[Nexus] AMEN 32: Srs Bzns

[Ashen Lilies]

Meanwhile, an invisible KR makes her way to AMEN. Upon reaching the forcefield, she simply pulls out a device which creates a small null zone in the field whch she walks through. Unless it fails, in which case she teleports trough or something. Unless that fails, in which case she waits for an AMEN player to undeadtime so she can figure out how to get past the damn thing. Otherwisehe'she heads towards the base entrance stealthily, glancing warily at the Deliberative airfleet around her.

[Murkus]

((Yes, Jack would be considered an unholy being to some extent. His various deals with evil creatures to extend his life and form have pretty much tainted his husk with every sort of foul energy.))

Yeah, the nullifier works, though as the shield is fairly thick, it might take a moment or two.

Meanwhile, Jack gets an alert on his phone. It vibrates in his pocket.

He quirks a provacative eyebrow at Shrike. "Well, you, for starters." The hollow man flips back up, falling into a crouch and tapping his sword on his knees.

"You and me, for another." He says, dashing forward to deliver another swift attack towards Shrike's chest.

[Ashen Lilies]

In that case, after stepping through the hole she made, KR retrieves the nullifier, before doing as described in the previous post.

[Lord Iames Osari]

((Yes, Jack would be considered an unholy being to some extent. His various deals with evil creatures to extend his life and form have pretty much tainted his husk with every sort of foul energy.))

((Okay.))

Anshu flares his anima; an orb of the golden sunlight gathers in his hands, and he flings them forward, a holy sunbeam lancing from the orb toward Jack. "Your empty words and seductions will not avail you, servant of darkness! The glory of noon will not suffer you in its presence, and the shroud of night cloaks righteousness in a form more subtle, but no less deadly!"

[Lord Magtok]

Magtok quietly eases into the room, his umbrella spitting out a white flag for him to wave about as he tries to avoid getting shot to pieces, whilst getting noticed at the same time.

[Murkus]

Jack dances backwards from Shrike, whether his hit was successful or no, and then turns to face Anshu's voice.

He rolls his eyes, sword not risen to block. "Ner'zul in a wheelchair, you stiffs again. Seriously, can't we just talk like normal people instead of--"

And... then a large portion of his chest gets dissolved by holy fire. The fire, before it can travel all the way through his body, is suddenly snuffed out and consumed by the Void within Jack. Still, the hole keeps burning, spreading out a bit and dropping off charred bits of flesh.

"Ow ow ow ow ow." He grits his teeth, smile disappearing for the second time that day. Perhaps he's decided to act a bit more human.

"That sh*t burns, o mighty Exalted." He raises his blade, and it begins to drip with a shadowy substance. "You know, I'm kind of tempted to just get all dramatic and start preaching my purpose all over the place. But I think I'll save that for another time and proceed to quietly end your life."

And then he stops, seeing Maggy. "Or... I would, if we weren't apparently surrendering."

[Lord Iames Osari]

Anshu looks as if he's about to retort when his attention too is caught by Magtok's white flag. "Surrendering? Or simply a momentary truce?" he wonders warily.

[Lord Magtok]

Magtok glances at the flag, as if he's seeing it for the first time, too.

Not sure, actually. All depends on how everyone behaves, really.

Anyways, just to clarify, you're after the lava cannon, correct? Were it dismantled, or a key component were removed to make it inoperable, you'd be done with this particular attack on our soil, right?

[Lord Iames Osari]

"That's essentially correct," Cerise answers. "We'd prefer it be destroyed entirely, to avoid the risk of it being reassembled, or a component being replaced."

[The Bushranger]

Shrike barely parries Jack's blow, a large, rather revealing slice appearing across the front of her remaining top, having been caught off guard...due to her laughing.
And grinning.

"Ooooh, you tempt me, but..."

...the 'but' gets cut off by Anshu putting a hole-in-one. Er, Jack.

She then steps back, holding her blade defensively

"Dangit, Anshu, things were just getting interesting!" she complains.

Then decides to start glaring at Magtok.

Glaaaaaaaaaaaaaring.

[Murkus]

"Yes, I tend to do that." Jack says quietly to Shrike, swaggering a few feet past her and moving to stand between the Exalts and Magtok. If they try something, he'll be sure to put a stop to it.

Other than this, though, he decides to let Maggie do his job.

[Lord Magtok]

Well to be quite honest, I've never cared for the lava cannon either. It's always struck me as kinda bizarre, and a total waste of the goop, when we could be using it to power...I don't know, maybe a massive generator, allowing for countless battery packs, underground drilling, and all sorts of other stuff.

Anyways, as second-in-command, I can have the lava cannon taken down for you folk, on the condition that you get the hell out. This little war's been nice, but it's been going on for far too long. I'd like to be able to grab a snack from the fridge without crossing a minefield again. Or-

He glances meaningfully at Jack and Shrike.

-walk in on a *Cough* tense battle.

[Moff Chumley]

Hey chicka-

Never mind.

[Lord Iames Osari]

"We'll leave, but first take us to the cannon and let us destroy it. No further damage will be done to your base or your troops," Anshu counters Magtok's offer.

[Lord Magtok]

Shoot. That's going to make talking his way through this with Gordon rather difficult later. Well...he's a skilled engineer, right? Maybe it won't be too hard to rebuild...

Deal, and I'll even offer you the directions to a hat shop in Inside, so you don't have to wear that ridiculous farming implement on top of your secret bald spot.

[Murkus]

Jack snickers a bit, listening to the conversation. Still, Magtok worries him. Just giving away one of AMEN's greatest tools... eh, might not be the wisest decision.

Personally, Yochanan would've preferred to blow the whole volcano to hell (Erfworld knows what I'm talking about) and wipe out all the Exalts along with the old base.

Then either build a new one, or make Lethargia the official stronghold.

[Lord Iames Osari]

"And perhaps we should return the favor by regrowing the parts of your body you've had replaced with those ugly prosthetics," Anshu responds. "Lead the way."

[Lord Magtok]

Magtok refuses to reply to that remark, and leads the way towards where he and Gordon did that silly lava ceremony thingy. Hopefully the cannon won't be too far from there, or this might get a bit awkward.

[ThePhantom]

Oh, you can see it from there. Its in the center of the volcano, its hard to miss.

[Murkus]

In that case, Jack sidles back over to Shrike, looking her over. "Shame they all had to come in just as things were getting... interesting."

As a note, his sword is still drawn.

[The Bushranger]

To be fair, Shrike's daiklave is still out, as she follows the others, and chuckles at Jack.

Of course, quite a bit other than her daiklave is also, ahem, out, given the state of her clothes.

"Indeed. You might have actually won the Strip Fighting contest had the Tin Man not intervened."

[Murkus]

Don't think Jack didn't notice. Though he tries to not let her catch him glancing there. "Oh, I don't know. You had quite a bit going for you. Some distractions, to say the least."

He, too, will follow along.

[The Bushranger]

"Mmhmm, I see. Perhaps it would have ended in a draw. However, it seems, the world will never know."

For which, no doubt, many are eternally grateful.

"I must say, though, you make a fine sparring partner."

[Lord Iames Osari]

Anshu is following just behind Magtok, with Cerise bringing up the rear. She snorts a little under her breath, listening to Shrike and Jack's conversation.

[Murkus]

No doubt.

Jack leans in a bit, smiling at her. "Is that what that was?"

"Though, in all honesty, you might be one of the toughest opponents I've faced in... hm. Years, it's got to be. Dozens, if not more. So hard to keep track these days." He says, sounding sincere and complementary.

"Yes, I'm thoroughly impressed. In more ways than one."

[The Bushranger]

She chuckles, nods, and returns the smile. "Thank you. I have to say, in my case, as I commented before, it's quite invigourating to be able to completely unleash my abilities, as opposed to holding back. Too often I must scale my power level. I haven't had such a good workout, with anyone who isn't Zamira anyway, in a very, very long time."

[Murkus]

Jack shrugs, keeping pace with her. "Well, as I also said before, it's pretty fun to use them whenever I feel like. Holding back's just... never been in my vocabulary, I guess you could say." He pauses. "And do you 'spar' with Zamira?" He says, chuckling a little.

[Moff Chumley]

Bow chicka honk honk.

[Lord Magtok]

Magtok rolls his eyes.

Oh gods, get a room. Or better yet, team up and kill me so I don't have to listen to this-

Oh hey look, it's the lava cannon! Woo, this plan's actually working.

Okay, there it is. Let's hurry this up, I've got much more important things to deal with than sloppy combinations of otherworldly energies and medieval proto-humans.

Like projectile vomiting into a waste receptacle at the thought of a certain duo sparring, or dealing with an angry dragon crying over his broken cannon, or pretending that there never were any space rhinos because my player had no idea Dr. Who had done it first, for example.

[Ashen Lilies]

Meanwhile, an invisible KR sneaks into the base, her player having given the Airfleet ample chance to notice her, and begins searching for Jack.
...
What a mess this might soon turn out to be.