PPU Adventure #1

[SuperBassX84]

-=The group lands, nearly on top of each other, back in Ragbralbur=-

Bass: Aww...I always wondered what happened to Alicia. I missed her a lot. Now I know, but didn't even get a chance to ask her what she's done in the last several hundred years. On the better side of this debacle, we know WK can (sort of) be trusted, and Balkasior has some shiny new metallic implants-
-=Balkasior shoots a stream of fire out in front of him, almost hitting Belly=-
Bass: -that apparently include a flamethrower. Intersting.

-=A dark shadow passes overhead=-

Belly: What in Aldur's name is that!?
Piñata: It looks like Airship Basurake...but Static was gone long before the war...
Elfie: Apparently he's decided to come back. Perhaps we should go find out why.
Piñata: Good idea.

-=The group begins to head towards the docks, the last known place of the battle between the droids and the rebels=-

[piñata]

[Meanwhile, back at the outpost...]

(Just so everyone knows, the Stemp and Musashi mentioned here aren't the same ones from the Clave... they're grandsons many times removed. Also, in case anyone doesn't know, destroyer droids are the roly-poly type attack droids from Star Wars Episode I.)

RoB: We can't hold them, there's too many! Fall back!
Random soldier getting hit by a laser bolt: Aughh!
Static (from the deck of Airship Basurake): If your droid starfighters can handle the enemy aerospace force long enough, we can land and load your troops onto the ship. It might afford them more protection.

*another soldier dies*

RoB: Sounds like a plan. Maximillian and I will stay back and provide covering fire with whoever else wants to volunteer.
Elvish Ranger: My men and I will stay with you, sir.
RoB: Good, Lieutenant... I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name.
Elvish Ranger: Ereinion, sir.
RoB (looking around at the others): Anyone else?

*hands shoot up*

RoB: All right... Stemp, Hayes, Brin, Ohmsford, and... Musashi, you take the left flank. Ereinion, your group will take the right. Maximillian and I will pull a Piñata and draw their fire.
Ereinion: What do you mean "pull a Piñata"?
RoB: I mean we're going to charge headlong at a superior force. If it works for him, it might work for us. Everyone else, get your asses on that ship. Flanking groups, do as much damage as you can, but when I give the order pull back immediately.
Ereinion and Stemp: Understood, sir.

Maximillian kicks in his repulsorlift drive, hovering over the frozen tundra, then activates his thrusters and roars toward the enemy with unexpected speed, pulse lasers cycling furiously. Stemp's group of human troops moves out, taking out droids on the left side of the enemy formation. Ereinion nocks an arrow, and most of the other Elvish Rangers follow suit.

RoB: What the fork do you thoink you're doing?
Ereinion: Watch.

Ereinion and his troops loose a salvo of arrows at the enemy, but when the arrows hit they do a lot more damage than expected -- in fact, nearly half of the right flank is decimated by massive explosions, and droids have to move in from the center and rear to reinforce it.

RoB: What just happened?
Ereinion: Our arrows are tipped with an unstable explosive compound. That way, if something metal threatens the Conclave, we're still a force to be reckoned with. It's a trick we started using when the Conclave was attacked by Phyrexians.
RoB: Well, what are you waiting for? Shoot them again!
Ereinion: With pleasure, sir.

RoB runs in behind Maximillian, firing a much smaller but far more accurate handheld energy weapon. Since his electronic eye has the capability to overlay targeting crosshairs on his field of vision, he never misses. Maximillian has now moved to melee-combat range, and is slicing through the droid ranks with a rotating circular saw.

RoB: We might actually be able to take this army ourselves.
Stemp: I doubt it, sir. Destroyer droids are coming in.
RoB: Fork. That's it, get out of there!
Stemp: See you aboard the ship, sir. Good luck.
Ereinion: Go back to the ship, guys. The three of us will meet you there.
RoB: Lieutenant, get out of here now!
Ereinion (drawing and igniting a lightsaber): You can either fight with me or fight with the droids, sir, but you can't do both.

Ereinion then proceeds to hack away at any droids that dodge too close to him while avoiding Maximillian's saw. The destroyer droids unroll and begin firing, for the first time actually putting a dent in Maximillian's body armor. Ereinion manages to either dodge or deflect all the shots. RoB is already falling back, and therefore gets shot at less and also avoids getting hit.

Suddenly, a voice behind RoB brings him up short.

ZX-3: Hello, "Master". Running away from your mistakes again, I see?
RoB: I should have dismantled you a long time ago.
ZX-3: Yes, well, you didn't. So now I get to dismantle you.

ZX-3's fist swings upward, smashing into RoB's temple. RoB drops his blaster as he falls semiconcious to the snow. ZX-3 picks him up and carries him off to the west, Maximillian in hot pursuit.

[Scythe]

"...Reactor online. Weapons online. Sensors online. All systems nominal." drones a familiar computer-generated female voice as Scythe settles into the 'Mech cockpit. "Ahh, it's good to be back in one of these!" Scythe says as he sits back in the pilot's chair of his Nova Cat. "You guys strapped in and running?"

Mint radios in from the Supernova: "Good to go!"
"M'here." Grunts Stalin, piloting a Sunder.
"Lets go step on stuff!" Exclaims Keldae from the other Sunder.
"Sienn here, I thoink I remember the controls," Sienn reports from her perch in the Annihilator.
"All right then, lets exit the hangar in single file. Then spread into a wedge formation and push back through to the docks. From there, we can sweep along the waterfront and come back up into the city from the side.
_____

The 'Mechs crash into the battle like a tsunami breaking over a giant statue of Ronald McDonald carved entirely out of solid armpit deoderant. (Actually, that statue, which had stood on a high ridge overlooking the city was torn down several years previously, causing much rejoicing on both sides) Normal battle droids were crushed underfoot, and the destroyers fared little better.

"Heh, this is almost fun!" Keldae exclaims as he shoots out ahead of the others.
"Keldae, watch it! The tower on the left!" Mint warns.

Keldae reacts quickly, going to full throttle and channeling power from other systems for a speed boost. Droids had destabilized the building with explosives, and it toppled sideways into the street. Bits of ferrocrete and transparisteel rain down. A particularly large chunk tears the arm off Keldae's mech, luckily missing the main body. Smaller bits ping off all the Mechs' hulls, some puncturing and damaging systems. "Stalin lets out a curse. Fuck, these guys are getting smart! Spread out and take parallel streets so we arent so easily targeted."

The others follow the suggestion and fan out to cover other avenues while Scythe jumps his mech over the fallen building in order to continue on the same street. As he lands, an explosion tears through the ground just behind his mech, causing it to lose balance and fall forward. As he brings it back up to standing position, Scythe scans the area for the source of the blast, and what he sees causes him discomfort. "Everyone, listen up! They've got SRM and LRM launchers set up down the perpendicular streets. Sidestep around corners and don't walk into their fire." Scythe matches action to words as he dodges around the building just ahead of the launcher's next barrage. "I'll take point and draw fire, and you guys---" Suddenly, another voice cuts in. "Sir, RoB has been taken. We have some troops in pursuit, but none of them can keep up with the souped-up droid that has him. Maximillan is pacing him, but he'll need support. What should I do?"
Scythe mulls it over for a moment. "I'll take care of it personally. I have a hunch that this is important, and we can't just leave RoB. Stalin, you take command for now, be back in a few. And Mint..."
"Yeah?" Mint asks.
"Keep to The Code."
With that said, Scythe guns his Mech's engines and begins the chase, using Maximillan's tracking signal to guide him to RoB and his mysterious robotic kidnapper.

(OOC - What's that last bit mean, you ask? The Code, written up in the Articles of the KET, shall be explained on a later date. It's nothing super-important, but it's still interesting)
(ICOOC - Scythe: Whaddya mean it's not important!!? Mint: It's the forkin' Code, for crying out loud!! Who writes this crap anyway!?)
(OOC - I'll write what I want, thanks very much. How'd you like to write you into an eternal Teletubbies marathon?)
(ICOOC - Scythe: AHHH, stop arguing with him, dammit! I refuse to go through that again... *shudders*)

[piñata]

(OOC: Again? You were already in a Teletubbies marathon once? )

Maximillian, trailing smoke in at least two places from destroyer-droid related damage, still somehow manages to keep up with ZX-3. He absentmindedly wonders how long he has before he runs out of fuel -- or how long his counterpart has before too much stress is placed on those bionic leg joints and they snap. After some quick calculations, he decides he doesn't like the answer to that question. He does the only thing he can thoink of... he aims low so as not to hit RoB.

Metal shrieks in protest under the impact of the hulking red droid's massive laser cannon, and ZX-3's right leg partially separates from his body, held on only by wires and the not-quite-completely destroyed bionic joint enhancement. ZX-3 loses his balance and falls sideways, dropping the still-unconcious RoB, who is now bleeding profusely from where he was struck on the head.

Maximillian immediately capitalizes on his opponent's momentary disadvantage, strafing the ground with laser fire. One of the shots actually grazes ZX-3 as he rolls out of the way with blinding speed, an action that causes his leg to fall off the rest of the way. He answers Max's barrage with one of his own, striking the bigger, slower droid several times in the head and torso with low-powered energy weapons fire. Sparks fly and exposed wires dangle from a particularly large hole in Maximillian's chest cavity. ZX-3 gives a mirthless, electronic laugh as he continues to fire at Max.

Max, not so easily discouraged, uses his repulsors to levitate directly into ZX-3, colliding with his opponent in a deafening crash. Both droids fall to the ground, Maximillian on top but badly damaged and ZX-3 attempting to push the larger droid's bulk off of him. He finally settles for blasting Max off of him instead, further damaging his opponent but also inflicting some shrapnel damage on himself. He flips over and levers himself up with his arms, trying to regain his footing on one leg. Maximillian lays motionless, smoking and sparking.

(OOC: Max isn't dead. He's just taking more time to recover because he's in worse shape.)

[piñata]

(OOC: I'm double-posting just for the sake of keeping things moving. )

*As the 'Mechs come into play, and Warbots (Mech-sized droids) come into play on the enemy side, Ereinion is forced to do more dodging than anything else, despite the fact that none of the fire is actually directed at him. Realizing that, in fact, nobody is firing at him anymore, he deactivates his lightsaber and hightails it back to Basurake. He leaps back just in time, as about a hundred horses appear out of thin air, nearly trampling him. Several battle and sentry droids do get trampled, and even one of the larger destroyer droids winds up looking like a Ford Expedition after an encounter with the government of Olwe. Realizing that until the wall of horses is finished passing him, his way back to the ship is blocked, Ereinion reactivates his lightsaber and turns around to take out more of the droids behind him, idly wondering where the fork the horses came from.*

(OOC: The horses will be explained, although most people have already probably figured it out by now.)

[meanwhile, on the docks...]

*Piñata, Bass, Elfie and the others have been waylaid by a group of droids that got through the other defenses.*

Elfie: This fighting mechanical enemies thing kind of reminds me of that time in Serra's Realm...
Piñata: We are NOT going to Flicker Ragbralbur.
Belgeroth: Hey, some of these new implants are pretty cool.

*Even as the small group makes headway by killing droids at an extremely high rate, more enemies appear, including a couple of destroyer droids. A huge shape, almost as tall as a destroyer droid, can be seen among them, taking droids apart as he goes.*

Piñata: Who the fork is that?
Bass: He looks familiar, doesn't he?
Ape Killer: He does. Who is he?
Piñata, Bass and Elfie together: Omeguz. The last Archmage of The Conclave.

[meanwhile, near the city wall...]

*ZX-3, having gotten up first, takes the time to use a blowtorch attachment to weld his severed leg back on... the fix is temporary, and the leg will be stiff, but at least he can move better than on one leg. He stands over Maximillian's prone body, taking the opportunity to gloat. Maximillian's horizontal red eye flickers to life.*

ZX-3: If only you had joined me, we could have rid the world of organics forever. I'll still do it myself, of course, but it would have been something of an honor to have my predecessor fighting alongside me.
Max: If you're going to kill me, get it over with. Otherwise, I'll just retrieve my master and be on my way.
ZX-3: If anyone's taking "Lord" Brent anywhere, it'll be me. If he wants to be a machine so badly, he won't mind when I finish the job he started.
Max: You bastard.
ZX-3: You should know, Dad.

*ZX-3 levels his blaster at Max's face.*

ZX-3: What is it the humans say? Out with the old...

*Max's arm flicks up, his pulse laser cycling as fast as it can. ZX-3 is flung back several meters by the force of the barrage. Max uses his repulsorlifts to levitate himself over to ZX-3, but the smaller droid has already regained his feet, and catches Max's ankle in his fist. He hurls Max as far as he can. Max feels the armor on his back crumple inward, damaging a couple of systems, when he strikes a solid stone object. When he realizes where he is, he begins to form a plan.*

ZX-3: Now, where were we?
Max: You were about to die.
ZX-3: Wishful thinking. So like a human. No wonder I beat you.

*Max's horizontal red eye flickers once. The last thought that reaches ZX-3's processors before his systems shut down is, Did he just wink at me?*

[Yes, I'm switching scenes again...]

*RoB rises to his feet unsteadily, partly due to the migraine he has and partly due to the thundering footsteps of an advancing 'Mech. After using his eye enhancement to get visual confirmation of a friendly pilot in the cockpit, RoB activates the comm system inside his head.*

RoB: Scythe, how's it hanging?
Scythe: Low and to the left. How's your head? It looks like you're hurt pretty badly.
RoB: It looks worse than it is. It's one of those things that bleeds a lot but isn't really worth mentioning.
Scythe: Glad to hear it.
RoB: Where'd...

*RoB's words are cut off by a sudden, massive explosion to the west. A small mushroom cloud expands over the area where the city wall used to be.*

RoB: Never mind.
Scythe: What was that?
RoB: Check your scanners. Tell me what you see.
Scythe: About 3000 mechanicals, mostly battle droids, coming through a breach in the city wall. A bunch of other readings that suggest droids whose systems are shutting down... wounded and dying?
RoB: Exactly. Maximillian just took one for the team.
Scythe: But he let in...
RoB: 3000 friendlies. They're my reserve units.
Scythe: Oh. I'm sorry about Maximillian... I know he was your friend.
RoB: Don't be sorry. I've never been prouder of him. Besides, he was just fulfilling his role in the prophecy.
Scythe: What?
RoB: The last thing Stalin said to me before leaving me at the outpost was something about a notation in the prophecy -- a notation regarding "One Who Must Be Destroyed". He thought it would be me, and expressed concern. I just now realized it was Max.
Scythe: Oh. And the other droid? The one that took you?
RoB: If I know Max, by the time he self-destructed ZX-3 was so far inside the blast radius he was completely vaporized. If you want to scan for atomic particles, you might find some piece of him.
Scythe: So what about you? I'm not sure this 'Mech can accomodate a passenger.
RoB: My minions await their leader. I'll be leading them back toward you once we clean up any resistance here.
Scythe: Okay, good luck.
RoB: You too.

[piñata]

*Omeguz stands at the head of the large conference table in the back room of the warehouse that the Conclavers were using for a headquarters. The other survivors, at least the senior ranking officers, are gathered in the room. Omeguz raises his hand, signaling for silence.*

Omeguz: Since no Archmage was appointed after me, I suppose I'm still in charge. I'm going to have to take this opportunity to do some official Conclave business. First, I'm restoring Elfie to the rank of Supreme Overlord, and Piñata, Devo, Scythe and Ape to their Overlord positions. Stalin is also restored as High General, and Aurora as High Commander of the Aerospace Corps. Since we need a new High Admiral and Director of Intelligence & Security, I nominate Mint and Bass, respectively (OOC: The Security part fits in with Bass's Guardian role in the prophecy). Some battlefield promotions are also in order -- Brigadier Keldae, you are now a full General. Retired Sergeant Oddveig Ulfsson, if you wish to rejoin the army you will do so as a Lieutenant. Lieutenant Ereinion -- where is he?

*The door opens and Secole enters, pulling Ereinion behind her.*

Secole: Sorry we're late. This one was particularly difficult to heal.
Stalin: I thought Keldae was The Elvish Ranger.
Keldae: I am an Elvish Ranger, you woolheaded idiot.
Stalin: Yes, but apparently Ereinion is The Elvish Ranger mentioned in the prophecy.
Keldae: What?
Stalin (quoting the prophecy): The Elvish Ranger shall be revealed by a mortal wound sustained in the first great battle, and will be restored to life by The Great Healer. Or something like that. I don't remember it exactly.
Keldae: Oh.
Omeguz: Anyway, Ereinion, you are now a Captain. With our military restored, we can concentrate on restoring our civilization. I, along with a few others not mentioned in the prophecy, like Keldae, will remain here in Ragbralbur and spread out through the North Conclave, retaking our former territory with as little bloodshed as possible. Those who are mentioned in the prophecy will travel aboard Airship Basurake to EM to check for survivors (OOC: Anima can advance the plot now if he'd like), and then go on to The House of Lore.

[AnimaStone]

(OOC: Happy to oblige ;D. To catch everyone up on what's happened, I'll write this one in journal format. I probably won't do it ever again, but the journal will come up in the future.)

Day 8465: Foretel was looking a little sick today. That's not a good sign; I could see the roses in his garden by the Imperial Palace start to wilt, too. Something big is going to happen. It probably won't be good.

Day 8466: Foretel fell sick today. His rose garden is visibly drooping. Even the oak trees aren't untouched. Foretel is an Oak essence; that is a severely bad sign. I might have to go back into hiding in the mountains of T2 Strategy. Those mountains seem to be an effective stronghold against anything bad here. Not even Mononoke86 could get into them.

Day 8467: Foretel is dead. Essential Magic will be too, soon. The only thing that seems to be persisting is the haven of T2 Strategy.

Day 8468: I sensed a presence today. An impossibly vast, deep presence. I haven't felt a presence like that since.... actually, I've never felt a presence like that before. I think it's on par with what the Fisher King must be like when he's just getting crowned. It's coming from the N&R. No one else can sense it. I'm heading for the hills.

Day 8469: I'm now one day out of the General Discussion metropolis. Just in time, too; I can sense the presence getting closer. It's about to reach General Strategy. If Caelestis can't stop it there, no one can.

Day 8471: Caelestis has fallen. It's odd, though; I can't feel him among the ranks of the dead, but he is not in the land of the living. Essential Magic is doomed.

Day 8480: I'm all that's left.

Day 8485: I don't know what it is, but the presence is here with me. Even in T2 Strategy, the eternal haven. It probes at my mind, testing it with several fingers even as I write this. I am only happy that it cannot find a handhold.

Day 8486: It all makes sense now. The immense presence, the irresistable power, the lack of life or death... it's The Grapes. They've awakened. Something that powerful is too much for even an unbreakable like Caelestis... only someone who is already broken, such as me, has any power to resist. And even then, I can only slip by it.

Day 8489: There is an army at the Great Portal. The one in charge, whose mind possessed more than it had a right to, was very interested in me. I told him what had happened. He brought out his own broken mirror. He journeyed towards T2 Strategy. Some Eternal Haven it is now.

Day 8492: The one in charge returned today. He had some object of great power. I couldn't tell what, because he had it masked, but I know it is something he is not supposed to have. Foretel never would have abided by it. But the one in charge has more power than he seems to. More power than I would want to match mine with.

(OOC: If you want to confront Zeles, or whoever the bad guy is, now, you can break in at this point in the story.)

[piñata]

(OOC: We can confront Zeles, but we can't kill him yet -- he still has to tear the veil of the Underworld and make a failed attempt on Aratar's life in order to give us the location of The Forsaken One.)

*Airship Basurake streaks through the dark skies over EM. No longer the great kingom it once was, it now appears a desolate wasteland. The majority of the buildings have been destroyed so completely that not even their foundations remain. An aura of vast, unimaginable evil hangs in the air, nauseating those who are powerful enough to sense it.*

Scythe: What the fork happened here?
Piñata: I don't know. But I can sense something really bad. Something that's still here.
Bass (weakly, because he senses the evil more strongly): It's not Bane. I'd know Bane if I sensed him. This is something worse.
Stalin: The only thing worse than Bane is the Keeper of the Underworld, though. It couldn't be...
Elfie: Maybe there's something else we don't know about. Let's not rush to conclusions.
Piñata: Where's the fun in that?
RoB (from the lookout tower, where his electronic eye serves him very well): Somebody's down there.
Piñata: Just one somebody?
RoB: Yes. He's staggering like he's either drunk or wounded.
Belgarath (winking at Piñata): Or both.
Piñata: Hey, I don't get drunk every time I get hit with an arrow. It just helps sometimes when they're trying to pull the bastard out.
Static: So what are we doing about the guy on the ground? Do we land?
Bass: We're going to have to eventually. We have to find out what happened here, what this presence is that's more evil than Bane.
Elfie: Just be careful not to land on the guy down there -- he might be a friendly.

[AnimaStone]

Anima looks up. He sees the Airship Barasuke descending slowly, looking larger than its considerable bulk because of the sheer absense of anything else.

"Uh-oh. More people. Looks like time for evasive action."

Anima shuts his eyes and concentrates. A few seconds later, he seems to disappear.

[piñata]

RoB: Shit, he just disappeared.
Piñata: Could you tell if it was invisibility or teleportation?
RoB: Nope.
Krotos: I bet it was a mriswith.
Bass: I read his essence... he's unusual, but not evil.
Elfie: Unusual how?
Bass: For a moment, there seemed to be more than one of him.
Piñata (rolling his eyes): Well, that's just forking lovely.

*Airship Basurake lands. A search party consisting of Bass, RoB, Piñata, Elfie, Oddveig, Krotos, Aurora and Scythe leaves the ship, while everyone else stays behind to guard it.*

[AnimaStone]

The search party gets out of the ship and looks around. Suddenly, a voice speaks from the shadows near the ship's gun turret (or some other part of the ship).

VOICE: Who are you? Why are you here? If you're trying to get the object of great power, you're too late. Someone else already did. So if you're after that, just leave. You're already endangering yourselves enough by even being here.

[piñata]

*Several members of the search party jump or give startled exclamations when the voice speaks. Oddveig draws his now sawed-off laser rifle, stepping protectively in front of Elfie and directing a menacing glare in the general direction of the voice. Elfie gives a long-suffering sigh and gently but firmly pushes his bodyguard aside.*

Piñata: Well, he's not a mriswith... he's not drawing out the letter S when he speaks.
Scythe: That's good to know.
Elfie: We came to see if we can be of help to the survivors. We didn't even know about an object of great power until a couple hours ago. How many are left alive, besides you?

[AnimaStone]

After a pause of a few moments, Anima walks out from the shadows. He is wearing a suit of clothes that appears to be leather, but is strangely somewhat metallic. On his left hand, he has a fingerless glove with a shard of glass attached to the back of the hand.

ANIMA: No one. If I come with you, will you just get out of here? You don't have any idea what kind of harm.... they.... can cause. They're already coming closer.

Anima stops looking towards the mountains, snapping his head down to stare straight into the eyes of Pinata.

ANIMA: Can you sense them?

(OOC: No, none of you should know about my shapeshifting ability in character yet. I'll reveal that later. Just in case you wanted to bring that up.)

[SuperBassX84]

-=Bass steps forward from the rear of the group, resting heavily on his staff, as if severely weakened=-

Bass: Yes...I can. I don't know what they are, but merely sensing them is causing me severe physical pain and weakness. I strongly advise...for the time being, anyway, that we get back on Basurake and survey this land from the air. If it were to come to a fight here on the ground, I doubt my ability to fight.

[piñata]

*Piñata uses the Force to send a telepathic message to Bass.*

Piñata: I thoink this guy's in the prophecy.
Bass: What?
Piñata: On Stalin's half of the parchment, there was a reference to "The Survivor".
Bass: It could be very important that we get him to join us, then.
Piñata: Agreed.

*The two cut off the communication before people start looking at them funny.*

Piñata (out loud again): I don't know how much use I'd be in a ground battle, either. (turning to Anima) Are you sure no one else survived?
Anima: Yes.
Piñata: Okay, we're going to go back to our ship now. If you want out of here as badly as you seem to, you're welcome to come with us.