1. 2011-04-09, 12:51 AM (ISO 8601) - Top - End - #1
    Ashen Lilies
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    Default [NEXUS] WATCHTOWER 9: The Impenetrable Thread

    Jutting out of the side of Overlook Waterfall like some sort of weird catherdral that got turned on it's side and converted into a fortress, is the WATCHTOWER.
    Who built it? Unknown (A sect of mages known as the Dillinites). What purpose does it serve? Unknown (Dillinite Forward Command Base). How do people even know about these things? A sort of sixth sense, really, which tells everybody in Acronymia when a new thread is created (Unknown).


    Previously abandoned, the WATCHTOWER has now been refurbished, thanks to the constant attentions of the members. However, due to recent events it still bears several craters and battle damaged bits and the like.

    The base is also now Dimension Locked, to members and non-members alike. Teleporters, and other such users of inter-spatial travel, will only be allowed to appear or disappear at or from the main gate, at the closest.

    OOC NOTES & RULES
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    1. No destroying the place, or doing something to it that'll produce a similar effect (for example, no placing a massive time freeze on the entire area forever), unless it's part of an epic plot, and you've run it through me. You're allowed to damage it, but destroying it just takes the fun out of it for all the other players.
    2. No godmoding/godmodding. Even if it's permitted in some ACRONYMs, it isn't in the WATCHTOWER. The occasional mishap's OK, repeated offense isn't.
    3. Please try and keep posts longer than one or two lines of speech. Description is appreciated. One-or-two-liners that don't do much are OK once in a while - but not regularly.
    4. If you want random smashy hahaN00BlulzFun, here's not the place. Anything spammy, random, or just plain annoying, can go! Of course, if your silliness is in moderation and well-roleplayed, and considerate of other players, then welcome in.
    5. Romance/Fanservice/Secks/WOOHOO!/Whateveryawannacallit is acceptable here, but remember to curtain once it goes past the snuggling stage, and be aware that there may be IC repercussions for dropping the curtain whenever you're online, as this is a thread with a mission. And said mission does not involve ******* like rabbits.





    THE BUILDING
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    Ground Level/First Floor
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    • Courtyard - A courtyard, surrounded by walls. Bare, and pretty much uncultivated, the courtyard is filled with grass, wild flowers and bomb craters. A gravel path leads from the main gates (or rather, what's left of them) to the main entrance. Off to one side is a well and an small, overgrown apple orchard, dotted with small obelisks carved with faded runes that once, and now once more, having been reactivated by Sakura, fueled powerful spells of growth and plenty. Off to the other is what might have once been a vegetable garden, and a large animal pen, which is now an ad hoc stable building for the rare occasion people bring horses or other animal mounts to the WATCHTOWER. Near the building, against the cliffs, construction golems have built a wide lift, large enough to accommodate several vehicles, up to the Airship Gantry.
    • Main Room - A sort of wide, square lounge area. There are several low tables and comfy chairs. To one side is a 'fireplace' which is really just a stone recess occupied by the illusion of a fire, and several heating glyphs (restored by KR). No chimney, you see. Several torch brackets hang on the walls but are empty. Light here is provided (as in all rooms of the building) by glyphs in the ceiling. At the back are three doors, leading to the barracks and stairway. Near the fireplace is a secret panel that when pressed by an active member opens up a Doorway to the Safe Room. Non-members pressing the panel will have no result.
    • Stairway - A small square room dominated by a spiral staircase which leads up the tower, to identical such small square rooms on every floor. Has two doors, which lead to the Main Room and Kitchen.
    • Kitchen - A kitchen. It contains modern kitchen equipment. It's also square. Has a door leading to the stairway. Has never been visited. Ever. For shame, people. This room claimed in the name of Butler!
    • Barracks (East) - An 'L' shaped corridor, which leads off to several bunk rooms. Each room was originally designed to house four soldiers, but has since been re-furbished to provide a sort of quarters for a single (or perhaps two) member(s). A room initially contains a single bed, a dresser, a desk with a chair, and a miniature closed off bathroom area containing a toilet and a sink with a mirror.
    • Barracks (West) - An 'L' shaped corridor, which leads off to several bunk rooms. Each room was originally designed to house four soldiers, but has since been re-furbished to provide a sort of quarters for a single (or perhaps two) member(s). One of the rooms has become a miniature shrine to the Demon Dalachrech, Lord of Invertebrates. A room initially contains a single bed, a dresser, a desk with a chair, and a miniature closed off bathroom area containing a toilet and a sink with a mirror.
    • Showers - A shower room accessible at the end of each barracks corridor.
      ...
      Wait wait wait, public showers? How barbaric! Public MIXED-SEX Showers? How... Yeah, it's barbaric.
      NOTE: There are cubicles. The showers are 'public' not in the sense that WATCHTOWER members will be forced to look at each other naked, only in the sense that they are not present in the rooms.
      (Of course, there's nothing stopping members from buying themselves a nice little bathtub or something.)




    Second Floor
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    • Stairway - A small square room dominated by a spiral staircase which leads up the tower, to identical such small square rooms on every floor. Has four doors, which lead to the Library, Offices, Infirmary and Labs.
    • Library - A large room, with a large window that overlooks the courtyard. In the center of the room is a statue, perhaps a shrine to some long-forgotten god of knowledge, that has been covered with a purple cloth, and a sign that warns 'Do Not Remove Upon Pain of Death.' How strange. Radiating out from the statue are masses upon masses of shelves, upon which sit books on all topics, but mostly magic. At one wall is a secret panel that when pressed by an active member opens up a Doorway to the Safe Room. Non-members pressing the panel will have no result.
    • Offices - A sparse room that doesn't see much use. The office contains a back-up mainframe, as well as filing cabinets where hard copies of important information (and member forms) are stored. The offices also provide storage space for the dozen or so Construction Golems that were left behind.
    • Infirmary - A stark white clean room, with several partitions. Each segment contains a bed, as well as various medical equipment both magical and technological. The beds themselves are sturdy, quite comfortable, and also have straps if restraining the patient is necessary. There are several shelves in each section containing medicine and healing herbs and stuff.
    • The Labs - Previously where the Dillinite mages performed unholy experiments and summoned volatile beasts. The first room is a semi-circular one, which leads to four labs which are separated from the 'main' room by thick blast doors and decontamination chambers. Access to this room is restricted to Members only, or guests accompanied by a Member, as determined by a magical handscanner. The four labs vary wildly in appearance, due to the differing styles of the resident MAD SCIENTISTS (and mages). Each one, however, contains magical interface panels linked to computers, which can be used to control laboratory functions.




    Third Floor
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    • Stairway - A small square room dominated by a spiral staircase which leads up the tower, to identical such small square rooms on every floor. Has four doors, which lead to the Security Room, Arena and the two Vaults.
    • Security Room - Access restricted to Members only, as determined by a magical handscanner. If WATCHTOWER were a ship, this would be the bridge. Overlooking the courtyard, this room is filled with magical interface panels which control the base defenses, internal and external, as well as the prison cells. Computer wires and ports interlink with the panels, converting mana signals into binary, allowing control from one of the computer terminals in the room for the less magically inclined. The computers are also wired to the WATCHTOWER mainframe, which is located in this room, allowing for access to the main database. The mainframe can only be accessed from the computers in this room. Internal defenses include magical forcefields in every doorway that can be activated singularly, or all together in an emergency. External defenses include extra strong magical forcefields on the main gate and doors, as well as magical forcefields over the windows. There are also a variety of cunning magical traps buried in the courtyard and the path to WATCHTOWER, that may be deployed for explosive effect. Forcefields may remain active for roughly 4 hours before having to recharge (for 24 hours), or until they are beaten down or dispelled. Traps take a roughly 12 hours to recharge. Simply dispelling the forcefield or traps (or indeed, any of the various glyphs in the building) only deactivates them. More powerful spells (like a Mage's Disjunction, for instance) must be used to get rid of them permanently. At one wall is a secret panel that when pressed by an active member opens up a Doorway to the Safe Room. Non-members pressing the panel will have no result.
    • Arena - A large, squarish (and yet also roundish) Arena. It's been somewhat refurbished as a training room/gymnasium, with some training equipment, a few dummies and bags and a weapon's rack.
    • Prison Cells - A 'C' shaped corridor that surrounds the Arena. The prison cells are actually along the inside of the C, allowing them to open up directly into the Arena. Something that the Dillinites used regularly, to much enjoyment. The cells are sparse, three walled affairs containing a chamberpot and a mattress. The rear wall is hinged, to open into the Arena. The front of the cells is barred, of course, and the bars can be magically charged or supplemented by a magical forcefield, activated from the Security Room.
    • Vaults (East) - An 'L' shaped room, this particular Vault acts as an armory, containing racks of weapons and armor (magical or not) left behind from the Dillinite days, as well as a few extra additions.
    • Vaults (West) - An 'L' shaped room, this particular Vault holds some gold, and also some of the artifacts, good or evil that WATCHTOWER have managed to procure. This vault has more security than the other vault, and has a handscanner much like the security room. Right now it contains:
      • A large block of an incredibly strong concrete-like substance, etched with runes of binding and sealing, warded against teleportation or dimensional irregularities, and a number of other things. Sealed inside are a pair of ceramic jars, similarly warded, which house the captured souls of Shepherd and Cynthia.




    Basement
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    • Safe Room - A large room located deep underground, filled with mattresses and several months of consumables. Virtually impregnable, and accessible from the main building only via secret Doorway in the Main Room, Library, Security Room or Observatory. The Doorway may also be used to return to any of these locations (even by non-members, if they entered through different means or as a guest). In the back is a small door that leads to the Escape Tunnel. There is also a large bronze door, locked and inscribed with runes of sealing and warding, which leads to the Catacombs. This room is teleport proof, scry-proof, psi-proof, spy-proof, teleprot proof, and whatever other proofs you care to imagine (including 180-proof!) save for Epic MagicTM.
    • Escape Tunnel - A long tunnel. It leads to a hidden one-way trapdoor further south, near the Taverna Generica.




    Catacombs
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    A bunch of catacombs and stuff below the basement. Excitement and plots sure to be found here, as well as a viable avenue for a sneak attack. This isn't technically, part of the building, merely a network of DungeonsTM under it. NO probably has a tunnel leading into here. If not, they're being painfully lax with their network.



    Observatory Level
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    • Observatory - Accessible through a trap door at the top of the spiral staircase. The room is enclosed at the front half by a tremendous glass dome, which serves as the focus for the powerful scrying spell etched all around. In the center is a raised circular viewing platform, with more runes etched around. On three sides are magical interface panels linked to computers like in the Security Room. The computers here are partially networked to the Security Room computers, and allow searching to a copy of the Central Database. The computers and interface panels are primarily used, however, to control the view from the observatory. The scrying spell is capable of reaching across a large area of the planet, as well as deep space. Things can also be viewed from any angle, eliminating conventional obstacles, however things underground or inside buildings cannot be seen. The scrying can of course be severed, blocked or traced back to its source using magic. There is a door to the side of the Observatory that leads to the Airship Gantry. At the back wall, opposite the Gantry door is a secret panel that when pressed by an active member opens up a Doorway to the Safe Room. Non-members pressing the panel will have no result.
    • Airship Gantry - Jutting out the side of the cliff, and even slightly set into it for protection, is an large gantry, accessible from the Observatory, which acts as an airdock for WATCHTOWER's small (but ever increasing) airfleet. It's pretty awesome. There is room for expansion, and the WATCHTOWER construction golems have built a large lift so that land-based vehicles and mounts can be stored up here as well.
      ::Vehicles::
      • A large, heavily armored zeppelin of K-Corp design, captured after a failed attack on WATCHTOWER. It's been decorated psychedelic patterns painted all over the envelope, as well as a pair of angry eyes and mouth. The gondola, while not as eye-blindingly colorful, has a memorial to Butler B. Butler painted on the side. The zeppelin has a rather large cargo hold, as well as a separate bomb-bay, which can drop rather large bombs (though they are currently in rather short supply). It's armed with a rather heavy variety of weapons, including: two disruptor quad-cannons mounted in the aft of the envelope (one ventral, the other dorsal); two heavier disruptor quad-cannons mounted on either side of the gondola and two long-range flamethrowers mounted on the fore. The thing is powered by one of DC's zero-point modules, and can pretty much stay aloft and fire forever, carrying no fuel except for that which goes in the flamethrowers. It has energy shielding, though prolonged use cuts into the ship's energy supply significantly. Currently WATCHTOWER's only functioning aircraft, and is usually used for large scale assaults.
      • A smaller airship stolen from Lethargia, built for transport. It has controls, two seats for the pilot and co-pilot, and cages in the back for prisoners. It's currently in a state of refurbishment, (and has been for several months, due to KR's lack of proper materials). The combustion engines have been replaced by much simpler ones, seemingly powered by magitech, and everything that can possibly be simplified has been. The hull has been reinforced slightly, and is now both fireproof (up to several thousand degrees centigrade) and vacuum proof. The inside has been hollowed out somewhat, regular controls having been replaced, again, by much simpler ones, and benches have been added along the sides, for extra passengers. The center is dominated by some sort of receptacle, for what looks like a large cylindrical device that stretches from floor to ceiling, though the device itself is currently missing.
      • An alien spacecraft, hijacked by DC during an extraterrestrial invasion of Inside. Details in the spoiler:
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        -It's solar-powered and never lands, instead meant to sit in space and recharge. The solar power tech is enough that so long as it's kept charged, it shouldn't run out unless it's being used heavily.
        -Its main weapons are high-efficiency laser cannons (basically, more shots than usual) with a single mass driver mounted somewhere. I imagine the bottom or something like that. He said it was better for ground targets due to being difficult to aim, so I imagine it's on the bottom or something.
        -It has shields, with variable amounts of power able to be diverted to them. They're quite strong at max power, but this takes power from movement and weapons.
        -The main method of boarding it consists of transporter beams (aka cliche 'abduction beams'.)
        -There are, of course, airlocks.
        -There are shuttle ports.
        -The ship's actual frame/armor is pretty tough, though some of the interior is...flimsy at times, or so I saw during the hijacking.

        And of course, the ship has an armory!

        -Many laser rifles (can be dialed down for weak rapid-fire or dialed up for more powerful shots but slow-firing)
        -Power armor designed for aliens
        -Beam focuser modification for lasers (allows greater armor-piercing capability for the lasers weakens them a bit, they have to be dialed up fully to regain normal power)
        -Deployable uni-directional shields (can be fired through from one side but not the other, lasts a minute maximum, can be depleted by enemy fire)
        -Mines, grenades, and directional charges, probably fairly standard explosives or something since they weren't described much. The grenades are supposedly some kind of cross between frag and incendiary.
        -Pickaxe/hammer-like melee weapons that use pistons to deliver a secondary shock to drive the pick in deeper. Designed to pierce armor.

        Much of the armory (including all of the alien power armor) and quite a bit of the interior have been disassembled and/or removed by WATCHTOWER's rather large cohort of mad scientists for study, though some of it's slowly being put back and reassembled. As of the moment, it's non-functional.
      • Several generic cars and motorbikes intended for use by members. They're unarmed and (mostly) unarmored, and though somewhat futuristic looking (running on electricity rather than hydrocarbon fuels), are plainly intended for transport only.




    MEMBERSHIP FORM
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    Name: (Include Titles and Aliases your character would be willing to divulge)
    Alignment: (Your character may well lie here)
    Age: (As a rule, we tend to frown on toddlers grouping up to fight Eldritch Abominations and psychotic liches.)
    Sex: (People who answer 'yes' or otherwise engage in similar smartassery will be shot.)
    Species: (If a dog or other animal/creature without thumbs, a pawprint is perfectly acceptable here. The other fields... get a scribe or something.)
    Profession/Class: (Pretty straightforward, really.)
    Power Level: (Recorded in case we ever need to put you down. )
    Power Source: (Natural, Supernatural, Science, Arcane, Divine)
    Other Important Information: (General Warnings, FYIs and death-threats against those who would kick your puppy.)



    FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS - Submit a Question today!
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    What the hell is WATCHTOWER's purpose, anyway?
    An excellent question! And one that I've just noticed is not answered in the OP in any way! Which is terrible! Anyway, whereas GLoG concerns itself with redeeming evil-doers (and healing the sick and sheltering refugees etc.), HALO smites them and AMEN are them, WATCHTOWER doesn't typically concern itself with concepts of good and evil in any way. Rather, WATCHTOWER exists to deal with massive scale threats to the Nexus, like apocalypses or vast demonic invasions. Of course, given that evil-doers tend to be the ones who cause those things, WATCHTOWER tends to be pitted against the forces of evil more often than not, but is unlikely to concern itself with muggings, murders or exploding taverns. Also, calling WATCHTOWER a 'Good' organization is likely to draw the ire of some of the more omnicidal members around.



    LIST OF MEMBERS
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    ARCHIVED THREADS
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    WATCHTOWER 1: I can see my house from here! 07/09/2009 - 13/12/2009
    WATCHTOWER 2: Who Watches the WATCHTOWER? 13/12/2009 - 09/05/2010
    WATCHTOWER 3: Big Brother is WATCHing You. 09/05/2010 - 30/07/2010
    WATCHTOWER 4: Doing Nothing, With Style (since 2009) 30/07/2010 - 12/09/2010
    WATCHTOWER 5: 100 Rooms of DOOOM! 12/09/2010 - 14/11/2010
    WATCHTOWER 6: Like Justice League, but ON LAAAND! 14/11/2010 - 17/01/2011
    WATCHTOWER 7: In the Face of Overwhelming Adversity, we Break Things. 17/01/2011 - 13/03/2011
    WATCHTOWER 8: It's Curtains for You! 13/03/2011 - 09/04/2011


    This OP will be subject to updates, so even though major updates will be posted or generally mentioned in the Nexus OOC thread, it would be advisable that you check back regularly. Also, whenever this thread reaches 50, I'd ask no-one else start the new thread, at least until all the pictures are in, or until I say okay.
    Last edited by Ashen Lilies; 2011-05-23 at 08:39 PM.
    Quote Originally Posted by Lord Magtok
    She’s graduated from child soldier to unstable teen sorceress, way to go.
    Reply With Quote Reply With Quote