[NEXUS] WATCHTOWER 5: 100 Rooms of DOOOM!

[Ashen Lilies]

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.

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 f***ing 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 stones carved with fading runes 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 are building a sort of lift to the gantry up above.
• 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.
• 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).
• 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.
• 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.

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 would hold other items of great value (including artifacts) except there aren't any. Has higher security and more traps and forcefields than the other vault, except there's nothing much to guard. Sorry! Come back later and try again.

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 Magic^TM.
• 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 Dungeons^TM 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 the dock for WATCHTOWER's Zeppelin, which has yet to be named. It's pretty awesome. There is room for expansion, and the WATCHTOWER construction golems are starting to build a large lift so that land-based vehicles and mounts can be stored up here as well.
  
  ::Vehicles::
  • A large, heavily armored zeppelin with 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.
  • 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 presumably driven by combustion engines and propellers. Not after KR's done with it, though.

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: (Using the Quinsarian Rating)
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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• KR - Kid Kris
• Darkcomet - Darkcomet
• Wenomir - Morty
• Decker - happyturtle (unofficial)
• Dominic - billtodamax
• Mipaff - Lord Fullbladder, Master of Goblins
• Squeaky Shoes Man - Reinholdt
• Crodelus - Hyozo
• Terrowin - Earl of Purple
• Briony Davena - happyturtle
  
• Karuka Kurosawa - horngeek Deceased?
• Turtle Brightember - happyturtle
• Yamako - iElf
• Darius Jaezred - Darius Midnite
• Kazio - Beans
• Shawna von Letters - The Bushranger
• Jeremy - Wolfbane
• Ilyena - The Moff
• Sunny Evans - happyturtle
• Merrak - VampireRot
• Efrim - Snares
• Butler B. Butler (restricted access) - Reinholdt
• Catherine - horngeek

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.

[ApeofLight]

Andrew does as told going over to KR and holding his hands over her. There is a faint glow of darkness around his hands as he tries to draw the bad magical energy out of KR and into a small dark orb between his hands.

Repost of Andrew's last actions in new thread.

[Moff Chumley]

Ilyena gets glared at. Then Dominic turns back to Rebecca, muttering something about positive energy.

Ilyena is not Dominic's favourite person right now!

Ilyena reacts with surprise. I fail to see what I did wrong. It's a treatment that's always worked in the past.

But, you know, that would mean one of Chumley's characters did something helpful. And we can't be having that, can we?

[Ashen Lilies]

Of course not.

Description pl0x. How does Andrew do it, and how powerful is he? The contamination is pretty strong, and tangled up in a whole variety of exciting ways, and it's doubtful it would really be that simple.

[Murkus]

Dar leans back, watching the magic with fright and curiousity. He remains quiet, however, and stops swaying along with his humming.

[billtodamax]

You didn't even check! You didn't even look to see what was wrong with her! Just blasted away with positive energy! There are always complications! Always! Noone ever checks! Positive energy is dangerous and frequently unpredictable! He shouts at Ilyena.

Woah. Might have hit a nerve here.

He sighs, and rubs his temples.

Look, I know you were just trying to heal her, and because of what you've done, quite a lot of those people won't need much more help. Just... just check next time.

Dominic doesn't like positive energy. Could you tell?

[ApeofLight]

Specifically? He's basically slowly converting his own life force into magical energy and using it to 'feel' what's wrong/figure out how to undo it.

In the case of this problem he's following the patters of magical energy and undoing them from KR and any other magical effects currently effecting her. He then takes the undone magic energy and is storing it in a new way. An evil black marble.

And he can go until he either A:passes out or B:dies. Probably A will happen first that will be a significant amount of power being used.

[Moff Chumley]

Ilyena takes an deep breath, as if he's about to start lecturing Dominic on why he's wrong, why he didn't have time to check, why everyone in the room at the point in time he cast the spell was healed by it (except for the dragon who was apparently done for anyhow)...

But he just walks away.

[Ashen Lilies]

Andrew... fails! Mostly because the magical contamination is the only thing preventing someone from just waltzing in and pressing the LOL I GOTZ DA HEALIN' MAGIKZ button on KR and fixing everything. And that's no good at all. >.>

[ApeofLight]

Andrew... starts to slump and then stumble... and then falls to his knees. " Urghh... Ah... I... I can't do it... " He says sounding woozy.

[billtodamax]

Oh gods, another casualty. Dominic says, rushing over to Andrew, and attempting to pick him up and put him on a bed.

Then he'll try and see if the magical contamination on KR stops any kind of magic working, or just healing.

[Ashen Lilies]

Any kind. It's not like an anti-magic field or anything, it just tends to react in funny ways with foreign magic. Dominic should know, however, that the contamination will fade with time.

[The Bushranger]

Jeremy is easily carried to his room. Shawna will notice that he's much lighter than he should be however, and the places where he was burned are going to take a long time to heal. Even though he was healed with negative energy, the positive left a very bad impression.

Shawna sets Jeremy in his bed, then pulls a chair over to sit next to him, reaching out to softly put her hand atop one of his.

"We won. I think."

[UncleWolf]

[Jeremy's Room]

Through cracked lips, Jeremy manages a slight smile. "Good." he says before going into a painful coughing fit. He had figured that healing magic would hurt him badly, but had hoped it wouldn't be this badly. The blade in his left hand steams as he holds it close before it finally melts away into the shadows made by his arm.

[The Bushranger]

[Jeremy's Room]

"I have a lot of things I need to ask you," Shawna admits, looking concerned. "But they can wait. You need to regain your strength. You could have...been hurt even worse than you were."

[billtodamax]

Any kind. It's not like an anti-magic field or anything, it just tends to react in funny ways with foreign magic. Dominic should know, however, that the contamination will fade with time.

Damn. There goes plan A.

B time! Alright!

We're going to need to operate. You a surgeon? He asks the doctor that DC brought. Need to get these bullets out, I don't have any idea how my magic will affect her. We'll set the bones while she's under.

Dominic's gonna be sooooo annoyed if Jeremy dies because he wasn't taken to the infirmary.

[UncleWolf]

[Jeremy's Room]

Jeremy forces himself to sit up against the wall and nods. "Go ahead and ask, I-I will be fine." He says, wincing in pain already. It's obvious that he really isn't okay, but is trying to cover that.

[The Bushranger]

[Jeremy's Room]

"...as you wish."
Shawna takes a deep breath.
"Your sword. It felt. Well. Rather...wrong. As if it were not meant to be. Which is not to say it felt bad, but..." She shrugs, not sure how to phrase how the feeling feels...

[Moff Chumley]

>.>

<.<

Hey chicka bum bum

[Morty]

Wenomir is in the infirmary, heavily bandaged, leaning against the wall in grim silence.

[Darkcomet]

Damn. There goes plan A.

B time! Alright!

We're going to need to operate. You a surgeon? He asks the doctor that DC brought. Need to get these bullets out, I don't have any idea how my magic will affect her. We'll set the bones while she's under.

Dominic's gonna be sooooo annoyed if Jeremy dies because he wasn't taken to the infirmary.

He is!

And as indicated, he can be godmodded for the purpose of this. Whoo.

[ApeofLight]

Oh gods, another casualty. Dominic says, rushing over to Andrew, and attempting to pick him up and put him on a bed.

Then he'll try and see if the magical contamination on KR stops any kind of magic working, or just healing.

Andrew waves Dominic off. " No, I'm fine. Just tired is all... "

[Morty]

Wenomir scratches his head, wincing as a burn mark on his wrist pains. I'd offer myself as a blood donor, but I don't think it'd be a good idea...

[UncleWolf]

[Jeremy's Room]

"...as you wish."
Shawna takes a deep breath.
"Your sword. It felt. Well. Rather...wrong. As if it were not meant to be. Which is not to say it felt bad, but..." She shrugs, not sure how to phrase how the feeling feels...

"It's because it is wrong." He says, his throat healing a bit to let him speak louder. "I am no longer something that belongs in this world. And my soul, my weapon, is a stain on the world." Jeremy says, sighing. "I am something unholy, an abomination that walks the world."

[happyturtle]

[Main Room]

A white raven flies in, shifting into a man, kneeling next to the sky dragon.

You came.

Don't try and talk. I'll take care of...

I go. You stay. I will miss you.

Don't leave me alone... Raven begged.

Hrafn, shut up... I leave three parts of me in this world. My hatchling. My blood. My breath. Fight well, my friend.

The body slowly faded away, dissipating into a hollow wind that swept through the room, leaving Raven behind. Alone.

[The Bushranger]

[Jeremy's Room]

"It's because it is wrong." He says, his throat healing a bit to let him speak louder. "I am no longer something that belongs in this world. And my soul, my weapon, is a stain on the world." Jeremy says, sighing. "I am something unholy, an abomination that walks the world."

"...I see."
Shawna falls quiet, thinking, then realises something Jeremy said, and looks up in surprise.
"The sword...it is your soul?" she asks. "Literally?"

[UncleWolf]

[Jeremy's Room]

Jeremy nods and summons up the sword. It's blade is smaller, and chipped, damaged by the positive energy. "It is. It's the very essence of my being and most of my power. If it dies, I die." He offers it to her to see it again if she wishes. "For a time at least. I can never be truly killed."

((Poor Ingi v.v))

[The Bushranger]

[JR]

Shawna hesitates, then reaches to accept the soul-sword, much more...cautious with it, now that she knows what it is.

"Would this then be one of those deals where, if you are 'killed', you are...banished, essentially, from this plane for a time?"

((Indeed. v.v))

[UncleWolf]

[JR]

"Something like that. It's more of it takes a great need or act of great violence to form enough emotion to summon me back." The sword feels light, and the red script on it slips away from where her hands are.

[The Bushranger]

[JR]

"Ahh. I see."
Shawna (who somehow knows about the fate of Roland, despite not having been there) nods. "I suppose then, that we should hope that things do not come to that, then?"
And after a minute, she goes to hand the sword back to Jeremy.