[Nexus] Trog's Tavern CCXLVIII

[Rebonack]

"Do you honestly believe that there was no law before the military dictatorship declared itself sovereign? What do you think the police force who's leaders your self-styled Emperor undermined upheld? It's no matter, if need be we can-"

And then?

A bunch of legal forms just burst into flames...

Professor Cuttlefish raises an eyebrow at the burning paper bits raining down from one of his robo-arms.

"Well then," the Professor sniffs. "That's how it's going to be? Where you insist on being a bunch of neanderthals who use only force? Very well."

Oh bugger.

There's that nasty grin, again. Probably even nastier than before.

"Computer. Execute Ship in a Bottle protocol."

Aaaaaaaand then nothing happens.

Aside from a bunch of the Dia-Bot-Icals swarming around the Professor, obscuring him from view whilst going, "Blarp blarp blarp blarp!"

The Lump and Sockpuppet both settle themselves down into defensive stances! The Lump provides an apologetic smile, "Sorry lady, last chance before things get all ugly."

[WarKitty]

Xun shifts back into panther form. This promptly results in her falling off the table, as she is now too big for it. She does her best recovery, moves to just behind the bartender, and growls.

Judging by the flames, said bartender is also somewhat magic. If so Xun could rather enhance anything he wants to cast.

[Darkcomet]

"Oh, bugger."

Noelle responds poorly, and also quickly, rushing forward with the sword to try to slice through the robotic minions to get at the Professor. She's awfully fast, for a human (even if others might not recognize her as such). Blue streaks follow the sword's deadly, burning arc as it lashes out to meet its targets.

[WarKitty]

Xun clambers up onto the bar and does her best menacing crouch and snarl. She's looking for any antagonist who appears distracted...

[Murkus]

"My name is spelled C4 not Zefir." he replies fast. He is sure none knows Zefir the AmEN person, but you can't be to sure.
"Not as bad as I thought, but also not as good as you get around here. I got an address where I could contact her." On a second thought this sounds just like a trick, but who knows.

((Alright, forget that first bit. He definitely called him C4, not Zefir, cuz he doesn't know his real name >.>))

"As good as I get? I don't get anything! Any-thing. I must be going through a dry spell," Adir says, trying to suppress his memory of that wonderfully underdressed young lady and her tittering friends.

[Zefir]

((Alright, forget that first bit. He definitely called him C4, not Zefir, cuz he doesn't know his real name >.>))

"As good as I get? I don't get anything! Any-thing. I must be going through a dry spell," Adir says, trying to suppress his memory of that wonderfully underdressed young lady and her tittering friends.

"Oh come on, Adir." C4 says waving with his hand. "Just the fact that they come to you is enougth. I mean, I got an address, ehich isn't even her home as far as I got it. AND you got your wife at home. I don't think anyone can beat that in one"

damn being a fool I am

"you have been charmed I can help you."

he positions him self so she cant just run outside[atleased it'd be hard] he's fast and great dexterity but even with that catching the fox will be hard. plus he is little bit buzzed.
Will run after the fox if she tries to make a break for it and can keep up with the fox even if she's moving faster.

The kitsune will at first take some distance from the foreigner.

"You lie. You want to charm me like she wanted. "she says and then shouts. "HELP! Please someone help me."


Her natural agility should allow her to not get caught, but she won't be able to get past the man. A watcher sure notice that she is exhausted, due to the fact she ran from her home to Trog's. With time he will be able to catch her, but maybe someone jumps in to help her?

[WarKitty]

Seeing as the main attacker appears to have been grabbed by a bubble, Xun attempts to jump between the two. Hey what's going on?

[Deathkeeper]

There's a loud Thunk! as Krayger slams his axe down next to him, head against the ground. He stays seated, one hand resting on the axe. With the other hand, he lazily spins a massive revolver out from his combat harness. It's basically a .44 if it was scaled up to a being about a foot and a half taller and two hundred pounds more than a normal human. These fellows don't seem particularly supernatural, at least in terms of species, so he uses his standard hollow-points instead of the special HB rounds.
And he's aiming at Sockpuppet, because Geek The Mage First!

[Rebonack]

"Blarp blarp blarp!" go the Dia-Bot-ical minions as they scatter before Noelle! Though two of them dive into her path and get hacked to scrap, reducing their numbers from ten to eight.

Professor Cuttlefish, however, is nowhere to be seen! Probably because he's invisible due to a nifty active camouflage system. Just like a real cybernetic cephalopod! An invisible robo-limb lashes out to swat Noelle's feet out from under her whilst she's busy with the minions and two more strike towards her arms to pin them to the floor.

When Krayger pulls out his gun the Indomitable Lump moves with surprising speed for a person of his bulk, flowing in a rippling wave of jiggling lard rolls and intercepting the bullet. The round sinks into his flesh as if it had hit rubber before getting flung back along its original trajectory with diminished, though still likely lethal, speed.

"Hey! No shooting my skinny buddies! If you wanna hurt them you go through ME!" bellows the Lump.

Sockpuppet, meanwhile, crosses his arms over his chest, rises into the air, and begins laughing. "Fools! You really believe you can stand against the power of Doctor Diabolical? Behold! The power of even his least lieutenants shall defeat you! For I, Sockpuppet, master of socks both woolen and cotten, shall strike you down!" As he speaks he slowly raises his hands into the air, palms upraised and fingers clutching at his own obviously inflated self-importance.

At this point Sunder has more or less had enough. "You control socks? Dat's te dumbest power I ever heard of. Let's see if yous still laughin' after I knock yous teeth into yous intestines!"

And with that the pegasus pugilist launches herself at Sockpuppet-

-only to be battered by a barrage of tube socks that quickly overwhelm and hog-tie her. She hits the floor in an awkward tumble and begins cursing rather colorfully. Sunder can fight a lot of things, but swarmy stuff that restrains her isn't on the list.

"Alright, that's quite enough," Siegfried says as he rises, reaching for his blessed revolver.

"Oh on the contrary!" Sockpuppet crows as he claps his hands together. Everyone wearing socks may suddenly find themselves hoisted off their feet and flung about in a wholly disorienting fashion. "It is only beginning! Trog's Tavern is the domain of Doctor Diabolical now! Submit and enjoy your tacos!"

[Darkcomet]

"You must be kidding me."

And then suddenly, invisible cybertentacles. Noelle does not have any means of detecting those that fast, nor was she expecting the annoying pest to start cloaking.

As she is tripped up and pinned to the floor, it occurs to her that maybe she should have kept taking that bolt pistol everywhere. Or that she should go around with bodyguards. Except for the part where she has one here but doesn't trust the system right now.

"...should've stayed in the gunship, huh."

She can do one thing, though. In the absence of anything better to do, Noelle focuses her psyniscience ability. Normally, it's mostly good for detecting otherworldly disruptions, that sort of thing, but the thing about that is that most mortals are connected to things like that in some manner. Souls destined for other planes, psychic imprints left in the Warp, that sort of thing. Someone focused can detect a living being easily, as long as said being isn't soulless like an Untouchable.

So she's going to be using that to see exactly where Cuttlefish is.

[Deathkeeper]

Krayger (who was kind of expecting that. Must have been in something he read once about a comic character) dodges the ricochet with a rather impassive look.
"Well, I guess you got me. That's enough of that." he says, lowering his pistol-hand and reaching into a pocket with the other to pull out a pair of spectacles which are placed on his broad nose, and a pair of marbles.
They are Krayger's Lenses of Truth! They help him see that which is truly there! And that probably means he can see the invisible just-barely-not-copyright-infringing villain trying to pin down that law-enforcement lady. So he'll probably get a bullet or two as well, unless the Lump is close enough to move all the way over there and take the shot for himself again, or the cloak is immune to magic sensors.
Either way, his other hand is tossing those marbles back at the psion and his lardy bodyguard. If they hit anything (they're aimed to arc over the large man and land behind him) they'll burst into a several-foot wide splash of acid, which would be quite risky if the villains hadn't kindly stood apart from all the civilians.

[Recaiden]

"As if you didn't use force to break through that wall? And with you here, it's already ugly."

The bartender nods to the panther next to her, as the flames (the bartender is always on fire, usually just a little bit) notice that they have rather more power available that usual. Socks, and puppets made from them, are usually rather flammable. She extends a hand towards the psionicist, and a rather excessively hot jet of flames shoots towards him. Or perhaps towards the Lump if they're in the way.

Another day where her decision to not wear socks is vindicated!

[Rebonack]

To be fair, some types of material are much more (or much less) flammable than others.

Now, given that Sockpuppet currently has the lion's share of NPCs shoved out of the way of the fight via their socks, he could have just yanked one of the poor sods down and used them as a human shield against the fire. Instead? A swarm of wool socks come streaming out of the voluminous sleeves of his wool white and grey outfit! They bind around each other, forming a shield against the burning blast!

"Ha! You think I would be such a fool so as to use cotton or synthetic fibers when I knew fire was likely? My specially treated wool socks can take anything you throw at them! Now have at you!" Sockpuppet crows as another sock flings itself toward the bartender, aiming to bind itself around her eyes like a blindfold!

The Lump, meanwhile, continues to prove to be rather indomitable. With a bellowing, "HHGGGGGGN!" several blobs of flesh launch themselves from his body, snagging projectiles from the air and wrapping them in rubbery bulk. The fat-ball encased a bullet bounces off one of Professor Cuttlefish's limbs, causing him to stagger and his grip on Noelle to loosen.

An excellent time to try to escape!

Noelle should have no difficulty detecting the Professor's position with her powers. The guy is disturbingly similar to a tech priest, really. Though he seems to have a little bit more aesthetic sense.

The Lump, meanwhile, hefts a meaty fist at Krayger, his arm extending impossibly and his hand expanding to a bludgeon the size of a huge novelty beach ball. Should Krayger get clobbered he'll find that the Lump's flesh has the consistency of silly putty.

[Deathkeeper]

Oh, my. Krayger only has time to let loose one more shot at the direction of the trooper's pointing before he suddenly is in great need of some evasive maneuvers. The minotaur takes a great spinning step out of the way as he grabs hold of his axe, trying to use the momentum of the spin to make up for his weak one-handed grip as he tries to bring it down on the extended arm in front of him

[WarKitty]

As the squid staggers, Xun launches her full panther form at him! If she hits she'll come in with teeth and claws.

[Recaiden]

"You call yourself 'the Sockpuppet'. You don't get much more stupid that that."

The bartender casually swats at the sock with a loose end of one of her scarves, which should transmute the sock to a harmless but pretty flash of light.
Now, she could send off a second jet, but she'd have to concentrate on not burning any of the customers. That wouldn't do.
So instead, she lets the flames stop and reaches behind the bar to get a proper weapon, some sort of retro-sci-fi ray gun, which she aims quickly in the general direction of the Lump. Zap! Although the actual effect feels a lot more like being struck by lightning.

[Findpathfencer]

"Oh come on, Adir." C4 says waving with his hand. "Just the fact that they come to you is enougth. I mean, I got an address, ehich isn't even her home as far as I got it. AND you got your wife at home. I don't think anyone can beat that in one"


The kitsune will at first take some distance from the foreigner.

"You lie. You want to charm me like she wanted. "she says and then shouts. "HELP! Please someone help me."


Her natural agility should allow her to not get caught, but she won't be able to get past the man. A watcher sure notice that she is exhausted, due to the fact she ran from her home to Trog's. With time he will be able to catch her, but maybe someone jumps in to help her?

Seeing as the main attacker appears to have been grabbed by a bubble, Xun attempts to jump between the two. Hey what's going on?

speaking in a lower quieter voice so the fox don't hear
"what I hate more then blood is confusion..she is charmed and needs help and I can end the charm right now if I can just hold her..or if you want to be insidious then we can let her go and fallow her back to the charmer or what she will do."

[WarKitty]

speaking in a lower quieter voice so the fox don't hear
"what I hate more then blood is confusion..she is charmed and needs help and I can end the charm right now if I can just hold her..or if you want to be insidious then we can let her go and fallow her back to the charmer or what she will do."

((Since our fox is away I'm going to hold off on this until the combat's finished or deadtimes out)).

[Rebonack]

Professor Cuttlefish gets shot and pounced on! The round that just nailed him was enough to knock him flat on his rear, though his body armor reduced it to a really nasty bruise rather than an acute case of the deads. Then a panther pounces on him. Or at least in his general direction. Xun may be met in mid-air by the Professor swinging two of his robo arms at her whilst shielding himself with the other four. It's worth noting that getting clobbered out of the air by mecha-squid limbs isn't altogether comfortable.

The gun shot seems to have damaged the Prof's active camo, causing it to sputter as waves of color radiate from the point of impact.

As for the sock, it is contemptuously swatted by a scarf! Which results in a whole lot of nothing, as the psionic might of Sockpuppet channeled through it blunts the magical devilry through sheer force of will. Given that the bar tender was expecting that to stop the sock and just turned her attention elsewhere there's probably not much to stop the sock from blindfolding her last round. And for good measure?

A dozen more wool socks rocket toward the bar tender, aiming to bind her hand and foot! This may make grabbing ray guns rather difficult.

"If you are foolish enough to judge someone by their name then you do not deserve victory!" Sockpuppet laughs as he continues hovering in mid-air. Somehow. Probably suspended by his socks.

Meanwhile!

Holy carp, Krayger just chopped off The Lump's arm! There isn't any blood, though. Or anything that looks like meat. Just that fleshy textured stuff all the way through. It's really disturbing. The stump of the arm retracts and some of The Lump's blubber flows from his belly to the limb, forming a new hand and forearm. "Really sorry about this mister cow, but orders are orders," The Lump says before unleashing a blinding barrage of rapid, stretchy punches.

It probably won't help that the severed arm just formed into a Mini-Lump and attempted to leap onto Krayger's back. Should it manage to latch on it'll begin punching at his head and pulling at his ears. "Mwee hehehehehe!"

The remaining eight Dia-Bot-Ical minions, meanwhile, have set up a small taco stand out in front of the tavern where at they are handing out free tacos, hats, and tequila shots. They've set up a sign, too!

Trog's Tavern is currently undergoing a change of management and things may be a little hectic in the mean time. Regular service will begin again as soon as possible. Please accept our sincere apologies as well as these free Taco Tuesday gifts.
-Doctor Diabolical

[WarKitty]

Xun falls to the ground with a loud whump.

Well that didn't work out well.

Xun decides to shift tactics. She shifts to her smaller form and begins using her familiar "enhancement" powers. With any luck these should result in the socks clumping together into a single ball. Note that Xun's abilities work by enhancing and channeling power rather than countering it, so it should be tricky to override by force.

[Recaiden]

How surprising. That scarf is effective against any projectile. This pathetic, deluded sockman does have some powers.
The bartender doesn't have much stopping the socks from blindfolding her and wrapping around her. Which thy do, quite restricting her movements.

So she elects to not be present anymore. Another of the many scarves she wears flashes bright, red and octarine, and the bartender is gone to a piece of long-ago, sockfree time. Once there, she takes the time to step across the room, to about right-behind-where-the-scokpuppet-will-be, summons up a large charge of flame, and then steps back into the 'present' and hurls it forward. There is a bit of flashing light warning before she arrives though. Could easily get out the way.

[Darkcomet]

In the midst of all this nonsense Noelle seems to have slipped away and...grabbed someone else's drink again?

The drink in question is notably...oh no.

Teal-green.

With Cuttlefish hopefully distracted by the others, Noelle moves to get back up to him (being oddly good at balancing that drink in motion) and trying to perform a combo maneuver consisting of splashing him with the gargle blaster and then slashing him with the power sword. If that thing is as strong as she thinks it is, and that energy field is as nasty as she knows it is upon hit, the result ought to be incendiary.

"Who here likes fried fish?"

[Deathkeeper]

Krayger's nostrils flare.
"At least have the courtesy to say 'bull!' " he snorts, before finding the need to drop his gun so he can properly use his axe to deflect some of the blow. Others he sidesteps, but many more find their mark if he's moving at inhuman speeds. Krayger is durable but still geez, ouch.

And then he's grabbed by a tiny minion. If given an opening he'll try to jump back so he can grab it off of him and throw it somewhere, but if he's busy getting punched a million times that might not work out.

[Rebonack]

More fighting!

It's worth noting that attacking Sockpuppet's greatest strength with a weaker form of one's power isn't the greatest formula for success. He notices the foul magic meddling with his socks and it takes a few moments of his focus to break it, but that's a few moments long enough for a bar tender to hop through time and chuck a bunch of fire at him.

"AAAH!"

Sockpuppet drops to the ground and rolls around a bit!

His treated wool suit is pretty darn fire retardant, like one of those stunt guy suits that always get lit on fire. But it still isn't comfortable by any means. "Disgusting witch," Sockpuppet hisses as he glares at the bar tender. "I already told you my mastery over socks and socks alone is absolute! And as it so happens-"

His crushing, overpowering will seeks to bind itself fully into all of the barmaid's clothing, magical scarves included.

"-I lied. I control any form of cloth or fabric!"

Wuh oh! Quick, pounce on him kitty!

Meanwhile!

Professor Cuttlefish swats the drink out of the air as he lashes one of his robo-arms around a rafter and yanking himself beyond the reach of Noelle's slash. He gives a nasty sneer at Noelle, but it quickly turns into a growl of anger when he notices that the robo arm where the Gargleblaster splashed is sizzling.

"Impossible! The alloy of my mecha-cuttles is impervious to corrosion!"

Apparently not?

With a snarl he grabs a table and hurls at Noelle! Followed by a potted plant, a bar stool, several bottles of booze, and the kitchen sink!

Also meanwhile!

Seems there's a whole lot of punching going on. And mini-minion based harassment.

"Sorry about that, mister bull," the Lump replies as he continues his blitz of fists. Strangely enough he sounds completely sincere. "I don't always think things through very well. I'm not the smartest lump around."

Kraygar manages to yank the minion off, though it's still giggling and flailing at him ever after he hurls the thing down the conveniently open basement access. The cellar door slams shut behind it.

[WarKitty]

Xun attempts to pounce Sock-puppet, aiming for the face! She's still in little kitty form, not her panther shape.

[Darkcomet]

...Oh, wow, really glad you guys showed up and got me to down that detox! I am still that lucky!" Noelle is grinning now, even as she dodges away from the barrage of various objects. Hey, thanks, that's a great idea!" Ducking the sink, she...grabs someone's drink and throws it at the Professor.

I'm not even sure what it was. It could have been some bog standard thing. A dragon's liver buster. A wizard blizzard with baleful polymorph.

Anything, really.

It may be noted that Noelle has stolen no less than three drinks in the course of this conflict, the neutralize poison wizard blizzard, the second gargle-blaster, and whatever that was.

[Zefir]

speaking in a lower quieter voice so the fox don't hear
"what I hate more then blood is confusion..she is charmed and needs help and I can end the charm right now if I can just hold her..or if you want to be insidious then we can let her go and fallow her back to the charmer or what she will do."

"This guy is trying to charm me for his own disgusting plans." The fox says loud. I wonder what sounds better. At least Mika might be the better visible position. She is running away from him and didn't threat anyone.

[Findpathfencer]

"This guy is trying to charm me for his own disgusting plans." The fox says loud. I wonder what sounds better. At least Mika might be the better visible position. She is running away from him and didn't threat anyone.

"What do you want?"

Vale unsheathes his sword and tosses it at the foxes things feet.

"My sword is not that heavy, if your really Afraid of me then defend your self now and kill me for I'm getting tired of this game fox fiend."

He then sits down cross legged with his head down and some hair looks like covering his head.

"You have been corrupted, if you do somehow to escape then I'd be mad and don't know what I'll do to you when I found you."

[WarKitty]

Ok will you two settle down? What's making you think that she's enchanted? Xun concentrates, checking for magical auras - thankfully that is one thing she should be able to do!

[Zefir]

"What do you want?"

Vale unsheathes his sword and tosses it at the foxes things feet.

"My sword is not that heavy, if your really Afraid of me then defend your self now and kill me for I'm getting tired of this game fox fiend."

He then sits down cross legged with his head down and some hair looks like covering his head.

"You have been corrupted, if you do somehow to escape then I'd be mad and don't know what I'll do to you when I found you."

The kitsune jumps away as the sword is thrown at her.

"I don't want to get under your control and I'm not a fiend. Your creepy with that copy thing and that sudden mood changes. I got no intensions to kill you or even hurt you, so why do you threat me?"

Ok will you two settle down? What's making you think that she's enchanted? Xun concentrates, checking for magical auras - thankfully that is one thing she should be able to do!

"I can't or he will take controll over me. I fear for my life."

She got magial auras.