Random Plots and Places 9: What a crazy, random happenstance!

[Fenric]

Caravan Building?

Cral puts Xs on the confirmed falses. "The, uh, ocean camp, and then the... which other one, dood?"

Tamamo and Myobi both concentrate, and whisper to each other a couple of times, before Myobi sighs

It makes sense in a way, and it certainly does seem to be there... sorry, Myobi.

It was not really me... I can just feel the echoes of her memory of the place. Anyway... Cral: The second location is here.

Myobi points at a spot deep in the Deep Woods

There is an ancient Darkwood tree there, which has been used by enemies of Inari before.

[Lost_Deep]

Caravan Building?

Cral squawks. "That's not smart, dood! Any kind of base there might get eaten or stomped, dood, or sucked into the fairylands! Why risk having a base there, dood?!"

[Fenric]

[Caravan Building?]

Tamamo and Myobi look at each other, then look more carefully at the map

Oh... we appear to be using a definite article for a name that is used in more than one place...

Quite some time before the area you have marked right now, that name was used for a fearful place far to the south... over here: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...The-Deep-Woods

[Lost_Deep]

Caravan Building?

"Sorry, dood, hat's a really nice lake right now. Things in the Nexus move a lot, I guess, dood." Cral sighs and makes some more notes. "Not sure what to do for now, dood. I guess we wait for Gilded Caravan to call back, huh, dood?"

[Lord Magtok]

Marvel NYC

"That was vaguely spooky. Can you at least promise not to leave me alone with the guy?" Magtok knows none of them are particularly inclined to take anything he says seriously, but it probably wouldn't be too inconvenient for them to do that much.

[KerfuffleMach2]

Marvel New York

Krystal looks around the place with her eyes wide. She was in the Baxter Building! The home of the Fantastic Four! This was awesome!

She wasn't sure what Magtok had against Mr. Fantastic, but he seemed to actually be worried about something.

Yeah, that's fine, Magtok. I'll stick with ya.

[Rebonack]

[Marvel NYC]

"The guy with the half-metal face thinks the stretchy man is spooky?" Spiderman inquires rhetorically.

To be fair, unnaturally lanky things are pretty creepy.

Anywho, down to the electronics lab!

The lab in question is another two floors down, past all the conferences rooms and tracking stations and stuff. The lab is more or less what one might expect from the Fantastic Four, with all kinds of crazy inventions scattered about in a state of scarcely contained chaos. Geneva is looking around like a kid in a candy shop. Spiderman deposits Magtok on a nearby bench.

Geeze, Spiderman. The guy can stand up on his own.

Geneva opens her mouth to ask a question, but Mister Fantastic shushes her with a raised finger as he tinkers with... Something. "Tch tch tch tch! Just one moment. I'm working on a new, clean, unlimited source of power for the Fantastic Jet."

The ex-hippogriff's eyes widen a little. "Wow, really? That's incredible! I noticed that most of the vehicles outside are using internal combustion engines still. How long do you think it'll be before your prototype is ready for production?"

"Production?" Mister Fantastic replies incredulously. "This device isn't for the world at large. It could be weaponized. Humanity isn't ready for it yet."

Geneva just kind of boggles at him. Then glances at the other people with her to see if that excuse sounds as lame to them as it does to her.

[Lord Magtok]

Marvel NYC

Magtok affixes Geneva with his best 'I told you so here is irrefutable proof I'm always right' look. He doesn't dare say any of that aloud, though. Not where Mr. Slaughterhouse could hear him.

"Aren't you part of humanity though, Stretch Armstrong?" Seems he's perfectly willing to snark at Richards on less serious matters, though.

[Fenric]

[Caravan Building?]

Myobi looks at Tamamo who tilts her head in confusion.

A lake? No... the followers specifically said a forest.

And the tree... so if it is not there anymore... where is it?

I hate trying to follow the dimensions down, it's so confusing without landmarks.

Gilded Caravan has reached Caroline. She is distraught at having been caught in her bathrobe. Perhaps it is best to just wait.

[Lost_Deep]

Caravan Building?

"Nexus, dood. I'm sure Caravan will call us when dood's ready to talk tactics. She likes to use voice meetings when she can, and our network is as secure as they come, dood. Gods can't hack our network, dood: some have tried."

Nosy, nosy gods. Trying to figure out how to control the company. How silly of them.

[Fenric]

[Caravan building?]

Myobi sighs, Tamamo shakes her head, and Stephanie is still playing Tower Madness 2 because there is so very little she can contribute.

You can go, Myobi: I'll handle stuff here.

Stephanie looks up at that

It was very kind of you to come, Myobi. Thank you!

Myobi nods

Very well... call if you need me. And you are welcome, Stephanie: it was nice meeting you

And then Myobi is no longer there.

[Lost_Deep]

Caravan building?

"Where... I'll assume that's okay, dood. Hey, uh, either of you doods want something to drink? I can send a bot to get something if you want, dood." Apart from that, it seems the time has come to wait.

[KerfuffleMach2]

Marvel New York

Krystal continues looking around in wonder. Now she was in Mr. Fantastic's lab! And there he was! Working away on-

Something he wasn't going to share with the world?

Um...is that really up to you, though? I mean, I kinda understand why you would say that. I do. But, I'm sure there's a lot of good that could be done with it.

[Rebonack]

[Marvel NYC]

Spiderman gives Maggy a glare. Of course, you can't really see it under that mask of his.

"But-" Geneva begins to object, only to be shushed once again by the stretchiest (and possibly smartest) guy in the universe. He also ignores Magtok's barb. Of course he's part of humanity, but as the most intelligent human that has ever or probably WILL ever exist, he knows better.

"I've already run simulations on what would happen if this technology became available to the public," Reed replies as he turns toward our heroes (and Magtok). "The destruction and suffering it would cause far outweighs the benefit. Humanity at large simply isn't evolved or intelligent enough yet to use it responsibly."

Well there you go. The universe's smartest man has spoken.

"Now then, Spiderman said you found a way to bridge between multiverses. Could you tell me a bit more about that?" Reed inquires.

Geneva gives a little nod and with a sub-vocalized command removes a holographic projector from her PIPcolt and sets it down on the floor. While she's setting it up the stretchy guy asks another question. "Interesting storage device. What is it exactly?"

"Hmm?" the ex-hippogriff grunts. "Oh, my PIPcolt utilizes a looped teleportation buffer spell matrix to store items in. The magical buffer has about twenty five hundred kilograms of mass/energy storage capacity."

Well!

Mister Fantastic looks gobsmacked! That's certainly new.

[Lord Magtok]

Marvel NYC

For whatever reason, Magtok decides now would probably be a good time to extend a tiny knife from one of the fingers on his left hand, and slowly, quietly begin to cut through the webbing that's keeping him prisoner. He watches the others, careful to make the first step towards his eventual escape go as unnoticed as possible.

[UncleWolf]

Spoiler

Show

Grief

"Focus fire on the front. Let them see the folly of their choices as their brothers die before them," Needs insists, wrapping himself around Wesley's leg as he emits twin beams of his light from his own eyes, hoping that third wolf-thing is stopped before it reaches them.

Grief

Wesley flails about with the flashlight, trying to aim it at the jackals in all directions at once. Since this isn't possible, it's going to be random which ones, if any, he hits.

Hey, it's his first time adventuring!

Grief

Without turning from the two harrying her, The Mother keeps her ears attuned to the growls of those around, lowering her hearing below the point where Needs' auditory assault can do her harm as well. Reaching an arm back in an impressive display of agility and flexibility, she displays that her range of motion is clearly being assisted by some natural or unnatural ability as the arm bulks up and stretches into a long, muscular brace of tentacles that attempts to lash out and strike from the air two of the lunging jackalbeasts headed for Needs. With a clenching of her teeth and a look of concentration, she'll attempt to wrap around the leg of one of them and hurl it at the third, assuming her strike halts or reverses its momentum enough to allow her to do so. Because of the delay, the attempted throw will likely only occur after the third has completed its leap, whether that causes it to land on Needs or not.

Grief

The tentacle does get ahold of the first jackal, making it yelp at the contact and whimper even louder when it is thrown into the second. The two tumble through the air and hit one of the stone columns with enough force for cracking bones to be heard. The pair lay twitching after that, appearing to not want to get up right now. After the hit, fine bits of sand fall from the column and onto the party. Apparently they aren't entirely stable.

The third jackal is hit squarely by the beams from Needs and it doesn't get a chance to let out even a yelp before it bursts apart into fine dust. The dust cloud is still going for Needs, but will be harmless if it hits him and Wes' legs.

Wes' flailing will keep the rest of the jackals at bay as any brush with the light makes them smoke. On one of the passes, he'll find a path that'd had two jackals on it empty except for three legs that appear to have been torn off by something other than the three of them. Another pass of the light(if he doesn't stop there) and even those legs will vanish.

[KerfuffleMach2]

Marvel New York

Krystal obviously didn't like his answer. But, she didn't really have anything to counter it with. So, she falls silent as Geneva begins to share her info with him.

She fails to notice what Magtok is up to.

[Fenric]

[Caravan Building?]

Stephanie looks up

I could use some water, please.

Tamamo shrugs

Sure, water.

[Rebonack]

[Marvel NYC]

"Your technology," Reed prompts. "It uses magic in an easily reproducible fashion that anyone can utalize? The same way any other technology might use the principles of electromagnetism or quantum mechanics?"

"Yes...?" Geneva replies uncertainly, glancing up from working on the projector. "The thaumatic field and thaumons are just as much of a physical force as any of the other fundamental forces of nature."

"I KNEW it!" the stretchy guy proclaims. "I knew magic was just another form of science that I was simply missing too many variables to properly understand!" He reaches out to grab Geneva by the shoulders. From half way across the room. Geneva looks at the stretchy limb on her shoulder uncertainly. "You must tell me absolutely everything you know."

Geneva is looking somewhat awkward about the whole being grabbed thing. "Umm... I would love to talk with you about the field of thaumology, but maybe we should focus on the Einstein-Rosen bridge first?"

"Oh, of course, by all means," Mister Fantastic replies.

Then they'll start talking about a bunch of really arcane mathematical nonsense that no one in the room will probably grasp. Spiderman looks like he's trying to puzzle through it, but he's more of a biology guy.

This means Krystal is free to poke around the lab and hopefully not cause anything to explode!

[Lost_Deep]

Caravan Building?

Cral uses his tablet, and after a few minutes a little floating robot topped with a serving dish and two glasses of water comes out of one of the walls.

[Lord Magtok]

[Marvel NYC]

Then they'll start talking about a bunch of really arcane mathematical nonsense that no one in the room will probably grasp. Spiderman looks like he's trying to puzzle through it, but he's more of a biology guy.

This means Krystal is free to poke around the lab and hopefully not cause anything to explode!

Magtok's a genius too, remember. So he could probably understand as much as Richards, if he bothered to listen, but he doesn't. He hears enough of that garbage from Saurous; there's no reason to pay any attention to it here. He hovers up into a sitting position, curious as to what Krystal might be thinking about all of this nonsense that no longer concerns either of them. If she wanders off to go gawk at shiny things, she wouldn't be justified in complaining about it if Magtok followed after her, right?

[KerfuffleMach2]

Marvel New York

Krystal doesn't mind at all. In fact, she'll actually grab his arm and try to guide him along.

After all, she did stay she was going to stick with him while they were here.

Krystal does well to restrain herself from touching stuff. But, she does wander and look at as much as she can without actually leaving the lab.

[Rebonack]

[Marvel NYC]

Geneva and Reed will continue blathering about science things while Spiderman pretends he has a clue what they're talking about, leaving Magtok almost completely unsupervised.

And to say that there is a wealth of cool stuff in the lab is a huge understatement. And there are several OTHER labs besides! Though they would need to get past those biometric scanner things to get at the other labs, so it might be best to stick to the electronics stuff.

So much electronics stuff.

Things that look like weapons. Things that look like scanners. Things that look like state of the art computing devices. Things that are basically mysterious in their function. Jars full of nanites. A universal translator. A ray gun for shooting The Watcher in the face in case he ever gets uppity. The works. This place has got it all.

Imagine a fancy electronic gizmo, Maggy.

Any gizmo at all.

And it's probably sitting on a desk in here somewhere under a pile of computer readouts.

Surely Reed wouldn't miss just ONE cool trinket?

[Lord Magtok]

Marvel NYC

Just one trinket? Pfft, try three, maybe four. This webbing prison might limit his ability to move his limbs around and such, but now that he's cut enough to get an arm free, he can quickly reach out when Krystal's not looking, grab a gun at random, and stick it back inside the sticky prison cell where nobody can see it, or even think to look for it. Maybe he can even get his hands on the wooden gun that foiled Magneto, or that big laser cannon Mr. Fantastic shot his own son with, if he's lucky.

"He's seriously messed up, Krystal. I finally remembered that other bad thing he did; it was building a prison in the Negative Zone to imprison anti-registration heroes. The other three-fourths of the Four turned on him because of his crazy jerkishness. If he knows who I am he'll probably put me there and not care at all about me being outside his jurisdiction or whatever."

Are you seriously telling Krystal you're worried about Mr. Fantastic doing something nefarious and excessive right after stealing his stuff, Magtok? Are you honestly that shameless? Holy fudge, man.

[KerfuffleMach2]

Marvel New York

Unlike Magtok, Krystal was happy just looking at everything. There was so much stuff that she didn't really notice when a few things would go missing.

She sighs a bit and looks at the cyborg. Look, I know you don't wanna be here. But he kinda is our best shot at getting to the Nexus quickly.

Also, I know he was pro-registration, but he thought he was doing the right thing. Just like most of the others on that side. And like you.

[Rebonack]

[Marvel NYC]

You know which two people are still yammering about science?

Geneva and Mister Fantastic, that's who!

As yet no one is wise to Magtok's petty theft of fancy inventions. Though one has to wonder how Magtok is planning on fitting a giant laser cannon into his silken prison.

And speaking of giant laser cannons!

There it is, sitting on a wall rack.

Just sitting up there.

Tauntingly.

Stupid thing is practically daring Magtok to steal it.

[Lost_Deep]

Temple of Inari: Cunning Plan

The Sky Raiders are told to depart. Hah, easy mission, free money. They leave with the speed the arrived with.

Blacktop pulls around front, and his door opens. Caroline, looking like Inari and presumably given Caravan's anti-teleportation ring, will have been directed to get in first and be fast. Gilded Caravan will follow her shortly, and the door will close behind her.

"Miss?"

"Caroline, Blacktop. Blacktop, Caroline. We're going to be a distraction, Blacktop. Caroline, where in the mountains is this location? Don't worry about rough terrain."

[Fenric]

[Limo]

Caroline smiles

Hi! Head directly west along route 5, then take exit 427 toward Sandside. About mile marker 550, we need to pull off the road to the left: there is one of those red-and-white striped road barrier things blocking an old access road that leads up into the foothills. It is rough and winding, and there is one bridge that has fallen into a gorge that we will have to deal with. About a mile later we will come to what looks like a dead end because of a landslide, but that is actually just an illusion hiding the valley where the base is.

She tilts her head then and blinks

How... how did I know that?

[Lost_Deep]

Limo

"The information was likely planted in you," Caravan says. "Blacktop, take off."

Blacktop moves off, following the instructions. Wary, of course; watching for people who might be following them.

"We'll need to take steps in that last bit to ensure that we honestly aren't followed there," Caravan says while using her computer.

[Fenric]

[Limo]

It is not long before a certain black Lincoln Town Car is once again in Blacktop's rear-view mirror

Caroline is looking around in wide-eyed amazement at the interior of the limo, never having ridden in such a thing before

Oh... my... so many... so much... oh...