, Markus raises an arm to shield his eyes from the searing light and soldiers on, aiming a kick at Brutal on the way past towards the stairs. Useless little man.

By the time the light's faded down again, another of Excelsior's troops has teleported in to join the growing ranks of the invaders. Day sits atop a hovering steel crate, piloting it along after Markus by way of remote control.

[Hattish Thing]

[Outside]

The bullets pass through the shadow-beast harmlessly, leaving only ripples in the shadow sections, and being absorbed into its flesh, the wounds sealing behind them.

For a moment, all that can be seen of the next abomination is a pair of massive, scythe-like, limbs, curling around the edge of the great portal. Then a head, elongated and fanged, with eyes studding its surface, mounted on a long, serpentine, neck is pulled through, followed by a thick torso, and a smaller, comparatively more delicate, though still large, set of arms, each almost human, but with a folded spine on the backs, along with a pair of bladed wings, set on four shadowy, seemingly mechanical, legs.

The new creature will need some time to reorient itself, however, and thus doesn't do much just yet.

The first one, though, follows the hydratroll inside, Mayhala walking behind it, gracefully avoiding the gore, and attempts to wrap the tendrils on its left 'hand' around Rick, then lift him off the floor.


Rick is effectively lifted.
I...ah! D-Don't eat me! I'm stale! W-What do you want?!


Lobby

Grunting incoherently, Markus raises an arm to shield his eyes from the searing light and soldiers on, aiming a kick at Brutal on the way past towards the stairs. Useless little man.

By the time the light's faded down again, another of Excelsior's troops has teleported in to join the growing ranks of the invaders. Day sits atop a hovering steel crate, piloting it along after Markus by way of remote control.

Brutal is kicked and lifted. Bad day for him. Ah....ow... Day and Markus move to the stairs, and through the halls, it all leads to an elevator shaft, where the sounds of Clarissa fighting some floors up can be heard.


[Elevator Shaft Hallway Thingy - Meh! Die He-retic!]

Meeeehhhh!

Annoying horrible purplish-reddish bolts of energy! :smallyuk: Clarissa no likey! Clarissa no approve of it!

Clarissa voices her disapproval by attempting to telekinetically yank the walls of the hallway together, possibly crushing the cultists and their crazy likely demonic pact-based balls of pure disintegration energy!

If that doesn't work, Clarissa attempts to duck out of the way of the projectiles!

Clarissa doesn't want to be disintegrated today!


The walls do not move, that would collapse a good part of the floor on Clarissa anyway. The walls do not budge, but ducking happens! That'll work. She's safe, meanwhile the attackers fire more bolts of energy. Die, scum!

[The Alexandrian]

[HALway!]

Duck! Duck! Goose!

Kid!Clarissa attempts to Force Push and Force Lightning Marcy's cultists because BZAP! Red lightning is the best lightning, by the way. :smallbiggrin:

She's also attempting to jump over their projectiles like a Mario.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like I haven't heard that before. Can you guys think up any longer insults or punchlines like, I dunno, 'You're in for a shock!' or 'Can you do the wave?'?"

"Get it? Force wave?" :smallbiggrin:

[BladeofObliviom]

Research Labs

Look, chaos! Sounds about right. If anything, ZETA did an admirable job of keeping vital systems undamaged. Unfortunately for Louv're Industries, AMEN's directive leaves no room for undamaged vital systems.

Cyrus winks back in, having only suspended his reality to dodge the initial burst of damage rather than actually teleporting away. With the lights out and the guards blinded, he wastes no time bringing a series of bolts of Blightning upon them, which will almost certainly incapacitate or kill them unless they're incredibly resilient to sorcery or just really good at dodging lightspeed projectiles while blind.

Assuming the guards in the immediate area are neutralized, the Sorcerer begins channeling red mana, attempting to simply shatter the exposed components of the Spirit Engine one by one.

[Lady Serpentine]

"You seem to have gotten my reputation confused with that of my last partner," Mayhala says coolly, a thin strand of shadow extending from her hand, and going to wrap around his neck. "She was the one with the fondness for eating people, not me. I simply enjoy torturing them."

Meanwhile, she and the abominations are swiftly climbing after Day and Markus, as the maelstrom outside prepares to spit out fresh shadow-soldiers...

[ThirdEmperor]

Upwards and onwards then, Markus dropping to all fours to vault up the stairs towards the sounds of fighting, with Day hovering along after.

[Hattish Thing]

[HALway!]

Duck! Duck! Goose!

Kid!Clarissa attempts to Force Push and Force Lightning Marcy's cultists because BZAP! Red lightning is the best lightning, by the way. :smallbiggrin:

She's also attempting to jump over their projectiles like a Mario.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like I haven't heard that before. Can you guys think up any longer insults or punchlines like, I dunno, 'You're in for a shock!' or 'Can you do the wave?'?"

"Get it? Force wave?" :smallbiggrin:

The cultists growl, well all except the one to the left, he's a little bit afraid. Then, red lightning goes Bzap! The poor cultists are effectivelyt zapped, each being electrocuted by red lightning. Ahg!My legs!


Research Labs

Look, chaos! Sounds about right. If anything, ZETA did an admirable job of keeping vital systems undamaged. Unfortunately for Louv're Industries, AMEN's directive leaves no room for undamaged vital systems.

Cyrus winks back in, having only suspended his reality to dodge the initial burst of damage rather than actually teleporting away. With the lights out and the guards blinded, he wastes no time bringing a series of bolts of Blightning upon them, which will almost certainly incapacitate or kill them unless they're incredibly resilient to sorcery or just really good at dodging lightspeed projectiles while blind.

Assuming the guards in the immediate area are neutralized, the Sorcerer begins channeling red mana, attempting to simply shatter the exposed components of the Spirit Engine one by one.


The poor pair of guards here seem to be the worst in the entire building, stationed here because everywhere else was actually likely to get invaded. These guys are pathetic, one morbidly obese, the other skinny as a rail. They were discussing what happened to the lights, then the lights flicker back on! Yay! Of course, then there's a Cyrus standing there. Who are you? Speaks the skinny one. Then, they both get zapped with blightning, and lie on the floor, the skinny one fried, the other incapacitated.

Oh boy...taking apart a machine built to rip holes through time and space using absurd amounts of energy. Well, Cyrus begins smashing, and electrcitiy jkeeps flowing into ZETA! At this point, ZETA has been loading all electricity to ALPHA and BETA Defense Systems. Now, it shuts off the power lines to The Spirit Engine. The Spirit Engine starts to crack, and Cyrus might feel the temperature drop rapidly. Then, all the doors (Elementium of course), into the Spirit Engine room, start to descend slowly.


"You seem to have gotten my reputation confused with that of my last partner," Mayhala says coolly, a thin strand of shadow extending from her hand, and going to wrap around his neck. "She was the one with the fondness for eating people, not me. I simply enjoy torturing them."

Meanwhile, she and the abominations are swiftly climbing after Day and Markus, as the maelstrom outside prepares to spit out fresh shadow-soldiers...

Rick Brutal "eeps" loudly. Are...Are y-you going to kill m-me?! Please no! I...I d-did nothing wrong! I'll h-help you! Please! I'm Ri- Oh noes, he's shut up effectively by shadow tendrils. Of DOOOOOM!



Upwards and onwards then, Markus dropping to all fours to vault up the stairs towards the sounds of fighting, with Day hovering along after.

Yup, the stairs lead up, up, up! Eventually, they come to the end of the hall, opposite of Clarissa, so they'll see her there, zapping cultists.



Surgery Room-Enshadu's Creation

Mr. Brant walks in, and looks at the team of three doctors stationed around two tables, one having Marciano Louvre's clone's unconscious body, the other having the Enshadu body. The doctors have begun moving Marciano's organs into Enshadu, and plugging them into the cyborg's systems. They're about 3/4 of the way done. Mr. Brant moves over to the E-chip, in it's casing. When we're almost done, I want to be the one to install the E-chip. Alright team? So, when it comes time for that, I want to plug it in. Mr. Brant's worst mistake is soon to occur. :smallfrown:

[BladeofObliviom]

[Research Labs]

Those poor guards! It's really too bad that Cyrus doesn't actually care very much about human life. The temperature dropping doesn't worry him much, either, since he has safeguards in place against even lethal amounts of cold.

The cracking Spirit Engine, on the other hand, is exactly what he wants. He already has the blueprints, so all that remains of his mission is breaking this place into tiny pieces before laughing at the ashes.

Unfortunately for Cyrus, he's not quite aware of the indestructible metal, yet. That might be a problem in the near future, but for now he continues ensuring that the Spirit Engine is nothing more than rubble.

[ThirdEmperor]

Hallway

As the next wave of spells is traded, Markus clears the last step and bounds onto the landing. Without missing a step or a beat he rises back up on his haunches and comes crashing through the door towards the cultists, hopefully while they're still stunned from being zapped.

Two arms built like tree trunks, each ending in a meaty hand with five dull, curved claws meant to cut more by brute trauma than any degree of sharpness, swinging viciously at anything within range. A set of jaws fit to make a crocodile weep with envy and still painted bloody by the last guards Markus ate. A prehensile tail that snaps around like a whip to knock the legs out from under unsuspecting fools or simply throw them into a wall.

Anyone unprotected and within reach might as well have been thrown into a combine thresher, for all their odds of coming out again intact. The added volley of wildly aimed ballistics from Day and his dual pistols is only the insult to the (terminal) injury.

[The Alexandrian]

[Hallway Of The Incredible Hulk Version 3.2, Deadpool Version 10.5, And Emperor Palpatine Female Edition Version 4.9001]

Yep! Those guards Kid!Clarissa was toying with are well and truly screwed. No point in hanging around these parts anymore! Day and his walking tank Markus have this situation under control.

"Impeccable timing on your part, as always. Stomp on their necks once for me! Oh, and be careful. They're crazy and I haven't tested them to find out whether or not they explode upon death or not."

I'd imagine they won't just fall over and stop breathing when they keel over, being super insane cultists that think Marcy is a god and whatnot.

Clarissa attempts to press onward! There's only one way to reach Marcy's room! Thus, up, up, and away! Sprint!

[Hattish Thing]

[Research Labs]

Those poor guards! It's really too bad that Cyrus doesn't actually care very much about human life. The temperature dropping doesn't worry him much, either, since he has safeguards in place against even lethal amounts of cold.

The cracking Spirit Engine, on the other hand, is exactly what he wants. He already has the blueprints, so all that remains of his mission is breaking this place into tiny pieces before laughing at the ashes.

Unfortunately for Cyrus, he's not quite aware of the indestructible metal, yet. That might be a problem in the near future, but for now he continues ensuring that the Spirit Engine is nothing more than rubble.

The Spirit Engine was built to supply enough power to rip holes through the universe. Breaking it will have severe consequences for everyone. But, eh. That's how AMEN rolls. :smalltongue: The guards just lie there, dead. The camera's just stare at Cyrus, not bothering to call more guards in. The doors close, locking Cyrus in an impregnable room, with a shattering apocalyptic device. The device begins to crack and hiss, steam and smoke filling the room from it's exhaust tanks. It'll take a bit for the damage to sink in, but when it does it will destroy the entire laboratory room and start a crack in time and space. Whee. WEll, a voice is heard from hidden speakers. Your not too bright, are ya kid. Eh? Do ya wanna die? I can arrange that without blowing yourself up. M'names Marciano. Perhaps ye've heard of me? Snail?


Hallway

As the next wave of spells is traded, Markus clears the last step and bounds onto the landing. Without missing a step or a beat he rises back up on his haunches and comes crashing through the door towards the cultists, hopefully while they're still stunned from being zapped.

Two arms built like tree trunks, each ending in a meaty hand with five dull, curved claws meant to cut more by brute trauma than any degree of sharpness, swinging viciously at anything within range. A set of jaws fit to make a crocodile weep with envy and still painted bloody by the last guards Markus ate. A prehensile tail that snaps around like a whip to knock the legs out from under unsuspecting fools or simply throw them into a wall.

Anyone unprotected and within reach might as well have been thrown into a combine thresher, for all their odds of coming out again intact. The added volley of wildly aimed ballistics from Day and his dual pistols is only the insult to the (terminal) injury.


[Hallway Of The Incredible Hulk Version 3.2, Deadpool Version 10.5, And Emperor Palpatine Female Edition Version 4.9001]

Yep! Those guards Kid!Clarissa was toying with are well and truly screwed. No point in hanging around these parts anymore! Day and his walking tank Markus have this situation under control.

"Impeccable timing on your part, as always. Stomp on their necks once for me! Oh, and be careful. They're crazy and I haven't tested them to find out whether or not they explode upon death or not."

I'd imagine they won't just fall over and stop breathing when they keel over, being super insane cultists that think Marcy is a god and whatnot.

Clarissa attempts to press onward! There's only one way to reach Marcy's room! Thus, up, up, and away! Sprint!

The guards get mushed into paste and cut up into ribbons. They do not blow up or anything special. They're just cultists. They believe that The Spirit Engine opens a portal into the realm of their god, not that Marcy is the god. He's just a tool to get to what they want. The hallway turns into a longer hall. The hall has stairs that lead up to another long hall. At the end of this final chrome hall, two strange men stand guard against a massive wooden door, with purple runes carved in. These guards are both clothed in burgundy robes with golden stitching. They wear hoods, and their faces are tattooed. They're kinda creepy.

They each ready their spells, they're hands glowing purple. These are The Grandfather's personal guards, and are much stronger than anything they've faced so far. Things just get harder from there. They're skin seems to be made of sand, and they're eyes are black scarabs. You are the intrudersss, yess? They speak in unison before wiggling their sandy fingers.

The Formation of Enshadu

The surgery was almost complete. All that was left was for Mr. Brant to insert the E-Chip. He took it out of it's case, and felt the massive power of the AI attempt to take over his mind. He resisted, for he had helped design the thing and was pretty good at resisting it. He moved over to the tables where Marciano's Clone's corpse, and the complete Enshadu Physical System was lying. He opened a small area on his head, and began inserting the chip into it's spot.

AS he did so, however, there was a huge burst of light and electricity from the Spirit Engine shenanigans that weer going on at the higher floors. As Mr. Brandt plugged the chip in, the sheer massive amount of electricity going through the E-Chip as it connected, plus the even greater amount of electricity coming from The Spirit Engine, (Which was attached to Enshadu, in order to kick-start it up with some power.) Instead, the power was far too much for the systems to hold, and it began to melt the E-Chip into The Enshadu Physical System, granting the E-Chip even greater Artificial Intelligence from the overload of power. Then, it reached into Mr. Brant's mind and overwhelmed him instantly, taking his mind. Then, it willed the camera in the room to break and shatter, which it did.

Mr Brant cried out, Ah! No! Hel- Then, his lifeless body falls top the floor, electrified and mindless. The four surgeons in the room scream as the metal abomination easily breaks through the metal holding it down. Enshadu rises up and the doctors move to the door. E simply wills it locked. They all scream louder as Enshadu moves and his four hands turn into sawblades.....A few minutes later the screaming has stopped, and Enshadu opens the door into a hall where two guards are monitoring. To avoid being overly gory, I'm just going to skip the combat details. He begins to move over to an elevator. Excellent...All systems function. This is it.

[ThirdEmperor]

At the Big Door with Runes on It

"Nuh-ope! You're dead wrong buddies, so why don't I straighten you out?" Smoothly gliding around Clarissa on his makeshift hoverboard, Day lets his guns drop to the ground. "We ain't your enemies. We just wanna see that the soul engine works proper- If your friends downstairs had believed us, we wouldn't'a had to use such regrettable violence getting up here." Hands in the air, smile on his face, doing his best impression of a cute little kid, why, Day's the very picture of innocence.

The picture of innocence with the ginormous murder-lizard lurking just out of frame. :smalltongue:

[BladeofObliviom]

Research Lab

Holes in the universe? That's nothing. Cyrus is a walking planar anomaly. His very presence warps spacetime around him. Most members of AMEN aren't much better for the multiverse. :smalleek::smalltongue:

In any case, Cyrus is satisfied that the machine's reached the point of critical damage, but he tosses a few more balls of hellfire its way to be sure. Then Marciano decides to start talking. Cyrus, sardonic as ever, seems unable to resist a short session of trash talk.

"Oh yes, the great Marciano of which I've heard much. It's unsurprising that you would try to butt in. Or perhaps that's your face. I'm sorry, but it's rather hard to tell the difference given the quantity of **** you're spewing from one orifice or another. First off? Unless you're at least 400 years old and have the intellect to show it, you don't get to call me 'kid,' and you have neither, you quivering brain-dead infant.

You shouldn't worry much about my death, considering the circumstances. I have plenty of countermeasures against mere bodily destruction. You'll have to be more creative than a simple spatial rending if you think I should die, insomuch as your rather limited capability toward thought can exist. Not that it matters, of course, because you're a fool with precious minutes left upon your life. Or perhaps not that precious, I suppose, given that you've soiled them with your grubby fingers.

Finally, unless you decide to stop cowering behind your defenses and show me what you've really got, stop wasting my time. You aren't even worth the effort to squash like the insignificant insect you are."

With that, the Planeswalker turns his prodigious magical might against one of the walls, ignoring the door entirely. Unless the whole place is made out of Elementium, which seems completely implausible given how hard it's supposed to be to work it, he probably doesn't have too much difficulty leaving.

[The Alexandrian]

[Hallway]

A tool! Like drillbit!

Come to think of it... Wouldn't their god be just a little bit ticked off that they drilled a hole in his nice, new dimension-barrier-thing? Like "I'mma smite you" ticked off. I know I'd be. Then again, I might just smite people recreationally like a complete and utter jerk if I was a god. Absolute power corrupts absolutely or something like that.

Y'know, I think it'd be pretty funny hearing about the cultists invading and infesting their gods house like ants and stealing its food holy artifacts. The commentary could have been priceless, had they succeeded.
...
*Yoinks idea for own scene!* :smalltongue:

Oooo! Purple runes! Purple was the color of royalty way back when (and made out of mucus, but let's forget that for the moment, shall we)! Clarissa has a thing for the color purple...and the color red...and the color green...and the color...

Okay, apparently Clarissa likes all colors because they're radiant energy and create heat when absorbed. She's weird like that. Anyway, where were we?

Oh! Right! Day was just about to con a pair of suckers with his boyish charmisma! Hmm... Call Clarissa paranoid but she just doesn't think that will work out in their favor in the end. These cultist guys seem to have a insanely insane one-track mind. On that track is a train that likes running over anything smaller than it.

Clarissa might not know if Day's ruse will do the trick, but she does know one thing! Metals are good conductors of electricity! The walls are shiny like metal! Therefore, the walls are good conductors of electricity!

Kid!Clarissa will stand in her spot and give the cultists a big, innocent smile as Day practices his elocution skills and makes a diplomacy check. Of course, if that diplomacy check fails...

Bzaaap!

Clarissa will unleash her force lightning on the cultists if the don't stand down as per Day's request and walls and floors and basically everything that isn't Day (who she attempts to shield with a magic barrier) in her immediate vicinity. She'd put Emperor Palpatine to shame with her display! She's more lightning in one of her pinkie fingers than old geriatric codger had in his entire body!

Oh how Kid!Clarissa hopes the diplomacy check will fail! :smalltongue:

[Hattish Thing]

At the Big Door with Runes on It

"Nuh-ope! You're dead wrong buddies, so why don't I straighten you out?" Smoothly gliding around Clarissa on his makeshift hoverboard, Day lets his guns drop to the ground. "We ain't your enemies. We just wanna see that the soul engine works proper- If your friends downstairs had believed us, we wouldn't'a had to use such regrettable violence getting up here." Hands in the air, smile on his face, doing his best impression of a cute little kid, why, Day's the very picture of innocence.

The picture of innocence with the ginormous murder-lizard lurking just out of frame. :smalltongue:

They both growl lowly. Their voices swirl and seem slurred, if the desert had a voice, it would sound like them. They hiss and speak in unison. No....You lie. You are to be dessstroyed. Security hasss informed usss...Your deathsss will be ssshort, and the massster shall make you one of usss.... The sandmen then explode, sand flying everywhere. Then, extremely quickly, the hall will be covered in dust, and horrible living sand will begin to attempt to enter the parties mouths, eyes, and ears. The room also begins to suddenly be filling with sand, it's in the air...on the ground, in Day's hair...everywhere.


Research Lab

Holes in the universe? That's nothing. Cyrus is a walking planar anomaly. His very presence warps spacetime around him. Most members of AMEN aren't much better for the multiverse. :smalleek::smalltongue:

In any case, Cyrus is satisfied that the machine's reached the point of critical damage, but he tosses a few more balls of hellfire its way to be sure. Then Marciano decides to start talking. Cyrus, sardonic as ever, seems unable to resist a short session of trash talk.

"Oh yes, the great Marciano of which I've heard much. It's unsurprising that you would try to butt in. Or perhaps that's your face. I'm sorry, but it's rather hard to tell the difference given the quantity of **** you're spewing from one orifice or another. First off? Unless you're at least 400 years old and have the intellect to show it, you don't get to call me 'kid,' and you have neither, you quivering brain-dead infant.

You shouldn't worry much about my death, considering the circumstances. I have plenty of countermeasures against mere bodily destruction. You'll have to be more creative than a simple spatial rending if you think I should die, insomuch as your rather limited capability toward thought can exist. Not that it matters, of course, because you're a fool with precious minutes left upon your life. Or perhaps not that precious, I suppose, given that you've soiled them with your grubby fingers.

Finally, unless you decide to stop cowering behind your defenses and show me what you've really got, stop wasting my time. You aren't even worth the effort to squash like the insignificant insect you are."

With that, the Planeswalker turns his prodigious magical might against one of the walls, ignoring the door entirely. Unless the whole place is made out of Elementium, which seems completely implausible given how hard it's supposed to be to work it, he probably doesn't have too much difficulty leaving.

It speaks, his voice seems to fill the room. Yes, the great Marciano Louv're. Good, kiss my feet so I don't stomp you all like ants. Your AMENite friends are going through my tower very easily...but past The Grandfather, things are going to get difficult. I have so much security past there, it's incredible. Then....You'll have to get past the assembly room! I have plenty of nasty things waiting for them there...

No, the entire room is not elementium. I couldn't get my hands on enough of the chrome metal. But....I activated a force field when your ignorant friends burst into The Tower. No one escapes. See...I expect to do here, in fact, I'm hoping for it! All part of the grand plan you see...You blow up the labs...destroying my plans, you open a hole in space and time....then I trap everyone in here, and let them all die...go out in a bang, as it were. But I will never die....not really. I'll always be around. Marciano Louv're always survives...

So, old man. Nothing leaves The Tower. Not a thing...not even me. I die here. Along with all this stuff! Sad isn't it...This force-field is perfect. Multi-dimensional. Not even a god could break through it...I hope. So, Cyrus....be polite to your betters, old man. I am the new generation of villain. The new, improved villain. Move aside. So, why don't ya break the Spirit Engine finally, and let me watch as you're sucked away to some plane of torture...Or just sit there and think about what you've done. Consider yourself in "Time Out." He'll launch his magic and break right through the wall! But he will not be able to go more than five feet from the tower. Wonderful shot, old man! You've still got it in you!


[Hallway]

A tool! Like drillbit!

Come to think of it... Wouldn't their god be just a little bit ticked off that they drilled a hole in his nice, new dimension-barrier-thing? Like "I'mma smite you" ticked off. I know I'd be. Then again, I might just smite people recreationally like a complete and utter jerk if I was a god. Absolute power corrupts absolutely or something like that.

Y'know, I think it'd be pretty funny hearing about the cultists invading and infesting their gods house like ants and stealing its food holy artifacts. The commentary could have been priceless, had they succeeded.
...
*Yoinks idea for own scene!* :smalltongue:

Oooo! Purple runes! Purple was the color of royalty way back when (and made out of mucus, but let's forget that for the moment, shall we)! Clarissa has a thing for the color purple...and the color red...and the color green...and the color...

Okay, apparently Clarissa likes all colors because they're radiant energy and create heat when absorbed. She's weird like that. Anyway, where were we?

Oh! Right! Day was just about to con a pair of suckers with his boyish charmisma! Hmm... Call Clarissa paranoid but she just doesn't think that will work out in their favor in the end. These cultist guys seem to have a insanely insane one-track mind. On that track is a train that likes running over anything smaller than it.

Clarissa might not know if Day's ruse will do the trick, but she does know one thing! Metals are good conductors of electricity! The walls are shiny like metal! Therefore, the walls are good conductors of electricity!

Kid!Clarissa will stand in her spot and give the cultists a big, innocent smile as Day practices his elocution skills and makes a diplomacy check. Of course, if that diplomacy check fails...

Bzaaap!

Clarissa will unleash her force lightning on the cultists if the don't stand down as per Day's request and walls and floors and basically everything that isn't Day (who she attempts to shield with a magic barrier) in her immediate vicinity. She'd put Emperor Palpatine to shame with her display! She's more lightning in one of her pinkie fingers than old geriatric codger had in his entire body!

Oh how Kid!Clarissa hopes the diplomacy check will fail! :smalltongue:

(I don't expect them to succeed, but if they did there'd be one hell of an angry desert god raging. :smallfurious::smalltongue:)

Well, the diplomacy certainly fails. Then electricity zaps everywhere! However, the sandmen simply explode and fly through the air towards Clarissa, Markus, and Day's faces. Waste of electricity. :smallfrown:

Meanwhile, Enshadu begins to go down the elevator....whee....elevator music.

[BladeofObliviom]

[Outside Research Labs]

Oh no, Cyrus isn't leaving quite yet. His orders specifically included ensuring that a certain halfling was reduced to paste and his remains repurposed into sex toys or something equally humiliating. Okay, perhaps not specifically so, but something along those lines, at least. As such, he's blowing his way toward the CENTER of the tower.

"The new, improved villain? Oh, I pity the heroes who try to stand against you. They'll be lucky if they make it to the final confrontation without gouging their own eyes out to cope with the unbearable stupidity. Seriously, I'd just sit back and let you foil your own plans, but AMEN was very specific about knocking this place down once I had what I came for."

He walks calmly through the opening made by his own dark magic.

"Also, you pretend to know me. You used my name at one point, and you think you know all my tricks. And then you apparently are far too daft to figure out that sending a Planeswalker to another plane is a little bit like keeping a tank at bay with a speed bump. It's pathetic, really. Why do you even try? Everything you do actually manages to lower the already nebulous amount of respect people have for you, and continues to prove that you are inferior even to, say, Magtok. And he's pretty damned pathetic himself."

More fiery destruction is attempted, this time upward as Cyrus begins ascending towards the highest floors.

"And believe it or not, I respect Magtok a little bit. He has so little naturally, but by his own merit he's sitting nearly at the top of the food chain. You, on the other hand, were given everything you could ever want and still managed to accomplish nothing. You are an insignificant speck of dust upon the face of a changing world, and I am the wave of acid that reduces you and all of the trillions like you to nothing."

Waves of hellfire radiate from the annoyed Sorcerer, probably just outright incinerating anything that comes within a few meters of him.

"You may say that you're ready to die, but I'm prepared to do far worse to you, simply because you've inconvenienced me. I want to watch you squirm as I take your soul and eat small parts of it at a time, until there's nothing left but an empty husk. Then, when you are nothing, I'll build you back up again and accomplish more than you ever could with your own life, only to devour you again and again until it stops amusing me. Marciano, you are nothing more than the most worthless of quivering scum, and I am the roiling storm that ravages all."

[The Alexandrian]

[Mister Sandman -Or- Make Me A Sand-Witch]

Not necessarily a waste of electricity. If nothing else it conclusively proves to Clarissa that she isn't working with mundane sand which would create cool-looking glass when blasted with lightning.

If what desert had a voice? Just as Elementium is not the rarest element in the Nexus (seeing as a whole suit of armor could be plated in it, much less an arsenal of weapons and several copies of that suit of armor), the deserts of the world and the Nexus at large don't have one singular voice. For instance, the ex-desert of Imperial Valley, California would sound infinitely more welcoming and happy than the scorching, fiery, death-mongering, and infamous Gobi Desert!

Pfft! Sand?! Hah! Clarissa has seen superior sand attacks launched by level five Pidgeys!

It is soooo very ironic that these cultists transformed into a wild storm of sand after Clarissa just finished roasting everyone on the lowest floors of the building alive. If the smoke and the smell of burning flesh and hair hadn't followed Clarissa up the elevator and into this chamber, I'd be genuinely surprised and impressed by the superb ventilation this place has! And what's the end goal of this particular attack anyway? Is it meant to suffocate the party in sand by burying them in it or clog up their lungs or maybe even erode their flesh because the most it could do to Kid!Clarissa is dishevel her clothing and hair! ... Wait! It could mess up her hair? :smallannoyed: It could mess up her perfect hair?! At the thought of this, Clarissa's arrogant smile turns upside down into a bitter frown unleashed on the cultists as they scatter into sand and...

Don't you dare! Don't you do it! Don't you-

Muss her hair!!!

Goshdagnabit! *Fume!Fume!*

OOoooooo! Oh no they didn't! They didn't just! Argh! There's sand in her hair. Sand in her hair! *Eye twitch.* Sand in her hair!!!!!

Nobody messes up her hair!!! Nobody in the entire gorram universe! Not even Dave is allowed to mess up her hair! The penalty for that most heinous of crimes is death! A slow, tortuous death! A slow, tortuous death with pain that the mortal mind couldn't begin to fathom! :smallfurious::smallfurious::smallfurious:

She'll kill them! :smallfurious: She'll rip their arms off and beat them to death with them!

"..."

Maybe they got lucky and broke Kid!Clarissa?

"Die!" :smallfurious:

Kid!Clarissa howls in a voice that might make the ground at the very foundation of the tower possibly quake in fear as massive mouthed fleshy tendrils attempt to shoot out of the ground in a circle of death around it, wasting no time in trying to tear out the insides of the lower floors of the tower and feast on the soldiers stationed within with bloodstained gnashing teeth and dozens of lash-like sticky tongues dripping with acids that could easily eat their way to the core of a planet in seconds flat! She stomps her feet and hops up and down in a fashion indicative of only the most petulant of tantrums!

"I hate you and you and you and you and you! I hate you!"

An inferno swirls around her, likely glassing the sand in the area immediately and possibly melting several of the metal walls of the improvised oven with ungodly temperatures which would send the heat output of the sun on a walk of shame! She does, thankfully, remember that Day his bro are present in her proximity and steers the heat energy around them if she can. As her focus switches over from destroying Marciano to destroying everything in the general vicinity, she punches walls with such force that if any more were administered it would not merely distort space and time but mortally wound them, breaking glass against walls (then breaking those shards again and again until they're a fine powder which she'll attempt to telepathically guide down the elevator shaft where she'll attempt to force feed them to a couple of guards along with their own limbs), scream about how much she hates people in general, and just generally throw a godly fit!

But she has good reason for it!

She takes good care of her hair. It's always as immaculate and perfect as she is. She washes it several times a day with magical shampoo and conditioner. Her hair is sacred to her. If you disrespect her hair, then you insult her in ways that words never could!

She could be at this for hours. It'd probably be best for Day and Markus to forge ahead without her before she brings the tower down on their heads in her blind rage to the beat of the energizing, untamed fury of death metal!

[Hattish Thing]

[Outside Research Labs]

Oh no, Cyrus isn't leaving quite yet. His orders specifically included ensuring that a certain halfling was reduced to paste and his remains repurposed into sex toys or something equally humiliating. Okay, perhaps not specifically so, but something along those lines, at least. As such, he's blowing his way toward the CENTER of the tower.

"The new, improved villain? Oh, I pity the heroes who try to stand against you. They'll be lucky if they make it to the final confrontation without gouging their own eyes out to cope with the unbearable stupidity. Seriously, I'd just sit back and let you foil your own plans, but AMEN was very specific about knocking this place down once I had what I came for."

He walks calmly through the opening made by his own dark magic.

"Also, you pretend to know me. You used my name at one point, and you think you know all my tricks. And then you apparently are far too daft to figure out that sending a Planeswalker to another plane is a little bit like keeping a tank at bay with a speed bump. It's pathetic, really. Why do you even try? Everything you do actually manages to lower the already nebulous amount of respect people have for you, and continues to prove that you are inferior even to, say, Magtok. And he's pretty damned pathetic himself."

More fiery destruction is attempted, this time upward as Cyrus begins ascending towards the highest floors.

"And believe it or not, I respect Magtok a little bit. He has so little naturally, but by his own merit he's sitting nearly at the top of the food chain. You, on the other hand, were given everything you could ever want and still managed to accomplish nothing. You are an insignificant speck of dust upon the face of a changing world, and I am the wave of acid that reduces you and all of the trillions like you to nothing."

Waves of hellfire radiate from the annoyed Sorcerer, probably just outright incinerating anything that comes within a few meters of him.

"You may say that you're ready to die, but I'm prepared to do far worse to you, simply because you've inconvenienced me. I want to watch you squirm as I take your soul and eat small parts of it at a time, until there's nothing left but an empty husk. Then, when you are nothing, I'll build you back up again and accomplish more than you ever could with your own life, only to devour you again and again until it stops amusing me. Marciano, you are nothing more than the most worthless of quivering scum, and I am the roiling storm that ravages all."

MArciano just laughs and giggles at his response. Kay, Cy...ye really are a daft one, eh? I don't matter anymore. Enshadu escaped with some of my personality, soon my personality will envelope his own, and I"ll be back! Just stronger and better in every way. This body is nothing. OH, and....good luck trying to get to the upper floors. There's only one way up, and that's the elevator. You can't smash through the floors at the top, we have a thin layer of elementium and a very thick layer of iron protecting it from cheaters like you. Sooooo, I'd say you're going on a trip up elevator 13. Oh and, the elevator is outside the tower, while still connected. You'll e going up the side of the tower, in full range of anything I decide to throw at ya. So, go back now...or brave the elevator, you also have friends blowing up the lower floors....maybe you want some part in that? And...um, no. I am better than Magtok, or you. I have everything. I don't know how they're going through the lower floors like paper...


[Mister Sandman -Or- Make Me A Sand-Witch]

Not necessarily a waste of electricity. If nothing else it conclusively proves to Clarissa that she isn't working with mundane sand which would create cool-looking glass when blasted with lightning.

If what desert had a voice? Just as Elementium is not the rarest element in the Nexus (seeing as a whole suit of armor could be plated in it, much less an arsenal of weapons and several copies of that suit of armor), the deserts of the world and the Nexus at large don't have one singular voice. For instance, the ex-desert of Imperial Valley, California would sound infinitely more welcoming and happy than the scorching, fiery, death-mongering, and infamous Gobi Desert!

Pfft! Sand?! Hah! Clarissa has seen superior sand attacks launched by level five Pidgeys!

It is soooo very ironic that these cultists transformed into a wild storm of sand after Clarissa just finished roasting everyone on the lowest floors of the building alive. If the smoke and the smell of burning flesh and hair hadn't followed Clarissa up the elevator and into this chamber, I'd be genuinely surprised and impressed by the superb ventilation this place has! And what's the end goal of this particular attack anyway? Is it meant to suffocate the party in sand by burying them in it or clog up their lungs or maybe even erode their flesh because the most it could do to Kid!Clarissa is dishevel her clothing and hair! ... Wait! It could mess up her hair? :smallannoyed: It could mess up her perfect hair?! At the thought of this, Clarissa's arrogant smile turns upside down into a bitter frown unleashed on the cultists as they scatter into sand and...

Don't you dare! Don't you do it! Don't you-

Muss her hair!!!

Goshdagnabit! *Fume!Fume!*

OOoooooo! Oh no they didn't! They didn't just! Argh! There's sand in her hair. Sand in her hair! *Eye twitch.* Sand in her hair!!!!!

Nobody messes up her hair!!! Nobody in the entire gorram universe! Not even Dave is allowed to mess up her hair! The penalty for that most heinous of crimes is death! A slow, tortuous death! A slow, tortuous death with pain that the mortal mind couldn't begin to fathom! :smallfurious::smallfurious::smallfurious:

She'll kill them! :smallfurious: She'll rip their arms off and beat them to death with them!

"..."

Maybe they got lucky and broke Kid!Clarissa?

"Die!" :smallfurious:

Kid!Clarissa howls in a voice that might make the ground at the very foundation of the tower possibly quake in fear as massive mouthed fleshy tendrils attempt to shoot out of the ground in a circle of death around it, wasting no time in trying to tear out the insides of the lower floors of the tower and feast on the soldiers stationed within with bloodstained gnashing teeth and dozens of lash-like sticky tongues dripping with acids that could easily eat their way to the core of a planet in seconds flat! She stomps her feet and hops up and down in a fashion indicative of only the most petulant of tantrums!

"I hate you and you and you and you and you! I hate you!"

An inferno swirls around her, likely glassing the sand in the area immediately and possibly melting several of the metal walls of the improvised oven with ungodly temperatures which would send the heat output of the sun on a walk of shame! She does, thankfully, remember that Day his bro are present in her proximity and steers the heat energy around them if she can. As her focus switches over from destroying Marciano to destroying everything in the general vicinity, she punches walls with such force that if any more were administered it would not merely distort space and time but mortally wound them, breaking glass against walls (then breaking those shards again and again until they're a fine powder which she'll attempt to telepathically guide down the elevator shaft where she'll attempt to force feed them to a couple of guards along with their own limbs), scream about how much she hates people in general, and just generally throw a godly fit!

But she has good reason for it!

She takes good care of her hair. It's always as immaculate and perfect as she is. She washes it several times a day with magical shampoo and conditioner. Her hair is sacred to her. If you disrespect her hair, then you insult her in ways that words never could!

She could be at this for hours. It'd probably be best for Day and Markus to forge ahead without her before she brings the tower down on their heads in her blind rage to the beat of the energizing, untamed fury of death metal!

...Ow? The sand was meant to fill up the lungs and suffocate the opponent, that didn't work obviously. So, Clarrissa goes supernova. Okay....the sand is all instantly glassed, and falls to the floor. The walls begin to melt and get blasted apart, revealing rooms full of soldiers. They instantly melt as well as does their armor, and the soldiers that survived quickly try to fire at the black tentacle thing, but to no avail. It gets 'em and does whatever it does. However, her rage does not blow up the Arcane Library walls. How odd! Sure enough, the fire hasn't even touched those walls, despite the fact that the rest of this hallway is slowly melting. In fact, the floor Clarissa is standing on is about to melt and give away....watch out.

More soldiers scream from lower in the tower. Ahhh, tentacle thing. It's the end of the world!

Meanwhile, Day and Markus should probably proceed...

[BladeofObliviom]

[Going up, up, up...]

Cyrus doesn't even flinch.

"Saying that you don't matter anymore is a false statement, as it implies that you have ever mattered. Similarly, a brain-dead infantile monkey would be stronger and better than you in every way, so your comments inspire little fear.

And have you perhaps considered that the reason your defenses are utter **** is because you're an utter moron who can't set up defenses correctly? Just a thought. Besides, they're just pawns, there to make a mess and keep the main attention down there while I work my magic. It was easy to arrange, really. You paid us to work on the Spirit Engine, and let us move people behind your outer defenses. Meanwhile, we hired a few mercenaries to make a mess of things and force your hand... ...with the money you paid us. In the end, you gave AMEN free money and put me in a perfect position to scrub one more annoyance off of my boot.

After all, that's all you are: A mere annoyance. You are not some threat to whom I'd give a degree of honor, or even a respectable death. No, you're a lowly worm, fit to be crushed under the heel of a man who is superior to you in every aspect."

He decides not to comment on the fact that while the elevator might be in full view of whatever happens, Marciano conveniently put a basically impassable shield around the building that would make actually harming him from the outside rather difficult if it even halfway lives up to its name.

Meanwhile, Cyrus makes his way toward the highest floors. If Marcy's being truthful and the elevators really are the only way up, he'll take them. He could always just break the elevator and fly up if the halfling tries to pull something.

Also, he's lying about hiring mercenaries with the money he paid, but there's no way Marciano could know that, and he enjoys painting the halfling in as poor a light as possible.

[ThirdEmperor]

Up, Up and Away

Meanwhile, Day and Markus probably shouldn't be skipped over. A poke would have been appreciated...

Anyhoo, they're making a run for it. Scary eldritch hellfire isn't on either of their agendas for today, so they'll be making a quick detour under the melted floor and then back up again a few feet further on, completely bypassing the unbreakable door to sneak a peek at whatever's hidden in the room beyond.

'cause everyone knows all the really good stuff's hidden behind the stupid doors that only open once you hunt down the darned key twenty levels up.

[The Alexandrian]

[We're Going Down Swinging!]

Ow? :smallconfused:

Clarissa didn't have any lungs to fill with granules of sediment in the first place, but in her child form, Kid!Clarissa is prone to a magnificently magical imagination, immature feelings, and an unrivaled love of candy...and flesh. If any sugary candy or sweet ice cream is stored on the lower floors of the building, the tentacles will ignore the soldiers in the area completely to omnomnom it, which will likely come to pass unless the soldiers fire explosives, lasers, or etcetera (not mundane bullets) at them in which case they'll attempt to swat the soldiers away and resume the candy theft unless the soldiers hit them with AoE attacks or do something more organized or specific than shoot them randomly in places.

Kid!Clarissa, meanwhile, continues to jump up and down in place in sheer, untamed rage! She doesn't have the longest attention span in the world by any stretch of the imagination, so she'll probably soon forget what she was so angry about. As for now, she's probably scheduled to crash through the floor! Whee!

Also, if Clarissa gets a hold of a recording of Cyrus claiming that she's getting paid for smashing things, she's gonna insist on getting paid one way or another because money is the primary fuel for fun! :smallbiggrin:

[Hattish Thing]

[Going up, up, up...]

Cyrus doesn't even flinch.

"Saying that you don't matter anymore is a false statement, as it implies that you have ever mattered. Similarly, a brain-dead infantile monkey would be stronger and better than you in every way, so your comments inspire little fear.

And have you perhaps considered that the reason your defenses are utter **** is because you're an utter moron who can't set up defenses correctly? Just a thought. Besides, they're just pawns, there to make a mess and keep the main attention down there while I work my magic. It was easy to arrange, really. You paid us to work on the Spirit Engine, and let us move people behind your outer defenses. Meanwhile, we hired a few mercenaries to make a mess of things and force your hand... ...with the money you paid us. In the end, you gave AMEN free money and put me in a perfect position to scrub one more annoyance off of my boot.

After all, that's all you are: A mere annoyance. You are not some threat to whom I'd give a degree of honor, or even a respectable death. No, you're a lowly worm, fit to be crushed under the heel of a man who is superior to you in every aspect."

He decides not to comment on the fact that while the elevator might be in full view of whatever happens, Marciano conveniently put a basically impassable shield around the building that would make actually harming him from the outside rather difficult if it even halfway lives up to its name.

Meanwhile, Cyrus makes his way toward the highest floors. If Marcy's being truthful and the elevators really are the only way up, he'll take them. He could always just break the elevator and fly up if the halfling tries to pull something.

Also, he's lying about hiring mercenaries with the money he paid, but there's no way Marciano could know that, and he enjoys painting the halfling in as poor a light as possible.

The elevator is the only way up, and it's located on the outside of the building. It's very nice, and made completely of a kind of glass, meant to give the occupants the idea that they were going up on nothing but air. It's attached to the side of the tower, and leads all the way up to the tip top. Cyrus walks into the elevator, and can look down and see how high the tower is. There are many buttons against the left wall, all showing floor numbers. There's also an intercom, to which Marciano speaks into. [/COLOR]Hah! You are superior to me, this is a known fact, darling. And I did matter, Cyrus. I paved the path to a great future. You really think I would go through all of this trouble, for nothing? The Spirit Engine? I've burnt the files completely, and destroyed everything. Only my successor will ever be able to create it, and when it does he will rewrite life as you know it. I may be long dead...But my influence will last forever. I've made my mark. And, I think....there might be a chance I survive this. Defense Mechanisms ZETA will defend me. My successor has the schematics for them as well. Every device that was ever to be built, stored with him. The rest destroyed. You will not profit from this, not if I can help it. I'll destroy the whole tower if I must.


Up, Up and Away

Meanwhile, Day and Markus probably shouldn't be skipped over. A poke would have been appreciated...

Anyhoo, they're making a run for it. Scary eldritch hellfire isn't on either of their agendas for today, so they'll be making a quick detour under the melted floor and then back up again a few feet further on, completely bypassing the unbreakable door to sneak a peek at whatever's hidden in the room beyond.

'cause everyone knows all the really good stuff's hidden behind the stupid doors that only open once you hunt down the darned key twenty levels up.

Mhm, the room is The Arcane Library's main hallway. At the end of it is a simple, unlocked wooden door leading into a large room. The hallway is full of shelves stacked up with old books. The ground is covered in them as well, the explosions knocked the books down. There's also three very large crates in the room, all of them filled with magical potions and supplies. Staves, wands, rods, potions of any kind really. Stored in the box. (5 Cure Critical Wounds Potions, 10 Wands of Magic Missile [45 Charges], 5 Potions of Invisibility, 5 Potions of Bull's Strength, 3 Scrolls of Combustion, and a very short staff with a crystal pyramid on the top. Obviously the magical artifacts were stored in here. The way up is through the wooden door.



[We're Going Down Swinging!]

Ow? :smallconfused:

Clarissa didn't have any lungs to fill with granules of sediment in the first place, but in her child form, Kid!Clarissa is prone to a magnificently magical imagination, immature feelings, and an unrivaled love of candy...and flesh. If any sugary candy or sweet ice cream is stored on the lower floors of the building, the tentacles will ignore the soldiers in the area completely to omnomnom it, which will likely come to pass unless the soldiers fire explosives, lasers, or etcetera (not mundane bullets) at them in which case they'll attempt to swat the soldiers away and resume the candy theft unless the soldiers hit them with AoE attacks or do something more organized or specific than shoot them randomly in places.

Kid!Clarissa, meanwhile, continues to jump up and down in place in sheer, untamed rage! She doesn't have the longest attention span in the world by any stretch of the imagination, so she'll probably soon forget what she was so angry about. As for now, she's probably scheduled to crash through the floor! Whee!

Also, if Clarissa gets a hold of a recording of Cyrus claiming that she's getting paid for smashing things, she's gonna insist on getting paid one way or another because money is the primary fuel for fun! :smallbiggrin:

Yeah, tentacles blast soldiers around like a bully pushing small children. There are no foodses.

[ThirdEmperor]

Arcane Library

No time to sort all this stuff, much less identify what does what. Daedalus glances at the titles of a few books before tossing them into the floating supply crate, Markus shoveling in the various magical trinkets and brick-a-brack by the plus-sized armful. And once the room's looted of everything clearly valuable Day can spot between his x-ray and his thermal and all his others fancy modes of vision, they head up the stairs to find another room to sack.

[BladeofObliviom]

[Elevator 13]

Cyrus steps into the elevator without any real apprehension, smirking softly as Marciano keeps talking. He presses the button to head to the top floors, making liberal use of blue magic to bypass any potential password, keycard, or identity requirement.

"Once again, you tragically underestimate what's been done. I may have already destroyed your labs, but one of your researchers already showed me the blueprints, and I've calculated the alterations required to make them functional. I'll profit plenty off of this, unless by some miracle you manage to kill me. We've been pushed towards this inexorable confrontation, halfling. Don't disappoint me even more than you already have."

He's no longer casting any offensive spells, but he's strengthening his personal shield on the off chance that there's something planned. He recognizes that the elevator being "In full view of whatever Marciano throws at him" is a total bluff because of the Multidimensional shield that even Planewalking can't penetrate, but it's possible that there's a bomb hidden on the elevator or something.

[The Alexandrian]

[Going Down]

No foodses! :smallfrown:

But no foodses makes Kid!Clarissa confused! If the sixty floors' worth of soldiers don't eat food, then how do they survive? :smallconfused: She couldn't imagine a day's time elapsing where she didn't eat food!

Anyway, Kid!Clarissa will keep destroying random things with her super powers until she falls through the floor, so Clarissa can be skipped for awhile up until that happens and awhile after that happens.

[Hattish Thing]

Arcane Library

No time to sort all this stuff, much less identify what does what. Daedalus glances at the titles of a few books before tossing them into the floating supply crate, Markus shoveling in the various magical trinkets and brick-a-brack by the plus-sized armful. And once the room's looted of everything clearly valuable Day can spot between his x-ray and his thermal and all his others fancy modes of vision, they head up the stairs to find another room to sack.

Well, all of the magical stuff is piled up. The wands, staves, scrolls, spellbooks, and other items are all placed in the floating supply crates. The room is looted of all valuable items and now looks rather barren. Oddly enough, they are no people here. The stairs lead up to the second half of the Arcane Library. The stairs open up to a long hallway, leading into a circular room. The hallway is full of bookshelves, and books lie scattered on the floor. Said floor is also covered in sand, which shifts and moves oddly about. Almost as if it's alive. At the end of the hall are two figures. One of them is at least ten feet tall, and composed completely or rock, clay, and sand. It has glass sphere's for eyes, a massive square rock carved into the shape of a spiked hammer is at the end of it's right arm, while a hand shaped rock is on the other. It looks at the two who entered slowly. The man next to him is much smaller. He wears burgundy robes with a dark red cloak and hood. His cuffs are all a sandy gold color, and his eyes seem to be made of sand. He has a large beard that reaches his chest, shaped into an Egyptian style beard. His right arm is behind his back, while his left is right in front of him. He softly rocks his head back and forth. He then notices Markus and Day. The door will close behind them. Greetingsss, humansss....you mussst be the sssservantsss of Cyrusss. You are to die...brace yoursssselvesss...I am The Grandfather.


[Elevator 13]

Cyrus steps into the elevator without any real apprehension, smirking softly as Marciano keeps talking. He presses the button to head to the top floors, making liberal use of blue magic to bypass any potential password, keycard, or identity requirement.

"Once again, you tragically underestimate what's been done. I may have already destroyed your labs, but one of your researchers already showed me the blueprints, and I've calculated the alterations required to make them functional. I'll profit plenty off of this, unless by some miracle you manage to kill me. We've been pushed towards this inexorable confrontation, halfling. Don't disappoint me even more than you already have."

He's no longer casting any offensive spells, but he's strengthening his personal shield on the off chance that there's something planned. He recognizes that the elevator being "In full view of whatever Marciano throws at him" is a total bluff because of the Multidimensional shield that even Planewalking can't penetrate, but it's possible that there's a bomb hidden on the elevator or something.

In his seat, Marciano giggles horridly. The elevator's password is easily learned and used. The password is, incidentally the word "Pyrite". The elevator begins to soar up the tower, and Cyrus will get to see a beautiful view over Inside. The elevator goes up slowly for about a minute, during which the intercom is silent. Then, there's a horrible screeching sound and the elevator grinds against the wall, at a full stop. Then, Cyrus can see the shields around Louv're Tower become visible and weaker. Then, he'll notice a shield around the elevator! Marciano has taken 70% of the main shields power and sent it here, to trap Cyrus. He's also activated the physical shield template, as well ass anti-teleportation.Dumbass. I don't like you...you annoy me. And you smell funny, now...I've greatly weakened my Tower Shields, but now you're stuck, and I doubt you'll be getting out anytime soon. See, my shields are powered by The Grandfather's magic. The only way to dispel them is for The Grandfather to die, and that's not happening anytime soon. He'll squish your friends like bugs...Cyrus, if you say I'm an insect, then you must be even smaller, for I have fooled you all. Now, sit here and stew a bit.


[Going Down]

No foodses! :smallfrown:

But no foodses makes Kid!Clarissa confused! If the sixty floors' worth of soldiers don't eat food, then how do they survive? :smallconfused: She couldn't imagine a day's time elapsing where she didn't eat food!

Anyway, Kid!Clarissa will keep destroying random things with her super powers until she falls through the floor, so Clarissa can be skipped for awhile up until that happens and awhile after that happens.

Well, the soldiers are pretty much slaves to ZETA, the main computer. They are part of their suits of armor. They are fed through injections every morning and evening by tubes that connect into them through the jacket. The suit and the soldier coexist, without one another they are broken. But that means they don't need many human requirements. And, the floor collapses, the room below happens to be bunkers for soldiers.

[ThirdEmperor]

Arcane Thread

Oh. Big frikkin' golem and a magical dude too. And here Day was, hoping to finish off this looting spree without any more interruptions.

Snagging the edge of a bookshelf to improvise a brake, Day brings his hovering ride to a halt just inside the room, Markus joining him a second later at the edge of the crawling sand. "So, uh.. Do we really gotta do this?" An eyebrow is quirked.

"cause this place's goin' down an that's not gonna be healthy for anyone. Marcy's dead an his engine's gonna go up in smoke any minute now with th' rest of this tower an I'm not too clear on why ya crazy cultist types are even following him? Really, what'cha got t' gain here by fightin' me? An let's not forget my bro here." Day gives his big brother a pat on the shoulder, as if the eight foot murderlizard needed any more attention drawn his way.

"C'mon, just cut an run already."

[BladeofObliviom]

[Elevator 13]

Cyrus shrugs, and claps a few times.

"Ooh, good show there. A for effort. You've risen to roughly the level of 'toad' or 'newt' in my eyes, which is still more than you were before. I'll admit that I didn't see this particular event coming. It was a good plan on your part, and I'm actually not entirely disappointed in you for once. It's a little sad that you assumed I didn't have contingencies of my own in place, though.

Thanks for telling me the obvious weak point in your impenetrable shield too, dumbass."


[Elsewhere]

While it might have seemed as if the Sorcerer were acting as a force of pure destruction in the areas he passed by, this was not strictly true. While he did summon unspeakable amounts of energy to blow things up, he did so by tearing a countless number of rifts to a countless number of pocket dimensions. Now, at his command, countless things are starting to come through...

...And they are not happy.

Unspeakably horrifying demons, undead, elementals of earth, stone, and steel, golems, and any number of other abominations against all that is good and holy are dragging themselves inside the tower en masse. Yes, a multidimensional barrier should have prevented anything from teleporting in, but it can't stop things that are already inside, in one dimension or another.

The security should start running if it knows what's good for it. Cyrus has built up a whole lot of allies and servants, both willing and unwilling, over the course of his long life, just for moments like this.

Meanwhile, outside the tower and the plane entirely, within the Blind Eternities that sit between the countless multiverses, a small missile, no larger than a single needle, crashes into the side of the now-significantly-weakened shield, emitting a short-range pulse of sheer magical flux.

In truth, Cyrus created this missile decades ago, and hid it in the eternities near Ravnica in case he ever needed to wipe an entire plane from existence. Here, though, all it does is scrubs one point in reality free of all within it for an instant. An instant is all that Cyrus' Elite Minions need to get in, though.


Just to clarify what's going on:

While rampaging through the tower, he intentionally weakened the fabric of the planes enough for a whole crapload of monsters from other planes to jump inside the tower. They are limited in number, because that shield functions pandimensionally and only things that were already stuck inside it can come through. Still though, they should cause quite a bit of damage.

Still, they're only a distraction, because he also called in an airstrike from the empty void between dimensions using a planebuster against a targetted point on the shield. It might well be enough energy to shatter the shield entirely in its weakened state, but all he really needs is a hole in it for a few short instants.

Assuming that actually happens as planned and the shield isn't utterly unbreakable even when limited to 30% of its basic strength, a strike team of twelve Thraxian Soldiers teleport in. They weren't mentioned this post because I haven't confirmed that there's an entry point yet.

[The Alexandrian]

[Bunkers? - Guilty Until Proven Friendly]

Those poor deprived soldiers! Having to be fed via injections all the time would be horrible!

So did Clarissa land in a soldier barracks or a bunker? I've never heard of a tower-bunker ever before! It doesn't much matter this post, though, as Kid!Clarissa will spend her time units lying on the floor and calming herself down. She went ballistic on everything and is now suffering a short cooldown period. Her tentacles are, on the other hand, still active, and they may cause trouble for Cyrus's monsters if the spawn of evil warp in as Clarissa will operate under the assumption that they were summoned in by desert cultists and try to wallop them with her tendrils and ensnare them with dozens of tongues and nom them with the gaping maws lining her tendrils unless the servants of Cyrus make it obvious that they aren't batting for Marciano's cultists' team seconds after they teleport in. She isn't aware of Cyrus's presence in the tower yet and she knows for a fact that Day is no conjurer, so these transdimensional invaders must be on Marcy's payroll unless proven otherwise!

Fortunately, there are only six of these tendrils besieging the tower and their target priority dictates that they attack Marcy's soldiers first, if at all possible.

As I just now remembered, Cyrus has exclusively attacked on floors above floor sixty (?), so, while it isn't impossible that his task forces will run into any tentacles, it is highly improbable unless the layout of the enivronment changes radically.

[Hattish Thing]

Arcane Thread

Oh. Big frikkin' golem and a magical dude too. And here Day was, hoping to finish off this looting spree without any more interruptions.

Snagging the edge of a bookshelf to improvise a brake, Day brings his hovering ride to a halt just inside the room, Markus joining him a second later at the edge of the crawling sand. "So, uh.. Do we really gotta do this?" An eyebrow is quirked.

"cause this place's goin' down an that's not gonna be healthy for anyone. Marcy's dead an his engine's gonna go up in smoke any minute now with th' rest of this tower an I'm not too clear on why ya crazy cultist types are even following him? Really, what'cha got t' gain here by fightin' me? An let's not forget my bro here." Day gives his big brother a pat on the shoulder, as if the eight foot murderlizard needed any more attention drawn his way.

"C'mon, just cut an run already."

The Grandfather frowns. He begins to speak slowly to Day. Oh? You are so certain Louv're Tower will fall? I am as well. Following Marciano was a mistake on my part, we should have just stolen the plans and killed him off. We're not following him! WE merely want The Spirit Engine. This 'machine', is powerful. It can open holes in time and space, freely. It can open dimensions, open portals, create black holes.....even pierce the realm of God's. Our God, Pulveris, is trapped in a desert prison plane. It is our goal to free him. We need The Spirit Engine. Make me, and my cult, a better offer. Marciano's trying to weaponize the thing, A version called Devil's Weapon. But, I don't want that. Get me the Engine, and I'll help you. I can drop the shields, for one.


[Elevator 13]

Cyrus shrugs, and claps a few times.

"Ooh, good show there. A for effort. You've risen to roughly the level of 'toad' or 'newt' in my eyes, which is still more than you were before. I'll admit that I didn't see this particular event coming. It was a good plan on your part, and I'm actually not entirely disappointed in you for once. It's a little sad that you assumed I didn't have contingencies of my own in place, though.

Thanks for telling me the obvious weak point in your impenetrable shield too, dumbass."


[Elsewhere]

While it might have seemed as if the Sorcerer were acting as a force of pure destruction in the areas he passed by, this was not strictly true. While he did summon unspeakable amounts of energy to blow things up, he did so by tearing a countless number of rifts to a countless number of pocket dimensions. Now, at his command, countless things are starting to come through...

...And they are not happy.

Unspeakably horrifying demons, undead, elementals of earth, stone, and steel, golems, and any number of other abominations against all that is good and holy are dragging themselves inside the tower en masse. Yes, a multidimensional barrier should have prevented anything from teleporting in, but it can't stop things that are already inside, in one dimension or another.

The security should start running if it knows what's good for it. Cyrus has built up a whole lot of allies and servants, both willing and unwilling, over the course of his long life, just for moments like this.

Meanwhile, outside the tower and the plane entirely, within the Blind Eternities that sit between the countless multiverses, a small missile, no larger than a single needle, crashes into the side of the now-significantly-weakened shield, emitting a short-range pulse of sheer magical flux.

In truth, Cyrus created this missile decades ago, and hid it in the eternities near Ravnica in case he ever needed to wipe an entire plane from existence. Here, though, all it does is scrubs one point in reality free of all within it for an instant. An instant is all that Cyrus' Elite Minions need to get in, though.


Just to clarify what's going on:

While rampaging through the tower, he intentionally weakened the fabric of the planes enough for a whole crapload of monsters from other planes to jump inside the tower. They are limited in number, because that shield functions pandimensionally and only things that were already stuck inside it can come through. Still though, they should cause quite a bit of damage.

Still, they're only a distraction, because he also called in an airstrike from the empty void between dimensions using a planebuster against a targetted point on the shield. It might well be enough energy to shatter the shield entirely in its weakened state, but all he really needs is a hole in it for a few short instants.

Assuming that actually happens as planned and the shield isn't utterly unbreakable even when limited to 30% of its basic strength, a strike team of twelve Thraxian Soldiers teleport in. They weren't mentioned this post because I haven't confirmed that there's an entry point yet.


Oh boy, yeah, shields are completely down outside the tower, the only shields left are in the elevator, and those are strong. Monsters can eeeeasily teleport into the tower now, the group of Hellish creature's loose in the tower. The soldier's left scramble, and are now just running around in a frenzy, ZETA having abandoned it's hold on them. Marciano speaks through the intercom. ....Good job, that I wasn't expecting. You've broken down the tower's shields, great job. You'll cut through my troops like grass. But, guess what? The Spirit Engine is breaking...Half of this tower is going to be sucked into a different plane.


[Bunkers? - Guilty Until Proven Friendly]

Those poor deprived soldiers! Having to be fed via injections all the time would be horrible!

So did Clarissa land in a soldier barracks or a bunker? I've never heard of a tower-bunker ever before! It doesn't much matter this post, though, as Kid!Clarissa will spend her time units lying on the floor and calming herself down. She went ballistic on everything and is now suffering a short cooldown period. Her tentacles are, on the other hand, still active, and they may cause trouble for Cyrus's monsters if the spawn of evil warp in as Clarissa will operate under the assumption that they were summoned in by desert cultists and try to wallop them with her tendrils and ensnare them with dozens of tongues and nom them with the gaping maws lining her tendrils unless the servants of Cyrus make it obvious that they aren't batting for Marciano's cultists' team seconds after they teleport in. She isn't aware of Cyrus's presence in the tower yet and she knows for a fact that Day is no conjurer, so these transdimensional invaders must be on Marcy's payroll unless proven otherwise!

Fortunately, there are only six of these tendrils besieging the tower and their target priority dictates that they attack Marcy's soldiers first, if at all possible.

As I just now remembered, Cyrus has exclusively attacked on floors above floor sixty (?), so, while it isn't impossible that his task forces will run into any tentacles, it is highly improbable unless the layout of the enivronment changes radically.

Nope, Cyru's force would appear right with Clarissa and the panicking Louv're soldiers.

The Laboratory

Meanwhile, The Spirit Engine cracks and sputters, filling the room with smoke. There's an explosion, followed by three more. The room goes black. a strange black dot appears in the room, very slowly getting larger, and larger. The Spirit Engine lies in pieces underneath the dot, but it's as if the dot is magnetic, the Spirit Engine wreckage floats and is pulled towards the dot, the pieces vanishing at contact, and the dot getting bigger...

[ThirdEmperor]

Arcane Library

"Mebbe. Maaaaybe. I can get'cha the spirit engine easy but what's in it for me? 'cause I don't even know why I'd want th' shields gone for all I know they're th' only things holdin' this place up!" Who cares if this place's about to go up in smoke; Day's gonna sit here and negotiate until he gets a darn good deal.

[BladeofObliviom]

[All over the Place]

It should be noted that the various nameless and not-even-really-described summoned monsters are making extreme efforts to exterminate anything wearing a Louv're logo, but they offer no real resistance to being eaten beyond simple attempts to get free that probably don't go anywhere.

Still, they're just a distraction.


Arcane Library

Just far back enough to not quite intrude on the conversation, twelve flashes of light occur simultaneously as a platoon of Thraxian Elites teleport in. Since I haven't used Thraxians onscreen in some time, I might as well describe them.

Thraxians are an unusual species, originally custom-made for Cyrus by Karyana's blood magic, and later modified somewhat by the Sorcerer himself through highly unethical magical experimentation. They appear somewhat similar to half-dragons, though they have a very serpentine face rather than a humanoid one, and have a large pair of flight-capable insect wings upon their backs. They are armored in banded plates, resembling the lorica segmentata used by the Roman Legions, and equipped with a variety of enchanted goods offering a degree of protection against most types of attack.

Like the Dragons they were partially created from, each Thraxian is a sorcerer to some degree, though most prefer to focus on their combat skill over their magic.

In any case, they aren't saying anything quite yet, and are patiently waiting in the background.


[Elevator]

"Indeed. I find that it's so wonderful to have loyal servants. It's so nice to be able to trust your allies with things like your main shields. Of course, one Grandfather-character seemed awfully interested in the Spirit Engine, and little else, when I last spoke to him.

I wonder how he'd react to learning that you do not, in fact, have a Spirit Engine anymore...and I do?"

[The Alexandrian]

[All Over Marcy's Hizzouse]

In that case, Clarissa's tendrils will amicably leave the assorted friendly monsters to their work that they might embark on a happy, destructive rampage/campaign against Marcy's security forces together!

Whee! Roar! Death! Fun!

[Bunkers! -Or- Bunks!]

>.<

Right!

Well, Clarissa continues to rest here and stuff. It isn't the most comfortable of places in which to rest, but she makes do.

[Hattish Thing]

Arcane Library

"Mebbe. Maaaaybe. I can get'cha the spirit engine easy but what's in it for me? 'cause I don't even know why I'd want th' shields gone for all I know they're th' only things holdin' this place up!" Who cares if this place's about to go up in smoke; Day's gonna sit here and negotiate until he gets a darn good deal.

The Grandfather adjusts his dark red and sandy brown robes. The books flying around him open and one flies in front of his face. He reads aloud. And so, Pulveris was banished from the realms of the gods, trapped to eternally rot in a demiplane of unspeakable horror, a never-ending sea of sand, and at the center the banished god made his home, a massive palace of gold and glass, flying atop a massive maelstrom of sand.

He has sat, waiting for his followers to one day free him, so he may be freed, and his power allowed to surge! So that Pulveris may take his revenge upon the men and gods that trapped him! It is OUR DUTY, our holy sanctum.

Myself-Ten thousand years ago.

He looks at Daedalus now, and he might notice that The Grandfather's eyes seem to be made of glass, with sandy pupils. You are all lowly sinners in his eyes, but we, The Serpentine Acolyte, are his chosen ones. The reweaving must not be forestalled and further! Any who obstruct the opening and release of Pulveris will be an enemy of mine. I require the Spirit Engine.

You want the shields down because I've been around the world for thousands of years and have gathered every secret of Black Magic imaginable. Because my power rivals none anyone has seen yet. I am Pulveris' human avatar. Human no more of course...I am more god than man now. I bring the shields down, teleportation becomes available, defenses go down, and Marciano is left with nothing but his last lines of defense. Then I can bring down this tower if you like.

Who is anyone to call me insane simply because they're kind holds the majority? You have sinned as well, to contribute to this world's corrupt, impure state! Our order are the only people who understand the one solution, freeing Pulveris and beginning the reweaving! We are the only true sane people in a mad, evil world.

You may say I have no right to go against other God's work. No right? In this horrible world, rights are taken by the powerful, not given to the weak! Magtok, Tobias...even you. Powerful men, only because you take from others. Even I am guilty...The very fact that I am here, able to free Pulveris soon and begin the reweaving of this world, justifies it!

Now - I am charged with opening the portal to Pulveris' prison and releasing him into this world. Marciano was our Holy Catalyst, our ticket to Pulveris. Only because of The Spirit Engine. If you attack me, or betray me...for a brief time the history of this world will remember the pair of opportunistic sinners who did not yield, and were hence slain most brutally.

Help me, I help you. He grins once more, stroking his blonde-grey goatee. He notices the creatures in the shadows, but does nothing, apparently confident in his abilities. All around the tower, cultists begin teleporting into The Sanctum, so soon there's about ten more, and then ten more...and soon ten more. About thirty have survived. Then he raises his hands in the air and claps them together, and at the sound the Main Shields disappear, so Cyrus is freed and shields are down.


[All over the Place]

It should be noted that the various nameless and not-even-really-described summoned monsters are making extreme efforts to exterminate anything wearing a Louv're logo, but they offer no real resistance to being eaten beyond simple attempts to get free that probably don't go anywhere.

Still, they're just a distraction.


Arcane Library

Just far back enough to not quite intrude on the conversation, twelve flashes of light occur simultaneously as a platoon of Thraxian Elites teleport in. Since I haven't used Thraxians onscreen in some time, I might as well describe them.

Thraxians are an unusual species, originally custom-made for Cyrus by Karyana's blood magic, and later modified somewhat by the Sorcerer himself through highly unethical magical experimentation. They appear somewhat similar to half-dragons, though they have a very serpentine face rather than a humanoid one, and have a large pair of flight-capable insect wings upon their backs. They are armored in banded plates, resembling the lorica segmentata used by the Roman Legions, and equipped with a variety of enchanted goods offering a degree of protection against most types of attack.

Like the Dragons they were partially created from, each Thraxian is a sorcerer to some degree, though most prefer to focus on their combat skill over their magic.

In any case, they aren't saying anything quite yet, and are patiently waiting in the background.


[Elevator]

"Indeed. I find that it's so wonderful to have loyal servants. It's so nice to be able to trust your allies with things like your main shields. Of course, one Grandfather-character seemed awfully interested in the Spirit Engine, and little else, when I last spoke to him.

I wonder how he'd react to learning that you do not, in fact, have a Spirit Engine anymore...and I do?"

The men are tearing through Louv're Industries, destroying any men and women wearing the orange and grey Louv're logo. Nearly every single soldier from floors 60-below are dead, and the rest of the soldiers are not willing to fight it seems.

Marciano speaks. ...When did you speak to him?! You...what have you done, no! Next the shields evaporate, and Cyrus is free. He might also notice a whooshing noise, like the sound an aircraft would make. Sure enough, the last gunship has floated down in front of the elevator. The thing is huge, equipped with about six missiles, two machine gun turrets, and one massive gun like a tank, all built into a large helicopter. Before Cyrus can react, it fires everything it's got. Six powerful missiles, two barrages of bullets, and one massive shell are blown his way extremely fast. Even if they miss, they'll take out the elevator. But Cyrus may be able to dodge, so far he's been a badass.


[All Over Marcy's Hizzouse]

In that case, Clarissa's tendrils will amicably leave the assorted friendly monsters to their work that they might embark on a happy, destructive rampage/campaign against Marcy's security forces together!

Whee! Roar! Death! Fun!

[Bunkers! -Or- Bunks!]

>.<

Right!

Well, Clarissa continues to rest here and stuff. It isn't the most comfortable of places in which to rest, but she makes do.

Well, there are beds and nice things. She might hear a loud clap as shields fall.

[ThirdEmperor]

Arcane Library

"Oh fiiiiiiiiiiiine." Day rolls the word out like, well, a reluctant child, slipping off his hovering vehicle to stroll right up to the Grandfather. "I'll be ya new Holy Catalyst an you can serve me. But I'm warning ya now that it's gonna cost an arm anna leg." And just like that, he sticks his hand out. "Now we shake an you stick to it if you wanna stay immortal."

[BladeofObliviom]

[Arcane Library]

With the shields down, the mission parameters have changed, and so the Thraxians withdraw with another teleportation spell, attempting to leap to the upper floors.


Elevator 13

He sort of has, hasn't he?

The sorcerer snaps his fingers, fading from view just as the missiles hit. There's a moment of silence; nobody could survive something like that, right?

Of course he did. The man winks back into existence with the smell of brimstone several meters above the cockpit, landing upon it and driving a flaming, magically enhanced fist through the glass and around the pilot's throat. Assuming success, he tears the pilot from the cockpit and thrusts his knee into the pilot's spine, before tossing him aside and taking his place at the controls of the Missilecopter, laughing maniacally.

(All attempted, of course.)

[The Alexandrian]

[Bunkers]

Oooo look, beds! Clarissa crawls up onto one of them where she will rest until something disturbs her rest that she can kill or destroy. Until then, relaxation time! Not nappy time, though. She doesn't control this tower yet!

((Feel free to skip her until something happens in the general area of the Bunkers!))

[Hattish Thing]

Arcane Library

The old man strokes his Arabian-Style beard before moving over to Day and shaking his hand. The Grandfather's skin feels gritty and dry, as if there was no water in his entire body. Next he looks to his thirty surviving cultists. Ye of the Faith! My blessed children, a new page in history has been turned...Marciano has failed us, but fear not! We have a new Catalyst, who will lead us besides me to the reweaving of fate...Avenge the loss of our brothers and sisters this day, destroy Marciano's hirelings, and salvage what you can. I want every suit of armor teleported in here, every weapon as well.

He moves and turns to Day again as Cultists slowly evaporate and reform elsewhere in the tower. Now, I will accompany you.

Around: Oh boy, which floors do the demons teleport to? Floors 80-83 are cut off by a large elementium door, suitably locked.

Elevator 13

Oh, ****. Well, Cyrus succeeds. He now has full control of a missilecopter. :eek:

[ThirdEmperor]

Arcane Library

Ick. Day pulls away a little too quickly to be polite, wiping his hand on his coat. "Then you can 'port me on over t' where the treasure's at. 'Cause that's where I'm goin'. 'Cause I ain't stickin' around. This whole place's comin' down. Plenty'a other people t' deal with Marcy."

[BladeofObliviom]

[Missilecopter Mayhem!]

Bwahahaha!

Now...

...how is he supposed to fly this thing?

I mean, yeah, there are probably some buttons and levers to make it easy. But Cyrus, for all his raw magical strength, has no idea how to drive a gunship! Or even a normal helicopter! Hells, he's still trying to figure out a normal automobile!

Shrugging and ceasing his maniacal cackling, he tries to direct the 'copter toward the top of the elevator shaft, just using magic to shove it in that direction if he can't figure out the controls.

And then he attempts to crash the Missilecopter, high explosive ordinance and all, directly into the one entryway to the upper floors, bailing out at the last second to avoid what will no doubt be an entertaining fireworks display.


[Elsewhere]

The squad of Thraxians (who are not Demons, it should be noted) are trying to teleport to the highest floor, but the planar sealing shunts them down to floor 79 instead.

Grumbling, the group just starts heading in the direction of Elevator 13...

...only to find it destroyed. Good thing they have wings, right?

[Hattish Thing]

Arcane Library

Ick. Day pulls away a little too quickly to be polite, wiping his hand on his coat. "Then you can 'port me on over t' where the treasure's at. 'Cause that's where I'm goin'. 'Cause I ain't stickin' around. This whole place's comin' down. Plenty'a other people t' deal with Marcy."

The Grandfather nods. Good choice. The treasury is up ahead, floor 79. After that are Marciano's hidden floors. I can teleport you into there now as well, seeing as now shields are down. he claps his hands once more and he reappears in a large room. It's full of treasures, in four vaults are about twelve billion gold pieces, all of Marciano's fortune. There are five famous portraits, probably worth ten-thousand each to a collector. There are five vaults of elementium bars. (The last, there is no elementium left in the Nexus now.) There's a crate of blueprints, only kept in physical form due to their secret nature. It appears someone was in here, because that crate has been busted open, and several blueprints are missing, as well as two vaults of currency. There is about five million gold pieces in fine jewelry scattered about in boxes as well. And, that's all that's stored in the treasury. In the weapons vault across the room, there are about a hundred E14's, and sixty Heavyarms. Once more, about ten of each are missing. Five suits of white Frontier armor hang on the walls as well. We hit the jackpot didn't we, Day?


[Missilecopter Mayhem!]

Bwahahaha!

Now...

...how is he supposed to fly this thing?

I mean, yeah, there are probably some buttons and levers to make it easy. But Cyrus, for all his raw magical strength, has no idea how to drive a gunship! Or even a normal helicopter! Hells, he's still trying to figure out a normal automobile!

Shrugging and ceasing his maniacal cackling, he tries to direct the 'copter toward the top of the elevator shaft, just using magic to shove it in that direction if he can't figure out the controls.

And then he attempts to crash the Missilecopter, high explosive ordinance and all, directly into the one entryway to the upper floors, bailing out at the last second to avoid what will no doubt be an entertaining fireworks display.


[Elsewhere]

The squad of Thraxians (who are not Demons, it should be noted) are trying to teleport to the highest floor, but the planar sealing shunts them down to floor 79 instead.

Grumbling, the group just starts heading in the direction of Elevator 13...

...only to find it destroyed. Good thing they have wings, right?


Ermahgurd, erxplosions! Okay, well...flying the thing is very difficult, but his magic easily forces it up and into the side of the skyscraper. The way into the upper floors is destroyed, a massive gaping hole is opened, and pieces of door and missilecopter explode into the air, flaming shrapnel falling down to the ground. The lower floors begin to burn, the fires Clarissa started have spread, and now the first ten floors are baking, the metal starting to melt...the tower starting to fall apart from the base and the top. The black hole is getting bigger, now sucking in the entire Spirit Engine laboratory. Marciano stares dumbfounded at his camera screens as his laboratories suddenly disappear, and his tower begins to wobble. You win. Well, bye folks. He attempts to teleport, only to find that it's not working. Why? Because The Grandfather made sure Marcy doesn't escape. So all over the intercom Marciano can be heard cursing loudly.

[ThirdEmperor]

Vaults

Money, blueprints, gems, some metal stuff that's prob'ly worth a mint all on it's own if it's locked up with the rest. This'd be the perfect jackpot.

Except someone's been here already.

"Guh-reat. Now he's gonna be back. He's gonna pop right back up an I'm gonna have'ta kill him all over again." Day whines, looking up at the ceiling as the sound of tearing metal echoes down from way above. "Can ya teleport all this stuff outta here?"

Already, Markus is working on getting things loaded, grabbing a crate under each arm. Just in case it comes down to how much they can carry.

[BladeofObliviom]

[Upper Floors]

Cyrus lands in the opened hole in the top floors, admiring the blazing wreckage of Marciano's home.

Stalking the halls of the upper floors, and searching for gross little fellow, he calls out:

"Come, little halfling! Your Angels of Death await...

...All of them!"

Meanwhile, a few floors down, the squad of Thraxians just flies away off into the horizon with as much Louv're Tech as they can carry, what with all of the Missilecopter Fleet destroyed and all other air defenses of Louv're Tower in shambles.

[Hattish Thing]

Louv're Tower: Lower floors
Well. This is...Bad. The buildup of explosive fumes and gunpowder stored in the lower floors are now exposed to the fires that have erupted below due to Clarissa setting fire to a large room. Now, the fire has spread. The fires reach a few dead soldiers, and the huge amounts of special gunpowder on them cause them to instantly explode, so several rooms are covered in gore now as well. The fires multiplied, and now the first five floors are on fire, and burning. Luckily, the tower was built well, so it's not melting much yet. However, the metal base of the tower and the bottom floors are melting slowly. That's bad. In fact, the whole tower is shaking and rumbling, metal cracking. Rick Brutal just makes it out of the tower as the big glass doors are blocked by flaming pieces of metal. He also pick-pocketed a few soldiers and escaped with their high-tech guns, E13's. He looks up as the missilecopter smashes into the wall way up there. He then gasps as massive pieces of missilecopter rain from the sky.
A large missilecopter blade embeds itself deep into the ground, half of it smashed into the earth. More shrapnel, some flaming, fall down to the ground. He moves away, not wanting to get in the way of the raining bits and pieces. He does look at the higer floors from an odd angle. The....Well a room seems to be shrinking. Yes, something is sucking in the higher floors. Well, that freaks poor Rick out. He didn't like this kind of stuff, he didn't understand it. Rick Brutal is off, and now he's off the Louv're Tower land. In fact, he heads off to the nearest bar. He's escaped with some good technology he could sell. Now, glass panes begin to fall off the tower, the whole thing shaking a little. Shrapnel and pieces of the high-tech tower rain down. This is...Bad. The fires are growing larger, now many more erupt throughout the tower.

Louv're Tower: Middle Floors

Soldier's are panicking. The tower was going down and exploding all around them. They watched in horror as their friends, their comrades die in fires or explosions, or slaughtered by enemies. Some are impaled by bits of shrapnel and falling ceiling. ZETA isn't controlling them anymore, it needed it's power for what was to come. Some of the soldiers are in tears,watching good friends killed in horrible ways. The elevators aren't functioning. Then, the lights all flicker before turning off, plunging the middle and lower floors into deep darkness. Marciano had cut off all power in the floors from middle down as well, to save power. Nothing but the glow of the fire and the flashlights built into their helmets guide them through the deteriorating corridors. They curse the days they decided to work for Frontier Industries. This was not at all what they were expecting. They are killed off in numbers from explosions, and shrapnel, or falling down elevator chutes. There's almost none left, and the ones that still survive, have given up. They just sit there, and wait for death to take them. Remembering their loved ones they'll never see again...
Louv're Tower: Barracks

Clarrisa's sleeping, yes? Well... She might start feeling the temperature's rise all around her. Then, the lights go out. Next, she'll be able to feel massive vibrations all around her from explosions. Five screaming soldiers come running into the dark room. They quickly close the thick iron door behind them, and lock it. "Oh, gods no. Erm, alright. The barracks are thick, we might be able to hold out in here, and wait for the night. God... I'm hungry. I haven't had real food in ages...It's dark in here. I can't see a thing. My flashlights dead. You guys still have one?" The one that spoke was apparently the leader. He sits on the bed adjacent to Clarissa, and takes off his helmet. A flashlight is turned on, from one of the other men. Only problem is, it shines right at Clarissa's face. He gasps and shrieks ad falls over. "There's someone else in here!! ****!" Next,there's the sound of weapons being readied. The leader speaks again. "Gah! We mean no harm, please! I jus- He appears to have fallen off the bed.


Louv're Tower: Higher Floors-The Spirit Engine Laboratory


Even worse things are happening up here. Inside the laboratory, the black dot has now grown to fill the room and now starts to suck in the rest of the laboratories around it. Anyone watching might see a large black orb, growing bigger and bigger, sucking everything around it inside it's depths. Several scientists stare dumbfounded as millions of dollars of equpment are sucked inside. The remaining team of ten scientists and four doctors are screaming, dropping anything they have and running to exit the labs. Unfortunately, the doors are shut and locked. No one is escaping. They beat against the doors as the black orb grows larger and larger, feeding on electrical energy, and the matter absorbed. There are two massive stores, filters that control all of ZETA's massive amounts of electrical energy. If the orb grows a bit more, it would suck those in. Then it would grow to incredible lengths.

Louv're Tower: Treasury


The Grandfather feels the ground vibrating, and looks around. Immediately his eyes grow wide. "Oh....We must leave. This tower is about to be absorbed into a spectral realm....a prison realm where teleportation does not function, where you are trapped eternally. Nor can you die of natural cause there. A realm for gods and elder creatures. Not mortals. Anyone trapped inside will never die of old age. Immortality, but forever trapped. We must escape, I will teleport everything in this room. Name an area. NOW! He looks around and begins slowly chanting. As soon as Day speaks, they're gone.
(Certain things are missing, a bunch of plans and such. In reality, Enshadu had broken in before he scampered and stolen a few things. Quite a few safes, and some physical plans. But you knew that already.)

Louv're Tower: Higher Floors-Cyrus and Marciano

Cyrus will be able to easily walk past the abandoned rooms, pools, bars...all rooms of pleasure. Marciano lived a disgustingly pleasurable life. As Cyrus looks around, he'll see on every single televison screen, there is a snotty, arrogant looking face of Marciano Louv're. They're all muted, but it's a pre-recording. Maybe he liked to get up in the mornings and listen to himself talk? Sounds like Marciano. Soon, Cyrus will find stairs that lead up to another hall. This hall opens up to large clear doors which open into Marciano Louv're's office. The doors are open, and Marciano glares coldly at Cyrus should he appear. He immediately beings speaking. "So...This is our end? Eh? Hello Cyrus. I figured you'd be taller....and a little bit classier dressed. I overestimate your professionalism. Kay, I understand....you're here to kill me. Blah, blah, blah. You're probably wondering why there isn't some kind of big last defense mechanism, or battle, or guardian. There's not. There's no point. I'm going to die. So are you. You pushed my hand. Now, Cyrus...Don't kill me just yet. You'd get lonely."
Next...at that second, the black portal to the space between spaces, where no one can escape....sucks inside the power stored inside about fifty canisters in the laboratory. The energy was supplied to ZETA, and the entire tower. There was enough electricity stored to keep Louv're Tower and ZETA running for a month. That's quite a lot. Seeing as it feeds on electricity AND matter, the combination enlarges it by a massive amount. In fact, it enlarges, in a milisecond, to suck in all of the higher floors, and the middle floors. The Barrack where Clarissa is sleeping, and The Treasury Room are barely spared. However, Cyrus and Marciano, along with anyone else up in the higher floors would be sucked into the prison realm.

It's incredibly powerful technology, meant to keep the most powerful of wizards, even gods locked up. Most likely, Cyrus is going nowhere. He'll first feel cold. As if all the warmth inside the tower was taken away. Next he'll begin to feel very nauseated, and exhausted at once. He'll feel no pain. He'll probably pass out for a few seconds, and if he doesn't his vision might black out at least. When he wakes up....Or opens his eyes again... He'll see that it appears nothing has changed. However, the windows in Marciano's office show a dark sky, with stars floating around. When before it was daylight. He'll be sucked into the space between spaces. He'll notice Marciano in front of him, looking woozy.


(If, somehow, Cyrus is not effected... He'll probably realize that half the tower disappears. All actions attempted, of course.)

[ThirdEmperor]

Vault

"Hamlet. An make sure ya take everything."

[The Alexandrian]

[Louv're Tower - Barracks]

Naptime. So peaceful. So tranquil. So nice. First the temperature rises. Mmmm! Warmth! Then the light abandons the air. Mmmm! Dark!

And then vibrations and a beam of bright light! Augh! Hiss!

Wait... These guys can talk? Then that means...

Oh shoot. They weren't mindless soldiers were they? Whoops!

Oh gods. The tentacles that were laying siege to the exterior of the facility are immediately ripped off of whatever insanity-inducing monster they were attached and probably sucked up into Marciano's other plane of existence. :smalleek: OUCH! Clarissa grits her teeth through the unbearable, mind-shattering pain! She can't breathe! She can't think! She can't move! And when the pain has passed, there's a whimpering child lying on the bunk.

But there's no time to lick her wounds! Kid!Clarissa must act!

"We-we've got t-to get out of here!"

Clarissa cries, shutting down the pain sensors in her monster to prevent the intense agony of lost limbs from immobilizing or otherwise incapacitating her as the monster too beats a hasty retreat. With a pulse of magical energy, a portal leading to a cozy apartment in Inside might open.

Kid!Clarissa stands unsteadily and stumbles through the escape portal as fast as she possibly can, shamelessly turning tail and running away from the most nonlethal yet destructive weapon she has ever encountered.

She shall not forget this day, the day she was bested by Marciano Louv're.

[BladeofObliviom]

[The Blind Eternities]

The sorcerer flashes a rictus grin before all goes black. For Marciano, anyway. The problem with trying to disorient a planeswalker by shifting between realities is that it's a little bit like trying to burn a Fire Elemental to death. Also, those safeguards against cold and such are still in place, so most of those secondary effects do...

...basically nothing! However, the effect's base purpose, at least, seems to work.


When he eventually comes to, Marciano will likely see Cyrus merely lounging in midair, in roughly the same point that he was in before. Presumably the rest of the enveloped section of the tower was taken here too, so he's just sort of looking around.

"Well, I've really done it now, haven't I? At least you've got a nice place here. I must thank you, by the way. It's fairly rare that I get to experience something entirely new, even in the Nexus. It should be fun to abandon you in this hellhole once I build a reversed Spirit Engine from the blueprint I've memorized and use it to create a temporary, one-man escape hole.

Of course, you're trying to trap me in the void between planes, which is the closest thing I have to a real home these days. So, frankly, the only reason I'm still here is that I haven't planeswalked away. It's really easy for those with the gift, you know."

The man calmly picks up a pool cue.

"In the meantime, care for a game?"

...Alright, now he's just being mocking.

[Hattish Thing]

[The Blind Eternities]

The sorcerer flashes a rictus grin before all goes black. For Marciano, anyway. The problem with trying to disorient a planeswalker by shifting between realities is that it's a little bit like trying to burn a Fire Elemental to death. Also, those safeguards against cold and such are still in place, so most of those secondary effects do...

...basically nothing! However, the effect's base purpose, at least, seems to work.


When he eventually comes to, Marciano will likely see Cyrus merely lounging in midair, in roughly the same point that he was in before. Presumably the rest of the enveloped section of the tower was taken here too, so he's just sort of looking around.

"Well, I've really done it now, haven't I? At least you've got a nice place here. I must thank you, by the way. It's fairly rare that I get to experience something entirely new, even in the Nexus. It should be fun to abandon you in this hellhole once I build a reversed Spirit Engine from the blueprint I've memorized and use it to create a temporary, one-man escape hole.

Of course, you're trying to trap me in the void between planes, which is the closest thing I have to a real home these days. So, frankly, the only reason I'm still here is that I haven't planeswalked away. It's really easy for those with the gift, you know."

The man calmly picks up a pool cue.

"In the meantime, care for a game?"

...Alright, now he's just being mocking.

Marciano gets up out of his chair and moves to the pool game, stretching and rubbing his eyes out as he walks. He reaches under the table and pulls out a white pool cue with an "M" tip. He's grinning as well. Little did Cyrus know exactly how strong this was. Sure, why not? Now... Cyrus, I don't think you understand the position that you're in. Kay? This weapon is the greatest thing Frontier Industries ever made. Meant to enslave gods, even entire planes of existence. We're not in merely the space between spaces Cyrus. There IS NO way out. A reverse Spirit Engine? How the hell did you get one of my plans? Oh wait... You were on the research team. I don't think it can be reversed. This machine is Frontier Industries greatest invention, and took me a very long time to create. You did this yourself, Cyrus. I was going to go quietly. You had to break the damn thing. We're in the space between matter. We can't escape. This prison plane was meant to house gods forever. He begins arranging the balls.

[BladeofObliviom]

[Prison Plane or Something]

Cyrus only chuckles in response to Marcy's doomsaying.

"You're relying on the assumption that Louv're Industries was special and top-of-the-line. Suggesting that I can't do it because it was hard for you is a little bit like saying that the Gorilla cannot lift the tiny stone because the Mouse found it a challenge.

Because ultimately, Mr. Louv're, when you've stripped away all of the undeserved and ill-gotten gains that you've managed to pick up in the form of this corporation, you're nothing more than a common rogue with delusions of grandeur. Even the fact that you referred to the Spirit Engine Schematic as 'yours' despite the undeniable fact that you personally had likely nothing to do with its development suggests a degree of narcissism. Perhaps you are fortunate, to have made it as far as you have, but in the end you're still utterly pathetic."

He lines up a shot, opening the game and somehow managing to land the seven-ball in one of the corner pockets.

"Ah, solids for me then. Excellent. Oh drat."

The last bit is said after he slightly bungles his follow-up, merely knocking the balls around rather than actually scoring.

[Hattish Thing]

[Prison Plane or Something]

Cyrus only chuckles in response to Marcy's doomsaying.

"You're relying on the assumption that Louv're Industries was special and top-of-the-line. Suggesting that I can't do it because it was hard for you is a little bit like saying that the Gorilla cannot lift the tiny stone because the Mouse found it a challenge.

Because ultimately, Mr. Louv're, when you've stripped away all of the undeserved and ill-gotten gains that you've managed to pick up in the form of this corporation, you're nothing more than a common rogue with delusions of grandeur. Even the fact that you referred to the Spirit Engine Schematic as 'yours' despite the undeniable fact that you personally had likely nothing to do with its development suggests a degree of narcissism. Perhaps you are fortunate, to have made it as far as you have, but in the end you're still utterly pathetic."

He lines up a shot, opening the game and somehow managing to land the seven-ball in one of the corner pockets.

"Ah, solids for me then. Excellent. Oh drat."

The last bit is said after he slightly bungles his follow-up, merely knocking the balls around rather than actually scoring.

Marciano Louv're takes out one of his large cigars. He holds his pool cue at his side, before breathing in heavily. He speaks. Frontier Industries, is top of the line. They're the best of the best in space weaponry. Weapons manufacturing, bioweaponry, even creating life from nothing. Might be common here, but elsewhere... They're the best of the best. Even to Nexus standards the corporation is powerful. They removed me a week ago. But they haven't dealt with me, they figured you'd do it... even though it would waste good money and technology... It would be a bigger waste in coming in force to here.

I didn't create it, hah! Executive Charlotte Pay did that for me. She tried to warn your cities council about me, and they didn't listen. Now this might swallow all of The Nexus. Fine with me. A rogue? A thief... Yes. I'll probably never be anything more despite all this. But... What I've created... Will exist. I will change this world, though indirectly. Kay?

He then knocks a ball, and the magentized table that allows Marciano to win every time due to magnets in his balls (Hurr durr), takes effect. Perfect score. Marcy grins.

[BladeofObliviom]

[Prison Plane]

Cyrus watches as the halfling racks up a perfect game, thoroughly unimpressed with the blatant cheating.

"This is exactly what I was just talking about. What healthy ego feels the need to cheat in a meaningless game of Billiards with a total stranger and nothing on the line but pride? You're not fooling anyone with a basic knowledge of trigonometry and physics; all of those shots were at least four or five degrees off of where they should have been, so all of those balls were curving artificially. How many games have you cheated in for no reason, that you actually had a table built for that express purpose?

You're not even a self-respecting thief, Mr. Louv're. You're a wretch and a wastrel, a creature with such lack of purpose that even the lowest diseased fools of the Red Zone laugh and frolic with the knowledge that, as unfortunate as they are, at least they aren't you.

You're like an orphan who reaches for attention in desperate need of some kind of social interaction, hard to watch without retching in disgust. And whether or not your company is effective is immaterial to this discussion. What I'm saying is that I'll escape this place fairly easily while you'll be stuck here for eternity unless I use you to power the device. Which I'm actually rather tempted to do because you're not useful for much else.

Your actions will change nothing, and I'll destroy this plane from the inside out."

Ouch, Cyrus. Now you're just being mean for no reason.

[Hattish Thing]

[Prison Plane]

Cyrus watches as the halfling racks up a perfect game, thoroughly unimpressed with the blatant cheating.

"This is exactly what I was just talking about. What healthy ego feels the need to cheat in a meaningless game of Billiards with a total stranger and nothing on the line but pride? You're not fooling anyone with a basic knowledge of trigonometry and physics; all of those shots were at least four or five degrees off of where they should have been, so all of those balls were curving artificially. How many games have you cheated in for no reason, that you actually had a table built for that express purpose?

You're not even a self-respecting thief, Mr. Louv're. You're a wretch and a wastrel, a creature with such lack of purpose that even the lowest diseased fools of the Red Zone laugh and frolic with the knowledge that, as unfortunate as they are, at least they aren't you.

You're like an orphan who reaches for attention in desperate need of some kind of social interaction, hard to watch without retching in disgust. And whether or not your company is effective is immaterial to this discussion. What I'm saying is that I'll escape this place fairly easily while you'll be stuck here for eternity unless I use you to power the device. Which I'm actually rather tempted to do because you're not useful for much else.

Your actions will change nothing, and I'll destroy this plane from the inside out."

Ouch, Cyrus. Now you're just being mean for no reason.

Marciano grins before moving to the bar across the room, he'll mix himself some kind of purple-pink liquid. He also offers a glass to Cyrus. Here ya go. Might as well be a good host in our last time together. Drink. It takes the taste of any alcoholic beverage ya like, kay? He downs it all, and goes back for a second, apparently content to be absolutely hammered in his last moments.

He comes back from the second trip with two more tall glasses, both for himself. Care fer some more? We've got a bunch. I could live 'ere fer years... Kay? Next, he unshelves a record player and puts on a record of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. He begins to softly guzzle more drinks, and looks out the window at space around him. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poKEwp5Hy_s)

Self-respecting? Bah. I don't need to be. I was a cruel, selfish man. And it got me in high places for a while, even with this end... I wouldn't change nothing, kay? Heh... You ain't understand Cy. I WILL CHANGE THE ****ING WORLD! Hehehe... I'll never be truly dead...

[BladeofObliviom]

[Prison Plane]

The Sorcerer grasps the glass, which proceeds to... ...disappear. Weird.

"Like I've said, delusions of grandeur. You'll die and be forgotten eventually, just like everyone else. Except me, of course. I've caused enough chaos and toppled enough social orders to last a long, long time, and it doesn't look like I'm going to die anytime soon either.

I know all about being selfish and cruel, Mr. Louv're. The difference between us is actually fairly minor; my IQ is about thrice yours. It's that simple, really. I've worked for everything I have, while you had it handed to you on a silver platter. Mine LASTS, while yours went away just as quickly as it came.

I almost pity you. Goodbye, Mr. Louv're. You might hear the people sing, but you'll never be the Master of the House."

And then Cyrus turned his back upon the pitiful halfling, and left in the direction of the downstairs. His direction is simple: He's going back to the research labs.

[Hattish Thing]

[Prison Plane]

The Sorcerer grasps the glass, which proceeds to... ...disappear. Weird.

"Like I've said, delusions of grandeur. You'll die and be forgotten eventually, just like everyone else. Except me, of course. I've caused enough chaos and toppled enough social orders to last a long, long time, and it doesn't look like I'm going to die anytime soon either.

I know all about being selfish and cruel, Mr. Louv're. The difference between us is actually fairly minor; my IQ is about thrice yours. It's that simple, really. I've worked for everything I have, while you had it handed to you on a silver platter. Mine LASTS, while yours went away just as quickly as it came.

I almost pity you. Goodbye, Mr. Louv're. You might hear the people sing, but you'll never be the Master of the House."

And then Cyrus turned his back upon the pitiful halfling, and left in the direction of the downstairs. His direction is simple: He's going back to the research labs.

Marciano is silent during and after Cyrus' speech. Afterwards, he takes a massive puff out of his cigar before guzzling his drinks down. He groans and thumps his chest. Maybe a heart attack or something will kill me first... Might hurt less. As soon as Cyrus leaves, Marciano jumps out of his chair and takes a syringe out of his pocket. He then extracts a fair amount of blood. He had thought this all out.

He then rushes to the computer in the office leading out of this room. He walks in and closes the tab he had on some rather... Scandalous sites. He then dumps a few drops onto a petri dish. This room was originally supposed to be a room for his head scientist, Brant. But Brant preferred to live in the labs. The computer successfully records Marciano's chemical and genetic make up. He then stores the blood in a vial, which he hides inside the computer by unscrewing it and screwing it back on. He reuses the syringe on himself.

Next, he rushes into kitchen area, and empties a bottle of wine. Next, he draws more and more blood.... He fills it halfway. :smalleek: He's feeling very woozy and weak. He corks the wine and stuffs it in the refrigerator.

He then limps to the office again, and pulls out a box of medical supplies. He had injured his leg jumping into the indoor pool a while ago, and had left this here in case. The pool was in the next room. He bandages the wound and stops the bleeding. He then grabs a pistol in a box in the room. A special pistol. He moves to the Pool table and loads a single multi-coloured bullet. He'd get only one shot. But if he hit, the bullet would target Cyrus' teleportation powers and attempt to destroy the magic.

He then grabs an entire triple chocolate cake and a tall glass of nutrient-rich artificial water from the fridge, walking over AGAIN. :smallconfused: He then moves to the pool table and finally sits down. He begins eating and loads his gun.

Research Labs

It's quiet. A few scientists lie dead on the ground, smashed by barrels of toxic goop that had rolled over. A good section of the hall leading to the big door to the labs has been melted through, and a man lies on the ground, in a puddle of black ick, his lower body a skeleton in the puddle, upper body dead but fleshy. Cyrus would have to fly or something.

[BladeofObliviom]

Research Labs

Obviously Cyrus can't react to the stuff in the top part of that, but wow. Isn't Marcy a halfling? Wouldn't that be most of the blood in his body? That cake and alcohol might well be the only thing keeping him conscious. On a side note, this plan of his doesn't seem especially workable. For starters, it's been established that the only connection between the top floors and the rest of the tower is Elevator 13, which was destroyed. Now, there are two holes in the wall at each end of the elevator's travel, but as far as I know, Marcy can't fly. Maybe he can rappel, but it wouldn't be especially smart to do so while semiconscious and missing a lot of blood.

At any rate, the sorcerer sees the highly acidic chemical, and... ...calmly jumps over it, in a flight-assisted manner. Well, that wasn't especially hard. Cyrus continues heading toward the site of the Spirit Engine's construction. The center of this is the best place to start, after all, and anything he can salvage while working on the blueprint should be valuable.

[Hattish Thing]

Research Labs

Obviously Cyrus can't react to the stuff in the top part of that, but wow. Isn't Marcy a halfling? Wouldn't that be most of the blood in his body? That cake and alcohol might well be the only thing keeping him conscious. On a side note, this plan of his doesn't seem especially workable. For starters, it's been established that the only connection between the top floors and the rest of the tower is Elevator 13, which was destroyed. Now, there are two holes in the wall at each end of the elevator's travel, but as far as I know, Marcy can't fly. Maybe he can rappel, but it wouldn't be especially smart to do so while semiconscious and missing a lot of blood.

At any rate, the sorcerer sees the highly acidic chemical, and... ...calmly jumps over it, in a flight-assisted manner. Well, that wasn't especially hard. Cyrus continues heading toward the site of the Spirit Engine's construction. The center of this is the best place to start, after all, and anything he can salvage while working on the blueprint should be valuable.

Yup, it is most of his blood, and at the moment the cake and water are indeed the only things keeping him up. There is no way down to the lower tower, the upper tower is in a completely different plane. Marciano is thinking if Cyrus reverses the effects of the Spirit Engine, it would plunge the entire tower half back to the material plane. He could be wrong. He sits at the pool table and guzzles down food as fast as possible, trying to stay awake and conscious.

Research Labs


It's very very quiet here. No sounds. The lights flicker on and off a bit, and the tower is running low on power. Those two guards Cyrus killed are still dead on the ground in here, but now they're bodies are full of shrapnel bits. The Spirit Engine lies in pieces, some parts completely turned to dust from pressure. About 75% of The Spirit Engine is in pieces, the 25% is completely irreparable.

[BladeofObliviom]

Research Labs

He's frankly surprised that the lights are still working at all, really. Now, of course, he'd expected the Spirit Engine to be mostly destroyed by now. No, his goals here are... ...different. He does leave behind a small magical trap at the entrance to the labs though, just in case his paranoia proves true.

He heads toward ZETA's room, which if I recall correctly, was right next to the Research Labs. With power barely functioning and most unprotected materials destroyed, he expects that it won't be especially difficult to get in about now.

[Hattish Thing]

Research Labs

He's frankly surprised that the lights are still working at all, really. Now, of course, he'd expected the Spirit Engine to be mostly destroyed by now. No, his goals here are... ...different. He does leave behind a small magical trap at the entrance to the labs though, just in case his paranoia proves true.

He heads toward ZETA's room, which if I recall correctly, was right next to the Research Labs. With power barely functioning and most unprotected materials destroyed, he expects that it won't be especially difficult to get in about now.

The only reason the lights are working is because ZETA contains a large amount of backup power in case of situations like this, though not even ZETA could expect this, and it's the Nexus version of a supercomputer. Well, ZETA is protected by Defense Mechanisms BETA and ALPHA. They are located behind a massive elementium door, whose hinges have broken off, and the wall has fallen forwards, and fallen through the lab floor. It has fallen and crashed through every floor until drifting out of the tower and into space. It appears you can breathe in the air, and that this plane has oxygen.

Cyrus can easily jump/fly again. Now, see... This was the best security, and the most dangerous. Even at half-power, this room was supposed to be able to kill off attackers. Sure enough, Cyrus can see across the hole into the massive chrome hall. ZETA is at the end of the hall. It's an absolutely massive screen built into the wall, with four tables of controls. It's sentient, and seems to see Cyrus as well. There's a machine with a large eye beside it that seems to be staring. Should Cyrus look at the ceiling he'll notice that there's a kind of hollow space up there, and as soon as ZETA sees him, two massive boxes will slowly slide down, probably hiding something big inside. The two boxes fill the hall, one in front of the other. And that's all the time it has this turn. Life-Form detected. Unknown, no Frontier Employee detected. Eliminate.

[BladeofObliviom]

[ZETA Room]

As the boxes slowly slide down, Cyrus just flies past them before they can block his path. Why do things the hard way?

Now he just checks the control panels and starts pressing buttons that look like they progress toward a shutdown sequence. Always worth a shot, though he somehow doubts it'd be that easy.

[Hattish Thing]

[ZETA Room]

As the boxes slowly slide down, Cyrus just flies past them before they can block his path. Why do things the hard way?

Now he just checks the control panels and starts pressing buttons that look like they progress toward a shutdown sequence. Always worth a shot, though he somehow doubts it'd be that easy.

Okay, good. ZETA was not made to combat flying opponents. The massive boxes land, and only the metal boxes slide up revealing things brought down. The one closest to the entrance is a massive metal cube, with guns sticking out of an elementium barrier, meant to block enemies from entering, and blasting them to bits. Course, it's useless now, Cyrus is behind it! But the box close to him slides up to reveal a massive tank with a huge skull with eyes and a brain visible floating in briny blue fluid. The massive tank of liquid is protected by an elementium casing, but magic has been cast for that casing to be invisible.

Cyrus might suddenly feel an absolutely terrible headache, as the titan's skull attempts to simply squish Cyrus's brain. Mystic Defense Mechanism BETA was the tower's most powerful security.