What's Left of the MagCave

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Sub-Basement Six -> Elevator]

Zenon falls into step with Spako as they make their way back to the elevator.

"I do hope our host is still well. It would be a shame if something had happened to him while we were occupied down here."

[Deathkeeper]

Elevator

"I'm sure he's fine." says Spako confidently. Unless Libby or her minions interfere further, the elevator will ding back on the second level. Magtok might not have time to reapply his "disguise" as he's assaulted by the raptor at the moment...

[Lord Magtok]

Second Floor

Oh no. It's on his face now. Well that's fine, we can resolve that, too. We just have to dive for the couch, face-first. That'll show that stupid scaly chicken precursor who's boss, surely! The couch was over that way, right? Or is that the floor we're crashing towards?

[Chaotic Bob]

[Elevator]

The giant sloth is entirely too lazy to bother interfering with the group further.
And the raptor is really the only other minion here, so unbothered the pair goes!

[Second Floor]

Yes, dive your head into the ground Magtok! That'll totally teach that cyber-raptor who is made of enough metal parts where this still won't feel good.
At some point a couch cushion is mysteriously moved to the impact site though, so that probably helps.

Rhode gives a rather displeased shriek at being pinned by the grotesque purple-robed man's face, whereupon he proceeds to start wildly flailing all his limbs + tail.
If it actually spoke Common, this would be a pretty clear "get off me you hideous, malformed oaf!" moment.

Libby gives another amused giggle by the spectacle, before fading over into a shadow in the corner. No need to concern impending guests with the looming literal specter of death at the moment.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Elevator -> Second Floor]

Zenon chuckles to himself at Spako's comment, but makes no further ones of his own, instead preferring to hum absent-mindedly to himself. Is that the Imperial March he's humming? Yes, it must be, though he's only humming the main melody from it, over and over as the elevator ascends. Still, it beats the Girl from Ipanema, as far as elevator music goes. Once they return to Magtok's living room, though, his eyes will burn baleful green once more as he sniffs the air, before fixing his gaze on the shadow Libby has become, focusing the Devourer's aura vision on her. He says nothing, further, instead simply smiling in a friendly manner at her.

If she has any sort of aura or spirit vision active and looks at him, she's going to get an eyeful, which his player will describe fully in the next post.

[Deathkeeper]

[Second Floor]

Spako frowns, though he approaches the flailing pair. He can't do anything about Rhode with Magtok on top of it, though.
"Hello, Mr. Magtok. We found your intruder. He also found you I see. If you get off of him I can probably help.

Please desist, cousin." Spako tells Magtok, then chirps out in Draconic for Rhodes. It works on birds, maybe one day this lizard will understand the futility of its aggression.

[Lord Magtok]

Second Floor

"So we're not playing the whole 'plausible deniability, maybe he's not actually the cyborg' game anymore, are we? Shoot," Magtok says with a sigh, pulling away from the raptor and hoping the damned prehistoric iguana has finally had enough for now.

"Well fine, I wasn't very good at it anyways. Is there any chance I can convince you gentlemen to keep quiet about that? I'm technically not supposed to be back. We do have a common enemy in the Faction, kobold guy, so I could help with that." He's not entirely sure what he could offer the newcomer to the Nexus, though. Maybe we could subcontract our scouting mission to him for a few MagBucks, and spend our entire time in the Nexus goofing around with Libby instead of doing any of the work we were actually assigned? Hrm, the idea has some potential, but I don't know if our pride would allow it. We have to at least do some of the investigation of The Faction on our own, if for no other reason than to prove to ourselves that we're still just as capable as ever.

[Chaotic Bob]

[Second Floor]

These goons again! Rhode was probably hoping to have some more time to finish this half of things before they showed up.
At least Magtok is getting off of him, leaving his ankles nice and exposed...
He considers giving them a good chomp around when Spako says...something to it? The response is mostly a mostly-blank-but-still-hostile look, a hiss, and then the raptor promptly disappears somewhere under the couch.

Hooray, victory?


From a literal standpoint, being an actual goddess of death and the many things that entails, Libby technically has a spirit vision. And a multitude of other visions that typically shows wanton disregard for privacy, most of which she generally fails to act on. Embarrassing most mortals gets old after awhile.
Of course she's watching these proceedings, and therefore Zenon and Spako, rather closely.

She has no intention of acknowledging being noticed or in disrupting things however.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Second Floor]

What Libby sees is probably going to give her a headache, the way looking at an M.C. Escher drawing or staring too long at one of those Magic Eye puzzles tends to do to mortals. The creature calling himself 'Zenon' is no longer mortal in most senses of the word. His spirit, aura, and mind are linked to a massive, dark being that both feeds and feeds off of him. They're integrated together, though she can probably still mostly pick out where his aura and the being's are linked. Zenon's physical body is clearly artificial, and not in the same way as Magtok; his systems only superficially resemble biology, and while he might have once had a form of a mortal soul, its link to the being has changed it so much that it's more or less unrecognizable as mortal. Or godly, for that matter. No, the form it takes is older; much, much older and more powerful, and its link to the being is almost indistinguishable since they're so closely integrated. The being itself appears in spirit and aura vision as mass of glowing eyes, every shade of the rainbow, washed out and ominous, along with innumerable maws, some grinning hungrily, others scowling in a predatory manner. A few are open, pulling in what must be the Nexus' own ambient magical energy as though they're inhaling air, or drinking from a straw. Its form is blobby, like a number of spheres all mashed together, and everything save its eyes and teeth are the deepest, darkest black, the black of oblivion. As she focuses on parts of it, it seems to shift and grow, more faces, more maws, appearing wherever she looks, until the creature fills her field of vision, the only reference point being Zenon himself. Several of the 'faces' have extended from the mass to get a better look at her, but none make any threatening moves. Two overwhelming emotions emanate from the being: hunger, and boredom, though if she focuses, she'll be able to pick out others from Zenon, mostly amusement at the current moment. The being does smell slightly familiar to her; despair, sadness, and resignation seem to be most of it, along with the stench of destruction and oblivion. Whatever this being is, it's at the very least, an ancient force of destruction and chaos; quite possibly a Great Old One, or perhaps something akin to it. After a moment, the faces pull back to the mass, as Zenon looks to Magtok. Of course, no one else can see the being, unless they happen to have the same sorts of senses Libby does.

"I don't see why not, though people are eventually going to recognize that you're back and doing things no matter how much plausible deniability you create."

[Deathkeeper]

[Second Floor]

"Well there's no real plausible deniability when you have your steel showing. But anyway, just get me the thing you promised me before and I'll keep my yap shut. It'll only stress out my commanders more. And it's Spako. I'm literally the only kobold in Vigil so you could find my name on TV anyway." Spako says, still mad that nobody seems to remember him despite being on TV. And a parade, no less!

[Felandria]

Near the Entrance

The MagCave may have closed shop and most of the things inside were taken away to parts unknown, but since that suit technically never belonged to the clones, and apparently they were all too lazy to return it, it's still sitting exactly where Felandria left it. She just needs to wait for a line of lasgeese to waddle down the hallway and ABSOLUTELY DO NOT try to step over them, and then it's a clear path right to that room her suit was left in, probably!

And she does find her room, just past the lasgesse, complete with the

FELANDRIAS ONLY!!!

sign on the door.

She goes inside and finds her battle suit!

She flashes back to when Harald explained it to her....

"The armour and sword will grow and shrink as you do. They're also highly electrically conductive and thermally insulating - you can go down to minus fifty and up to plus one hundred Celsius without any problems, and your electric powers will be unimpeded. In addition, it will hold at depths of up to two miles underwater. As for the rest of them, there's pressure-activated capacitors - you can charge them up with electricity and throw them like a grenade - compact laser, homing beacon, emergency teleport device - that will drop you back here - grapple line and a force shield generator to go on your forearm plate - I couldn't fit a full-size one, so it will make a panel up to about four meters square, adjustable.

The armour has infrared vision, gps, radar and sonar, and an air tank that will last three hours. It also has magnetic boots and gauntlets, but not normal magnets - they act on the planetary magnetic field. They can help you jump, swim, run or anchor yourself. There's a full tutorial in the helmet computer, which is linked to my satellite network, so you can always contact me in an emergency."

Fel smiles wistfully.

She missed Harald.

She had made one or two minor modifications, the helmet was now more of a visor/scouter, which she put on.

Hi, Giles!

Hello, Felandria.

It has been a significant time since you have logged on.

Are you well?

Well, I'm a little better now, thanks.

[Lord Magtok]

Second Floor

Magtok probably wasn't around for Spako's parade. If he was, he pay any attention to it at all because it wasn't a parade all about himself. Should be an easy enough name for him to remember, though. Spako the kobold, the only kobold in VIGIL. Pretends he's actually a dragon sometimes. Okay yeah, I think we can remember all of that.

"I left the envelope in a pocket. Let me just-" Oh, there it is! The way he was reaching into his robe, it sorta looked like he was going to draw a gun on his guests for a moment, before producing the incriminating blackmail instead. I'm sure the thought has crossed his mind once or twice, though. Maybe if Spako hadn't claimed to be fireproof, we'd be having a very different conversation right now.

"What about you, weird new guy? I could give you directions to the taverns, maybe. Point you to one of the lasgeese and tell you how to use it as a weapon, or maybe go to the assembly line and give you your very own shiny new Magbot?" Whatever will get rid of the stranger and allow Magtok to lock the door behind him on the way out, it seems. The cyborg's time away from the Nexus has done nothing to improve his manners or grossly exaggerated sense of self-importance, clearly.

[Nova_Eclipse]

Second Floor

Zenon smiles at Magtok in amusement, though not without shooting another glance at Libby.

"Hmm, I was hoping for something a little less tangible. Alliance, perhaps, though if you'd prefer, I am somewhat hungry. If you have some sort of rather powerful energy source you aren't using, or particularly attached to, that would suffice, I suppose."

[Deathkeeper]

[Second Floor]

Spako smiles and pockets the envelope.
"Sorry guy, but I don't think my lightning breath has enough juice to satiate. Can't help you there." he says with a shrug. He's ready to go but he wants to see what Magtok gives the guy first.

[Lord Magtok]

Second Floor

Something very small changes in Magtok's expression. A powerful energy source he isn't using or attached to. Obvious references to the generator...and to Libby, who this new guy's been shooting a few glances towards, if our mental recollection of this conversation and where she stood before vanishing is accurate (and it is, we're a cyborg). The new guy knows more than he lets on, more than he should be capable of knowing. He also thinks of deities as food. We can't trust this entity, can't lower our guard around anything that powerful. We didn't build an entire empire (which has since crumbled, but never mind that) by letting creatures above and beyond our lowly mortal comprehension of reality manipulate us or push us around. We have to assume its intentions are rotten and prepare for the worst.

"I don't exist. An alliance with me is worth less than Spako's toenail clippings right now. However, I can give you the name of a powerful energy source. He answers to-" A pen slides out of Magtok's sleeve, and he writes 'eeds ood adly' on his hand, which he shows to Zenon. "His initials are NFB, and I am very deliberately not saying or writing out his name correctly because I do not want him summoned here, understand?" With any luck, the two will kill each other off and save Magtok the trouble of worrying about this Zenon guy later. Last thing the Nexus needs is a god-gobbling supermonster, swollen with the power of a thousand fallen deities, trying to consume all of reality to mitigate the pangs of an insatiable hunger. A certain Greek pantheon already knows all about how that nonsense goes.

[Nova_Eclipse]

Second Floor

Zenon examines the cyborg's palm, raising an eyebrow. Magtok is clearly trying to get rid of them, and why? To be alone with a goddess of death? And curiously, she hasn't tried to kill him (other than siccing that weird cyber-lizard thing on him, which he's begun to categorize as her way of saying 'hello'). A realization strikes him like a bolt out of the blue, and amusement dances in his eyes. Libby might even notice several of the faces of the being he's linked with seem to smile in mirth. He grins at the cyborg.

"I see. I do think you sell yourself short. You have quite a bit to offer in such an alliance, as do I, but I do understand your need for...discretion." There's a pointed grin at the cyborg, and did he just wink at Magtok? Yes, yes, he did, in a "you sly dog", sort of manner, before bowing effusively. "Well, then. My thanks for the meal. Perhaps we'll meet again sometime." He straightens and turns on his heel, and moves briskly back towards the entrance hall, still grinning to himself. The presence of the being slowly fades as he leaves, though it does take awhile.

[Deathkeeper]

Second Floor

Spako waits until the presence is gone completely to react.
"Well that was weird. Anyway, thank you, Mister Magtok. Your secret is safe with me." he says, and is suddenly his natural, horse-sized dragon shape. Much easier to fly back to Vigil this way.
"I'm going to go now, but don't hesitate to ask if you need something that isn't going to go against the good guys or anything. I know you did some good over the years along with everything else. Oh and watch out for the cyber-sloth by the generator. He's a real sweetheart. And after possibly making the cyborg sick with sincerity, he heads out.
"And for the record, amateur alchemists pay good money for dragon toenails." he calls over his shoulder.

[Lord Magtok]

Second Floor

"Leslie's by the generator, got it. Thanks for the heads-up," Magtok answers Spako, waiting until both the dragon (holy cow he's actually an actual dragon?!) and god-eater are gone and absolutely, definitely, positively gone for real before he does anything else. He steps out of the living room and peers out into the entrance hall just to be sure, before putting on his trademark scowl and gliding back to Libby.

"If Needs doesn't kill the hungry one, we're going to have trouble," he shakes his head, already considering a dozen or so options to help deal with this problem. Secret weapons to unearth from the darker corners of the MagCave, ancient technology left to rot in forgotten laboratories...of course, if that doesn't work and things get really bad, there are other people he could call on, provided they're still around these days. VIGIL seems to still exist; maybe DC's still around and butting heads with them, too.

[Chaotic Bob]

[Second Floor]

Somewhere in there, Magtok looked, acted, and sounded like he was concerned again. Libby makes an attempt to not just think it's cute and actually take it seriously, which leads to her having a crooked sort of smile when she walks out of the air behind Magtok.
She could have reappeared where he saw her go and where the Possible Far Thing was watching, but hey. Life's about fun and she's trying to mingle.

"If it makes you feel better, I have taken measures to ensure that I am not...removed as easily as last time. I have a reasonable expectation of survival if your guest loses control of his hunger."
She isn't entirely convinced it will be a problem in the long run anyway, but her senses have been flighty around here lately. Could be wrong.

Then again, Magtok would probably prefer an action plan in event of worst case scenario, even if worst case scenario is unlikely.
"Although, it may be worth keeping an eye or two out? An opportunity for more of your toys, maybe. Surveillance would at least allow for a mild degree of preparation, if we could monitor any particular abilities."

Abilities like that thing with Rhode earlier. She hadn't actually meant to interfere personally with anything in the basement, but that almost went a little too far.

[Lord Magtok]

Second Floor => The Workshop

Magtok nods, trying to hide the way he flinched when Libby suddenly showed up behind him before he turns down the hall towards the workshop, just expecting her to follow without question. With the power back on, he should be able to put together at least two or three Magbots. Just a simple set of goons that he can control from afar, to clean up the areas he knows are safe, make some minor repairs and do some basic maintenance on the aged equipment, and make sure nobody else comes here to loot the place.

"That's good to hear. I mean, I'm still going to worry no matter what, because that's just what I do, but not as much, hopefully. I'll put up a few drones to watch the place while we're out, but it might be too soon to send anything to spy on Mr. Deity Gobbler out in the open. Later, maybe, if Needs hasn't killed him. Very possible, depending on what the Dei-Phage actually is. Alternatively, it's also possible I've made a terrible mistake and focusing that much power on one single battlefield could cause the entire Nexus to implode. We'll see how things go." Raptor Christ, Magtok. Don't you think you could've found some safer alternative to having Zenon and Needs hang out, if that's your worst case scenario? Maybe direct him to a power outlet to drink from instead? Jeez.

"Hrm. What do you like more, Dei-Phage, Godeater, Magical Vore Man, Galactus...Kirby, maybe? I need to call him something and I kicked them out so fast only the drake had time to say his name," Magtok asks, only looking back once or twice every few minutes to check to see if Libby is still there, as he hurriedly sets about getting the Magbot assembly line operational once more, so he can churn out his stupid goons and get back to their dinner plans. Also, yes, Spako's definitely a drake, not a dragon. Nobody that insistent on being called a dragon could ever possibly be an actual dragon. Maybe some kind of wyvern/kobold or something, but clearly not a dragon. Not a chance. We'll make some charts and graphs to prove it later, once we get back home.

[Chaotic Bob]

[The Workshop]

Typically, a mortal worrying about death trends more towards worrying about death ending them, rather than someone ending death.
But then, said death usually wasn't disguised as deliberately crafted female persona bent on winning your affection.
Still curious.

Libby dutifully follows deeper into the cave as Magtok leads, lightly scratching the head of the Rhode that has appeared alongside her. Although the raptor is glaring daggers at their host, he is remaining heeled for the time being.
"Despite every attempt to the contrary, nothing has ended this world yet. I remain optimistic of its odds in the face of Needs and...Kirby. That name amuses me."
Does she actually know who Kirby is?
"It is possible the chaos here may keep them better restrained than otherwise expected. Most seem to quickly realize that unveiling their full potential before a city of similarly powerful has a tendency to end rather poorly, if they act recklessly."

She offers a hand anywhere in resurrecting the assembly systems that she can, or that Magtok isn't worried about her breaking. Less because she's in a hurry to get out, like he is, but more because she's interested in how it all works. The best way to learn is to do!
"Leslie and Rhode can also tend to watching your home here and there, if you would like. I'm sure they would be delighted to help."

[Lord Magtok]

The Workshop

"This world's come closer to ending than most would believe. There was a Town here once. Parts of it still exist, a tavern and a temple, but most of the culture, the people who lived here hav-that switch on the wall over there, can you flick that on and off a few times, and then pull that lever?" Oh hey, looks like we're back to paying attention to Libby every once in a while again, instead of just throwing speeches at her. Of course, giving Death herself orders and instructions isn't much better than monologuing at her, is it?

"I'm sure Rhode would love to menace anyone who comes in here uninvited, and everyone else, too, but I can't let those two take care of everything. If I depended entirely upon your gifts to keep my home secure, I'd hardly deserve to call myself Magtok. Also they'd get hurt, and I'm not in any hurry to be known as 'the super-callous, cold-blooded Magtok who got Rhode and Leslie hurt for nothing.' Okay, now the lights are going to spark dramatically, and then we're going to need to plug a power core in that machine over there. There's a box of them in the corner over there. I'm going to go over these schematics one last time. There's a few minor adjustments I need to make to the Standard Magbot Template, so they're actually qualified to look after the place. I-" Magtok spouts some gibberish about artificial intelligence and levels of autonomy, but none of it is really important. To make a long story short, these Magbots need to be smart and independent enough to look after the place, but stupid and weak enough that they'll still follow orders. The conveyor belt chugs along, a series of ceiling-mounted robotic arms piecing the Magbots together as they travel down its length. The whole set-up looks like it was designed to build hundreds of robots at a time, but Mag's just making three today. We're not supposed to be alive yet, after all. Nobody's supposed to know.

[Chaotic Bob]

[The Workshop]

"I am a fairly big supporter of 'appearances can be deceiving', for perhaps obvious reasons. Although your world may have looked to be nearing its end, I am not entirely sure such a thing is truly in the cards for a very long time."
She flicks a few switches and pulls a lever, staring at the assembly around them for whatever effect it happens to cause.
Perhaps a dramatic dimming of the lights!

So then she goes to find that power core.
"Of course, I would hate to infringe upon your autonomy, Maggy. I am simply offering them as additions to your own inevitable designs. Which are...to be these, first, it would seem?"
This sounds like the beginning of a robot uprising story somewhere, but its his lair and his defenses.
"Might be worth stressing upon Rhode to not break these, if they are going to be that special compared to the others. Leslie is unlikely to be doing any hurting or being hurt, regardless of what happens in the near future. You know how the 'furball' is."
Look! She did a jokey nickname!
Libby is growing as a pretend living person.

The reaper finally plugs in that power core and then tries to be as unobtrusive as possible at peering over Magtok's shoulder to the schematics.
"Do you foresee technical problems with this particular new design, by any chance?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Visiting the Magrave]

Ambrosia, traveling scholar, have taken it upon herself to guide Thariza, puncher of Magclones, to the ruins of the Magcave, also known as the Magrave.
But arriving here, she seems less than fond about what has happened to it. This placed looked outright dangerous.
"Maybe it was a mistake coming here. I had no idea the place had fallen into ruin so quickly. I supposed we don't have to go too deep in though. But just in case, we should be able to defend ourselves if need be, right?" She glances at her companion.

[Morty]

[Visiting the Magcave]

Thariza snorts.

"Of course I can. I might have some trouble figuring out my new magic, but I know enough. And I can bash heads with the best of them. I'm not sure if Magtok counts, though. He left, not died. I've heard, anyway. I was dead when it happened." She looks around. "His place sure fell apart fast."

[Lord Magtok]

The Workshop

"They'll be good enough for now. Just need someone to house-sit and scare off anyone who-" Curses. You hear that faint mumbling sound in the distance? That can only mean one thing, and that's more guests. Well, this is as good an opportunity as any to see if the Magbots have what it takes to watch over the lair in his stead, I guess. Magtok waits at the end of a conveyor belt, and flicks a small switch at the back of the neck of both automatons. Outwardly, they appear more or less like most Magbots, except one is slightly taller than their predecessors, the other is slightly bulkier than most past Magbots, and the chrome isn't nearly as shiny as it usually is for either of them, likely due to Mag using whatever materials happened to be lying around here for the last two years or so.

"Thing 1, Thing 2? Entertain our guests while I'm gone," Mag instructs, pulling down a panel over that switch, so it won't be as simple as simply reaching behind their necks and flicking a switch to take them down if these visitors prove hostile. "Use your best judgment. If your best judgment isn't good enough I'll know what to change later when Thing 3 and 4 replace you." Nothing like a little threat of potential impeding doom to motivate the workforce.

[Shadowcaller]

[Visiting the Magcave]

"Likely caused by scavengers, you know what they say about rats while the cat is away." Ambrosia muses. "However, this has been the site of a great number of battles so I figured we would at least find some dead people who would have accomplished great deeds of violence in this place." She pauses, looking around. "I must admit though, I'm not certain where we would start looking."

[Morty]

[Visiting the Magcave]

"That makes sense. If we find sites where great battles took place, I should be able to feel a connection with the Mists," Thariza says. "So... let's go look for big craters or ruins."

[Shadowcaller]

[Visiting the Magcave]

"Very well, shall we start at the front entrance then? Seems rather obvious." Then she considers. "However, I imagine the front entrance would have some sort of security system to dissuade unwelcome guests, and if that system have malfunctioned due to neglect, it could actually be quite dangerous." Just guesses of course, but you couldn't be too careful in what looked like a place only adventurers dared entering.

[Morty]

[Visiting the Magcave]

"We should look for a hole or crack that appeared after this place was abandoned. It should be unprotected," Thariza says, as she starts walking towards the mountain slope.