Date: 5:50:10 PM, April 5th, 2015.
Metal Man (GM): Recap. The Questers finished off a number of various issues, allowing them to recover a bunch of Time Cop weapons. On the way back, though, they got news from Kit of some area Kit had found off to the side. The group has fully regrouped at the airport, with everyone there. Continuation Xavier glances off at the parts that have been retrieved, and Ivan's men, who have taken up positions around the base to ensure nobody interferes.
Gelato: X3 *Exploration time! Exploration times! Distant lands with close friends!*
Nonna: *Is for some reason, no longer in uniform, but in her beach outfit.* "...Don't ask."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Well, I get the feeling if we leave now, we won't get much of a chance to go back here, so if you wish, Kit, we should probably go look at your place... Because after we return, it'll be go time to launch the counterattack on the Time Cops. We can't take all this kit back and NOT cause a bunch of alarms to go off on the Time Cop side. They have... tracking systems and all, and the data I pried off their computers suggested they banned these weapons for some reason... I think it was something about how anybody who had these could probably potentially overthrow the Time Cops? There's a reason they sent Dredd to die here, anyway. I don't think they wanted the risk of him overthrowing them or anything else like that."
Nonna: "Do they even work?"
Xavier Ridgecrest: "They're full of seawater and have been corroding for quite a while, plus have taken some damage from this planet's anti-magic atmosphere... plus a bunch of other stuff might have crashed on top of it... ...So that means if I just duct tape it a bit, it ought to work great, just like the Wing Fortress!"
Valron: "I'd imagine they'd need a bit of repair- yeah."
Ederick? rolls his eyes.
Valron: "Though we'll need to properly restore them at our earliest convenience."
Nonna: "Yes, let's not show up to wage a war without functioning weapons. Unless you plan to lose."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "I'll be honest. Losing is most of what I did the first couple times around. Losing and... running."
Valron: "Can't say I really did much better, myself."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "But with you guys to remind me of maintenance, I'm quite certain we shall win! And... if we lose, maybe Illian can kill them all for us. ...Just kidding."
Valron: "I mean, seriously. How many times was it revealed that I've been fighting on the wrong side? At least I'm actually working with people who want to do the right thing, for once."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Well, I intentionally tried to be the bad guy a couple times. I was so bad at doing that that I never succeeded at being evil. Then again, my form of evil was 'I want a giant statue of myself!' Or 'the Questers aren't acting very nice so I should beat them!' And now the Questers are the people who helped save me, so as you might guess I'm not going to feel THAT way again."
Valron: "The first one's just vanity, and the other... isn't that evil. Or, well. Wasn't really that evil."
Nonna: "What makes one a Quester?"
Xavier Ridgecrest: "This old broken fancy remote control, of course!"
KitRedgrave: "Truly, such unspeakable evil."
Metal Man (GM): Xavier takes out an extremely 90's remote control with no batteries, broken buttons, and 'property of Wolfman2000' written on it.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Or at least, it used to. We kinda destroyed its power after it kept powering up unworthy people into hellishly aggravating annoyances. Like the one they call 'Aetos'."
Valron: "I shouldn't be surprised you still had that old thing, but. May he still be eternally tortured by Dans."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Now it's... more of an organization thing. Like, people who work with me are Questers, because... ...well I'm not renaming it, you know. I... think I might have an idea of where you came from, Kit, given what I saw in the direction you went..."
Nonna: "Why, you didn't have any other names in mind?"
Xavier Ridgecrest: "If only because I have known of that area from ancient stories."
KitRedgrave: "Where might that be, I wonder? Curious to know what you think."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Well, there were always other names, but the name Quester is sort of customary, and has a weight to it that 'Dimensional Warrior', 'Net Battler', 'Digimon Tamer', or 'Protector' or 'Defender' has... oh yeah, and much better than 'Brawler.' Well, Westopolis, Kit. It's the place where Julian lost his groove. Legend says if you dig in the sand, you might find pieces of his ancient casino."
Nonna: "...Xavier's Angels?" *She suppresses a snarky laugh.*
KitRedgrave: "They call it Westopolis now? I did see some things... like it's some crazy dumping ground of plot or something."
Xavier Ridgecrest: *Looks around* "You know, it has been much less of a sausage fest than it used to be... ...but still perhaps a bit off the beaten path from what I'd find easy to say." *Chuckles to himself* "You could call it that. If that is the place..." *Goes to lead the group towards that place, walking down an ancient path towards it* "I wasn't with the Alsan Questers, but I did spy on them..." *Gestures at Gelato* "An adventuring party of only guys, of course... er... ...you don't need to know what joke that is related to, of course. But I can say, that may have been why most of the Alsan Questers were maniacs. All that need to be tough guys in a group of tough guys... Couldn't have been good for their mental health."
Gelato: '...I want sausages now.' D:
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Of course, other groups of Questers tended to be more diverse, or at least have enough diversity that it wasn't a constant toughness battle. But up ahead is the graveyard... or gravy yard... of those people who thought that all that mattered was beating people to death with your bare hands."
Valron: "I'm... still not sure where the hell I ended up during the long stretches of time I wasn't with them."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "...And whatever it is Kit saw as well. ...You were certain there was something there related to your people, right?"
Valron: "Maybe Also?" *Shrugs.*
Metal Man (GM): He'd keep walking, talking a bit less, as the desert starts to come into view. An area that looks like it'd been through several battles would come into view as well. Burnt out ruins of what was a small town are on the edge of it.
Valron: "It'd make sense considering that's where my soul... well, was for the past seven years until I got back."
Metal Man (GM): Plus some other buildings that look like they were purposefully deconstructed.
Gelato: *He bounces behind Xavier, staring at the scenery.*
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Before I was around, the Questers on Alsa were just a bunch of leftovers of the old Questers mixed with some weird new psychopaths who must have accidentally been released from some demonic hell-dimension. As such, they... were not nice people. Valron is the only one who saw them day to day, mind you. I only fought them twice or three times."
Nonna: "Sounds... traumatic."
Valron: "The only one that still deigns to stick around in this corner of the universe, anyways."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "There was a whole thing you know, with the Wing Fortress and all, I used the Wing Fortress to attack them to stop some of their evil. Then I got in a big fist fight with them."
Valron: "I missed out on like... most of that. And 90% or so of the strangeness with the Brawlers, up until the whole mess with Evil Wolfman."
Nonna: "This might sound strange to ask, but... do you think perhaps the Time Cops might have been exacerbated by the actions the older Questers and these other groups you spoke of took?"
Valron: "Then I... just did... well, I just didn't really do much for the five or so years after that, to be honest." *Shrugs again, before tapping a finger or two against his hand* "But, of course, I invariably did get dragged back into this... Not that I mind too badly, seeing as I can do some actual good, for once."
KitRedgrave: "On the matter at hand, yes I'm sure this is the place. I found some very interesting ruins pointing me somewhere that we should have a look at."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Ah... what were they in specific? I can point out the ruins of Julian's stadium afterwards. Also, I think they probably did help exacerbate Time Cops, given they attacked a bunch. They helped me fight Lyx, that was good, but then they went off and... screwed with time..."
Metal Man (GM): There's a handful of rather wary looking human settlers off in the distance, behind a semi-walled city. An ancient one that Valron would recognize from the time of SSQ^2.
KitRedgrave: "I found something like a stadium too, but no casino... what I did find were very specific directions that looked about old enough to be a little later than my time."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Ah. Where did the instructions go?"
Valron: "...Huh. This takes me... very far back." *Glances around, taking note of the wary settlers for a moment, before shifting his attention back to the group* "Instructions for what, exactly?"
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Well, it... ...actually I have no explanation as to why it was so messed up to begin with, since that would be more Kit's people who would know that first hand. Julian and co were messed up before they even got here, so their mayhem is sort of... a given."
Nonna: "...all that's missing is the rain."
Metal Man (GM): The ruins of a Stadium can be seen here, a ring with some 1960's looking tech rusting out in the sun. Covered in some sand appears to be some old, broken slot machines Kit must have overlooked when coming here, plus some bleached bones of some quite ancient thug corpses. A lone bulldozer-tank lays wrecked near it, a pile of rust. A bunch of craters are also around, plus some older walls that look like they fell down out here.
Gelato: *He clings to Valron's leg, obviously scared.*
KitRedgrave: "Wow... it's one thing to hear about it. Another to see it."
Valron: "Yep. Truly a monument to some spectacular failure."
KitRedgrave: "What a senseless waste."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Yeah." *Takes out his smash dex and plays some old video, lining it up with the location, showing how it was a bit greener here and had buildings lining up to those spots.*
Metal Man (GM): A dragon/fuzzy demon-thing Deloth can be seen talking in the log.
Smash Dex: "Deloth: 'A GUN commander says that he's going to destroy the stadium on the day of our tourney.' Julian (Smash Dex): *R* '...Oh you are fuckin' kidding me.' *Julian breaks into a run upon hearing that news.* Julian (Smash Dex): 'The fuck is this I hear about us gettin' blown up?' *Julian says as he arrives on the scene.* Sergeant Levis (Smash Dex): 'You.' He points at Julian. 'You built this Stadium atop Westopolis, the land I grew up in, the land my unit is sworn to protect. Either pay us for the artificial hardship you have forced on my people or you shall have no Stadium. My tanks are a confidential item. I cannot let the enemy, or the potential enemy, know where they are. Surely you would know that.'"
Xavier Ridgecrest: "And the rest is history."
Metal Man (GM): Xavier plays back the destruction of all the buildings here, which, give or take a couple years of rust and dust, is what is here now.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "With that in mind, it's time to get even more far in the past... where's the place the instructions go to, Kit?"
Smash Dex: "Aribar (Smash Dex): *Looks to Julian.* 'He's having a hissy fit because we built here. I don't even think he has a case.' *Checks if he can get into contact with Marley.* Digifanatic (Smash Dex): 'Okay, Sir, if you're so upset about us building out base and our Stadium here, why didn't you warn us before we started building it?'"
Xavier Ridgecrest: "That's why they didn't pay, Gelato. As far as they were concerned, they built here, nobody warned them, so they owned the land forever."
KitRedgrave: "They point to... here." *She pulls out the Book, flips to a very convenient map of the area, looks over the coordinate system very closely... and points somewhere.*
Metal Man (GM): The map goes a bit, walking across the ruins of the Casino and Stadium, and then to a place that isn't even in the old log. Nobody ever went back there. Even with Levis and subsequent explosions in other logs in the future.
KitRedgrave: "Aha... no wonder this is the place."
Metal Man (GM): It's like a giant blind spot as far as past people wandering in and out of Westopolis.
KitRedgrave: "You never hide things where people look."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Plus they did well, given everybody, GUN, Julian and Levis included, went and fought over the open area. So it wasn't like anybody was going to go over there. There's, even to this day, all this wreckage people could potentially build on, blow up or fight over." *Steps over a ruined slot machine* "Not me though. This is just junk to me."
KitRedgrave: "It belongs in a museum. Maybe. If we even want to remember this happened."
Valron: "A museum of miserable failure, probably. In any case..."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "In a way, I'm willing to let it sit, as while I hated Julian's guts, this wreckage speaks for itself. We're looking for where Kit's relatives hid, Gelato."
KitRedgrave: "I dunno, the writing wasn't too clear on what was there. Just that we needed to go there, thousands of years ago. That's what I think it is, but it's not really proven yet."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Since the issue is that... the Mobians of this planet were never found or saved. The Alsan Questers kinda didn't... care... and we couldn't save them during that battle with Illian. And the Brawlers were just kinda not even here to do such a thing."
Nonna: "So they may be be in there?"
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Although if they were, Anonyman would have done everything while everyone else went 'Oh man... oh man... oh man...'"
KitRedgrave: "It seems likely. They did hide somewhere, and they needed to know where to run to."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Anonyman was pretty good at his job, he's an honorary Quester in my book... ...they should be there, maybe?"
Metal Man (GM): Xavier walks over.
Valron: "Yeah. I mean, Illian's group did revive an dead race on one of the continents, though I can't recall their name... But I don't remember anything being done about the mobians, yes."
Metal Man (GM): Inside the nondescript area of sand and rock is a bunch of ancient altars with writing on them. One of the statues looks a lot like Kit. You can see these have been here so long, they occasionally got hit with stray bullets (but not stray missiles!) from the various wars. One of them even has a piece of Julian's Casino in it. The 'C' from Casino, to be specific.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Obviously nobody was really paying attention to these, so their conservator-ship must have been rather dubious."
KitRedgrave: "...Huh. How did I not notice this." *He just looks over the statue approvingly. Who is that?*
Metal Man (GM): There's some faint degree of magic energy about it, that those with the quirks would detect. To the more normal people, it would just be some slight glow. The statue, as far as Kit could tell, looked like somebody... ...they wear strange fashions compared to what Kit is used to seeing, so probably the future, but on their wrist is something telling: a Time Device like object. And to make it weirder, the statue is made of stone but the Time Device object is made of metal. It hasn't rusted for whatever reason. It's just incredibly dull and dusty. Some ancient paint seems to make it look like rock.
Valron: "...Huh. I wonder..." *Goes to scan the object itself.*
KitRedgrave would just sorta levitate up the statue, and look over the dirty dull object and leylines. "Very curious."
Metal Man (GM): Valron's scan indicates it is like a proto Time Device. It cannot warp time. But then, what can it do? The dull object has a bunch of complex runes. To other magic-seers, it's some sort of puzzle, but to Kit it would resemble some childhood puzzle her relatives often did with magic back when.
Valron: "Yep. Something akin to a Time Device, yet it does not have the capabilities of one. Peculiar..."
Metal Man (GM): Relatively easy for Kit to open, anyway.
KitRedgrave: "Ahaa... oh I never thought I'd see one of these again. That is the perfect sort of lock."
Valron: "Something relevant to you, I take it?"
KitRedgrave just idly pops it open while explaining, having presumably done it a LOT in the past. "Easy enough for one of us to open, yet for anyone outside it'd take you a few hours."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "If Aribar were here, he could probably figure it out... ...after a while... Good thing they never brought Aribar over here back when."
KitRedgrave: "That might even be something a... descendant of one of my relatives put here. Very encouraging!"
Metal Man (GM): It pops off. The next mystery is that this device is clearly some sort of device. It's like... hm. You could put it on, and then point it at something. It's small, though, so it's only liable to fit Kit, or if you wanted to really stretch, maybe Gelato or Nonna.
KitRedgrave would try to rub some of the years of dirt and grime off of it, and just kinda turn it around and look at it more. "Oh wait... heh. Hahahahahahahaha. Somebody's being funny here. This looks almost exactly like the thing I just slammed together to get here in the first place."
Valron: "Maybe it's meant to be a revision of it?"
Xavier Ridgecrest: "What's stranger is this..."
Nonna: "Hopefully not funny in a bad way."
KitRedgrave: "That shouldn't even work. None of this should even work, especially after sitting here presumably eating mana for centuries."
Metal Man (GM): Xavier opens his wrist cover. His Time device is just a much more modernized version of a similar thing, and with numbers and such that are more English and etc.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Did the Time Cops rip your people off? Did a time traveling Erastian give you the idea? Are there Solarians everywhere? ...I don't even know. The Time Cops never told me where their devices came from, or why the Erastian one I had was basically the same, only more 80's. And of course you speak of your people and this more primitive version, which leads me to wonder if we're looking at the eventual missing link... if we can find out where this thing went."
Metal Man (GM): KitRedgrave: You are correct. You can detect this device will only work if you feed your mana into it. Not a lot, mind you. It seems to be more efficient than the thing you slammed together.
KitRedgrave: "...Come to think of it, I have no idea who it was. I just got the strangest scroll in the mail with the most ridiculous plans for this and kinda... got carried away."
Nonna: "Should we be worried?"
Valron: "...Huh. Peculiar."
KitRedgrave: "It could be anything, really. An Erastian, Time Cop... hell, it could've been a future version of myself for all I know. Speaking of which, I think I have a scroll to mail in the near future. Heheh... that's crazy. Who even heard of such a thing?"
Nonna: "Um."
KitRedgrave: "It's probably not that. I have no idea who."
Valron: "Mmhh. Regardless... What now?"
KitRedgrave: "We go and do another horribly dangerous, unguided jump, of course!"
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Given there's no craters over here, I can only expect this device to be better made than mine."
Metal Man (GM): The device is ready. It appears to be 'linked' to the area at the center of the four statues here.
Nonna: "Valron, a moment before we make the leap of faith."
KitRedgrave would foolhardily put on the old thing and start to give it mana before hearing Nonna.
Valron: "Yes, Nonna?"
Nonna: "I have a Rune spell that might come in handy for you."
Metal Man (GM): The device, upon being activated, would be a bit different. Instead of warping Kit, it would just cause a portal outline to appear in the center of all the statues...
Nonna: "If we run into any horrific problems, find and grab onto Valron or me, and we'll use this Othala rune to warp back to the Wing Fortress."
Valron: "Ah, I see. One moment..." *He pulls out the Memory Cube Spellbook* "Alright, then. Sounds handy."
Nonna inscribes the rune into it. "Better two having it, than just one."
Valron: "Indeed. Thank you." *Puts the book away.*
Metal Man (GM): A single point of Smash Energy is enough to open the warp, anyway, Kit can simply focus for a second to summon it.
KitRedgrave: "Anything else we need to do before we go?"
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Nothing that I can tell. Ivan and Borne have our landing site secured."
KitRedgrave: "Alright. Let's get to it then." *And then she opens the gate.*
Metal Man (GM): The gate opens, and everyone is warped by it. Though the oddest thing, is that upon it finishing, everyone is... standing in the same place. The area is green, and none of the destruction is evident. No traces of the Casino, Julian, or annihilation here.
Valron: "...Well, then."
Metal Man (GM): A single guard is nearby, watching the area. He has a spear, and is a fox mobian, though he wears an outfit that seems fairly tribal. He glances to you, strangely not afraid or shocked.
Nonna: "Hm. so that's how it works."
Guard: "Ah... it took you long enough to find us. Or should I say, we had no intent on being found by anyone else."
Metal Man (GM): The area you're on is even more unusual, in that it's the same sort of land you came from, but it appears to only be a portion of it, the edges of the world sort of... fading out far away.
KitRedgrave: "My apologies on that, we had a very long and winding road to get here."
Guard: "Time is relative, though... we only had to wait a few minutes, from your perspective. When we created the safety land, we had no choice but to ensure we could fast forward to when it was safe again. Otherwise we would die from lack of supplies. Already a couple weeks of supplies have been consumed."
Metal Man (GM): Those with magic abilities would notice this entire place is woven out of a pretty time consuming looking series of magical runes, weaves, and other patchwork.
Nonna: "They fled to a pocket dimension for safety. Pretty clever..."
KitRedgrave: "And yet it's only been a few minutes... What happened?"
Valron: "Makes sense..."
Guard: "You don't have to worry, we changed the differential here once you arrived so you don't arrive back in the wrong time. We don't know what exactly happened after you left, Kit. It was ancient history, we only knew of you from stories. But others used the stories to learn how to craft new devices."
KitRedgrave: "I'm in stories now. Really..."
Guard: "Then a man named Dyne appeared, a terrible man with a staff who wanted us all to die. We had no plans to die, so we fled to this dimension. But... from here, we accidentally learned more than we expected."
Metal Man (GM): He would use a device on his wrist to call up a sort of 'time window' showing nothing but war and death.
Guard: "The planet had been cursed. Evil befell everyone on its surface, not just us. We only survived because this realm isn't technically ON the planet. A strange man made of silver had warped its fate, appearing on it shortly after we had left it. Dyne made a deal with the strange silver man, and from then on the planet that had benignly existed actively sought the death of all who lived on its surface. And that is how it has been ever since. But the same mayhem created all of you, who are out of time and place, and therefore can destroy the curse on the planet retroactively... ...without destroying the timeline itself, per se."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Have you seen Sonic here?"
Guard: "So... neek?"
KitRedgrave: "You'll be glad to know that we've dealt with about half the problem already. This 'silver man' as you knew him is gone... well that's handy."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Hmmmm..."
KitRedgrave: "Hedgehog, blue, about yea tall, runs really fast?"
Guard: "It is good, yes. To destroy the inner demon, you will need to use the device you found to open a portal to the inside of the planet... the last control node in existence for the Silver Man's evil. I'm afraid I have only seen this 'So-neek' in the time windows. He has never found this place..."
Valron: "Ah! I was about to ask about the demon at the center of the planet. That certainly makes my job a bit easier."
Guard: "...But I have heard that other tribes far beyond us discovered our technology, and used it to hide elsewhere. We could not interact with them... by virtue of their hiding place, they are impossible for us to see from here."
Xavier Ridgecrest: *Pets Gelato softly* "It's okay. I only understand half of everything I see, and I predate most everybody!"
Nonna: "Neither do I, Gelato. Just keep nodding."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "From my perspective, I just want to make sure these people don't starve, and that demon at the center of the planet dies, and... uh... ...we should figure out where those mobians went, they might be useful in de-evilfying the continent..."
Valron: "'Everything is Illian's fault' is what I got out of it."
Guard: "I would welcome you to stay here, however it costs magic energy every moment you are here. Perhaps once you have removed the demon, we can return to our time in history... ...and we can leave another similar portal so you can visit in an area cleared out not to destroy history..."
KitRedgrave: "I thought we're already there. So that just leaves killing the demon, which seems like something we should be doing five minutes ago."
Guard: "But you shall not leave empty handed..."
Metal Man (GM): The Guard hands a map to Kit.
Nonna: "Hm. How powerful and accessible is this demon? I may have an idea."
Valron: "And there's the reason we didn't leave five minutes earlier."
Guard: "The point on there is where the demon is... oh... how powerful... The demon is a creation of Dyne and the Silver Man's. They sought to make something completely indestructible. A Mad Being of some sort... hmmm... the Silver Being said something about the Sun. He also said it involved Thirteen gentle humans. I'm not entirely sure what that meant. It was a long and boring discussion, the silver man would not shut up."
KitRedgrave: "I think we have a better idea of it. Thank you very much. Ah yes, that's definitely Illian for you."
Nonna: "So how about getting the Time Cops and the Demon to fight each other, then we step in to finish the weakened victor?"
KitRedgrave: "I don't know what will happen if we let the Time Cops win that fight."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Illian DID want to use the planet to kill the Time Cops... and the demon at the center of the planet was to spearhead his insane plans..."
Valron: "...The Thirteen Gentlemen? Huh... Didn't know he still had those kicking around. Though I shouldn't entirely be surprised."
KitRedgrave: "Maybe we should continue this discussion somewhere that's not burning what must be megathaums of energy."
Guard: "Be wary. It is linked to the planet's lifeforce. Unless you intend to use it to kill these Time Cops you speak of, we cannot be certain what would happen if it were just killed out of hand."
Nonna: "...yeah."
Guard: "If you wish to talk to me more, use the device to talk to me, like the blinky boxes I have seen you use through the time windows. We shall meet again in less... magically draining circumstances."
Valron: "Though, what would those things have to do with the sun and the demon...? Hmm."
KitRedgrave: "...Smash Dexes do that? Really?"
Metal Man (GM): He would gesture to the portal again.
KitRedgrave: "Oh, duh. Right. Talk to you later, we won't let you down."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "I think he means that thing on your wrist, Kit."
Valron: *Into the portal he goes.*
Xavier Ridgecrest: "It's linked to whatever weird magical fox things control this place."
Valron: *...After the others follow him along.*
Xavier Ridgecrest: "By the way, Guard person, when we're done, maybe I should ask you about how to fix my Time Device."
Guard: "Time... device???"
Xavier Ridgecrest: "...Worth a try."
Metal Man (GM): Xavier walks into the portal.
KitRedgrave: "...We should also ask for his name, like any civilized people!"
Fenris: "I'm Fenris. And I already knew the armored man that is with you isn't civilized. Have you seen what he eats? He must be part mountain... Beware when he plays his 'Disk-Go.'It seems to cause mental illness in those who hear it."
KitRedgrave: "He's nothing that can be classified easily, believe me. Nice to meet you, and farewell."
Fenris: "Indeed... farewell."
KitRedgrave: "Ahahahahahaha, yes. Disk-go. Love it. Bye." *She steps through the portal.*
Metal Man (GM): You return back to where the statues were. Xavier taps a foot slightly.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "So apparently pocket dimensions are popular among fuzzy beings on this planet..."
Valron: "Apparently."
KitRedgrave: "Hey, you can't argue with the results. Gotta learn how to do that someday."
Nonna: "Farewell, Fenris." *Portal.*
Xavier Ridgecrest: "It certainly beats what happened here."
Valron: "Sure got that right."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "So, Kit... what's the map look like? We have to figure out what we're gonna do with the demon thing... and whether or not it can be used to kill Time Cops."
Valron: "I feel the attempted application of that might not be the wisest idea, but... That's just me."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "I might suggest we determine whether it's intelligent or not, then blow it up... or disconnect it. Maybe unplugging it is the best idea."
KitRedgrave looks down at the map then.
Metal Man (GM): The map shows a spot that's over an area on an island in the northern sea. Xavier glances at it.
Valron: "If we disconnect it, then the idea of using it to wreak havoc on the Time Cops seems... at least a good deal less iffy."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Ah, that first node that was melted down early had a twin. Who'd a thunk it."
Valron: "If we can keep it self-contained and take it with us... Hmm."
KitRedgrave: "Also, one more thing I gotta wonder about. Does this mean the Book will just plain stop working if we deal with this?"
Metal Man (GM): It notes one more thing: "The Passcode is Schwartz."
KitRedgrave: "I know it's something that really shouldn't exist and probably will cause the doom of everyone here... but it's so handy."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Well, the Book is linked to Alsa. So probably not. If anything it might be more useful. The demon and the Book probably both share energies. Granted... once you fix the world, I doubt you need to write in new twists to it to make it 'work' beyond perhaps cleaning... this up." *He gestures to the desolation.*
KitRedgrave: "Yeah... I do want to give some serious consideration to how things are going to be once we clean it all up."
Valron: "Definitely a good idea, in any case."
KitRedgrave: "If all it takes is one more cross-dimensional psycho to ruin everything, it's not a good setup."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "If my intuition is correct, it always comes back to the Time Devices. Disabling their ability to muck around here would go a long way towards preventing any further problems. We may as well go back to the ships, if we're going to visit the 'demon at the center of the planet' it'd be over there..."
KitRedgrave: "Yeah... better to keep this place away from all that is to come. At least until the right time, maybe."
Valron: "Sounds good to me."
Gelato: *...He's still just smiling and nodding.*
Nonna: "Hm..."
Xavier Ridgecrest: *Pets Gelato* "Back to the ships, then." *Walks to the ships, stepping over some more broken slot machines.*
Valron: *And shipwards he goes.*
Gelato: :D *Nod nod.*
Nonna: *Bringing up the rear quietly as usual.*
Metal Man (GM): Once back at the ships, the various soldiers and such would glance to you.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Hm... so, time to get aboard. Let's get to our next destination. What'll it be--the place where that demon is, or back to the base via Mushroom Republic first?"
Gelato: *Let's go get rid of mister scary man first.* D:
Valron: "I'd rather deal with the demon as well, yes."
KitRedgrave: "We should at least scope the place out, see what we need."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Okay, over to the demon it is."
Metal Man (GM): Xavier would get into his limo and start it up, and wait for the rest of you to get into your ships as well.
Valron wastes little time in entering his ship, getting himself all nice and situated.
KitRedgrave would just Superman fly along, having not brought her ship along.
Metal Man (GM): Yup. Ivan brought it back. In the interim when everyone was kinda scattered that last session, the claw was used to haul in the Time Cop weapons.
Nonna boards her now new ship formerly called the Spirit of Vengeance. If Joe was still inside, she'd greet him.
Joe: "Hi. Find something out there? That place you went... it was where the evil Questers massacred several of the decent GUN people, then got exploded by their own missiles..."
Nonna: "It was a pretty tragic scene, all in all. But we've got a new destination now. So before we go there, I'd like to ask if you'd like to stay with us, or if you'd rather we take you somewhere where you can relax."
Joe: "I think I'll stay with you... unless something changes, I hardly feel safe on Alsa. Everyone who lives long enough there seems to die, and I don't mean of old age."
Valron: "...Right, right. Let's see. I should get re-acquainted with this again. Need to figure out how many other folks I'll need to assist me with this so I don't have to do everything by myself. " *Looks around, checking to see the various stations people could occupy.*
Nonna: "Well, there's a place you can go that isn't on Alsa."
Metal Man (GM): The station to fire the machinegun is there. Additionally there's the navigation station/defense station. You're at the main station, with the mega-laser cannon and lightning equipped to it currently.
Nonna: "Hm..." *Works on the systems to change the name of the Spirit of Vengeance.*
Valron: "...Huh. Don't remember this being here. But let's see... I'll need two others to help with this. Now let's see..." *He checks out the specs on the mega-laser, before also going to see if the missiles are still something he can use.*
Metal Man (GM): Naming the ship something else is somewhat involved, if only because apparently Solarians believe in going on the "Path of Daggers" to rename things. Then again, this is a ship, and you can just rearrange the crystals once you figure out somebody who's Magitek savvy enough to do that for you, or you can try to study it yourself and eventually figure it out. The missiles are still there, yes. All 99 billion of them. In fact you could re-enact your inner Digi right now with it. The lightning has only three shots, then it has to charge up for quite a while. But if you recall, it was pretty destructive stuff.
Valron: "Perfect. I can destroy every casino in the galaxy if I wanted to. But I don't. Because that's a bit ridiculous."
Nonna: "Huh... guess I won't be officially changing the name for a bit, then."
Xavier Ridgecrest: *R* "Ready to go, everyone?" *Has distant disco music in the background whenever he radios.*
Nonna: *R* "Roger."
Valron: *R* "Ready enough, I suppose."
Metal Man (GM): The Mega laser was seemingly installed by Ivan. He never explained where it came from, either. The same laser assembly can also be used to fire some lesser lasers, like it originally had. The Mega Laser though, can use all the shield energy to fire one giant laser.
Valron: "Interesting... So I can either fire an array of smaller lasers, or sacrifice shield energy to unleash one huge laser. Guessing after that's used the shields won't be coming back up for a while, though..."
Metal Man (GM): Xavier kicks the dash and his car floats upside down into the air, then begins rocketing towards the destination. Kit would notice Xavier's limo catching up, after having taken so long to get started. Up ahead is the island... a melted, destroyed island. The work of the Alsan Questers, then again when it had to be destroyed some more to stop Illian from using it.
Nonna gets the ship started too and follows along.
Metal Man (GM): There's... nowhere to land, really. The map shows a spot floating over the ocean next to the destroyed island. The wreckage of the temple is there just enough to mean if you tried to land there, you'd probably crush it and cause a mess.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Hmmm... we can probably hover here, but how are we to get inside?"
Valron: *Also flying along, of course.* "Well, now... That's certainly a place I haven't seen in a while. Hmm..."
Metal Man (GM): Kit's wrist device would begin beeping again. But then again, so would Xavier's time device.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "There's definitely something weird about this place."
KitRedgrave: "And not only because what is essentially the devil himself is here."
Gelato: *He stares out the window at the temple...*
Valron: "Oh? What else is there?" *He examines the temple from his current spot* "Hmm..."
Xavier Ridgecrest: *R* "So... it would seem we can summon the portal with our devices. Could you do the honors, Kit? Since mine is broken."
KitRedgrave: *R* "Sure can. Cover me if for some reason demons start pouring outta this." *He would start opening a portal here. Hopefully no demons.*
Metal Man (GM): The portal opens... it's large enough to fly ships into. Huh.
Valron: "Convenient..."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Hm... may as well..."
Metal Man (GM): Xavier flies his limo into the portal.
KitRedgrave rides on top of the limo on in.
Nonna sighs and sets a course through the portal.
Metal Man (GM): Inside would be... hmmm... a very large area. It looks almost Solarian in appearance, but flanked by gigantic teal stones. It looks vaguely like the area Valron went to get his Mad Man-esque powers from. There's a massive place to land, like... this once had the Eternal Dauntless parked here. And a series of controls much like the ones Illian had on Angel Island are here, sitting completely unguarded.
KitRedgrave: "Oh, this is just too easy. Something's up."
Valron: "Huh... Almost feels a bit... familiar. Interesting."
Metal Man (GM): There's not a lot beyond that. A narrow path that leads to a small platform sitting in the middle of the center of all the energy, with a single entity standing there, facing away from you. Xavier lands and gets out, staring at the distant figure.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Seems that's our... demon? Over there."
Valron: "Seems like it. Wondering if I should stay back and provide support, but..."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "If we need to attack it with the ships, one or more of us can stay behind to be ready for it..."
Nonna: "Standing by..."
Valron: "I'll be on standby, then."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Anyone else going to walk with me to see the... thing, or just me? I don't mind being the bait, if that is the plan." *Nervous chuckle.*
Nonna: "Very well." *She'd leave the ship and follow Xavier.* "We probably need someone who can negotiate anyway."
Metal Man (GM): Xavier would walk towards the thing at the end of the platform... Xavier would gesture, in case KitRedgrave wants to walk over as well. *spends a moment digging music for this specific thing, thinking while describing...* The being is armored from head to toe in black plazsteel armor. It has weird multi-chromatic crystals jutting out of its shoulders, and ancient Alsan runes all over its wrists and ankles and its back. It doesn't seem to even really react to everyone showing up, as if insects were flitting about. Leylines jut through the room, indicating how it is deeply connected to the planet's life force.
KitRedgrave would join Xavier, after taking a moment to adjust to being nearly blinded by said leylines.
Metal Man (GM): Ah, yes, this ancient but still relevant one will work for the moment. http://vgmixarchive.com/songs/vgmix2x/Xmark%20-%20Domain%20of%20Evil%20(Super%20Mario%20World).mp3 It would turn around to face you, staring through hate filled mechanical eyes, as it would move an arm up to point at you ever so slowly.
???: "You dare to enter my domain... you think that you can change what has been done... what do you plan to do against me, mere dust particles? Your power is nothing."
Metal Man (GM): Xavier gestures to Nonna and Kit, not wanting to start anything with his tendency to be blunt and unable to really do much other than bluster and cause fights.
Nonna: "We come not to challenge you, but rather to ask a favour."
Sinova: "Oh, you come to ask Sinova, Master of Demise, a favor? Why don't you pray to your pathetic Sky God instead? I'm sure he will protect you from whatever you desire..." *He chuckles to himself.*
Xavier Ridgecrest: *Whispering to Nonna and Kit* "It's another pretentious jerk. Great."
Nonna: "There is no longer anything to gain from continuing as you are. Persisting in wallowing alone on a mostly dead planet with nobody to talk to, no challenges, no fun. Is a future of this really what you envision for yourself?"
Sinova: "I am the combined might of SIMBER and Nova, given domain over an entire planet of sentient beings, whose despair gives me even greater power. And you, a mortal, would suggest a path for me?" *He would raise a magitek encrusted eyebrow.* "My creator is dead by the hands of those next to you. The only challenge I see is to perhaps destroy all that you and yours love, so that I can see you live in endless darkness like all who live on Alsa. Already I see, you seek to remove one of my victims from their torment... and this angers me..." *He points back at the ships, where Joe is.*
Xavier Ridgecrest: "SIMBER and Nova? What the hell was Illian thinking?"
Sinova: "Both machines were full of flaws by themselves, but combined I possess the algorithmic capacity to destroy all of you, if I choose." *He purses his lips.* "Except I see that you might aid me in making the lives of those on this planet horrible, as the Alsan Questers did. Then perhaps I would do a favor for you. My nodes are destroyed, as you know. It greatly lessens my control over things... annoying beings of chaos have introduced a chance for good things to happen. It is despicable! Even my False Angels and my ensnared Guitar Man Of Stupidity cannot make my will work anymore... I would kill all of you in an instant... but then no one else could come here and hear my wondrous plans... no... I must make you do my bidding... somehow..." *He calculates.* "Surely you still desire the golden statues of power that I used to re-animate the undead, Questers? I could get you all of them!"
Nonna: "Actually, there's this group of lunatics with god complexes who think they have everything and have rarely ever felt the pain of loss or any kind of despair at all. They're running around free, unchallenged, never feeling any negativity. They would provide endless amounts of fun for you. But, I won't be willing to tell you where to find them unless you leave this planet first."
Sinova: "Leave... this... planet???" *He snorts.* "All my power is in this planet! What would I power myself with, discarded Dominoes Pizza boxes???"
Valron: *Is currently... just leaning back in his seat, listening to all this from his ship and... idly examining his claws out of some vague sense of boredom. Presuming Sinova's the sort of entity who has enough of an ego to make his voice needlessly boom throughout the area.*
Metal Man (GM): Correct, Valron.
Sinova: "I could only move to their location by using the planet... and you despicable people destroyed my planetary rockets! Nevermind that they would have been powered with the souls of the ever tormented eternal dead! I was ready, Illian told me where they were! I would have killed their entire solar system and feasted upon their families' despair! Now you would suggest similar to me... only without all the means for me to succeed? You are as insane as E Li Three!"
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Damn. He really did program all the stupid references into him."
Sinova: "Silence, moron!"
Nonna: "You sound almost... angry. Like you're feeling despair yourself at lacking the means to reach these delicious targets."
Sinova: "As a god of Despair, I too can Despair. Unless you think I would somehow be unable to do so... which..." *He spends a moment malfunctioning trying to contemplate such a concept.*
Valron: "He's boring me. I've heard these sorts of delusions of supremacy thousands upon thousands of times. A mantra of insanity that just has the most... bothersome inability to stay dead. Annoying."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "You know, Mr. God of despair, you kinda wrecked my Questers with your things, back in the past."
Sinova: "Wasn't that most excellent? I showed them who was boss! Then I tortured them endlessly! Wahahahaha!"
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Let's say we had another power source. Could you even remotely contemplate--"
Nonna: "Fire at will."
Sinova: "No! Despair is all that matters. I would require another planet! And you are---what? How dare you suggest you attack me mid-monologue! Besides, I have to tell you all my plans and how you are--"
Xavier Ridgecrest takes out his golf club and violently clubs Sinova with it mid-sentence.
Metal Man (GM): VEHICLE AND QUESTER BATTLE OF DOOM
KitRedgrave prepares to start cheating reality. We're gonna need all of it we can get.
Valron: *And then he blasts Sinova in the face with the [s]SUPER SHOTGUN[/s] LIGHTNING ARRAY.*
Sinova: "Ow! Ow! OW! What is wrong with you and not being pathetically weak? Damn! I was supposed to scare you s@#tless! What kind of people are you???"
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Questers."
Sinova: "Questers DO MY BIDDING! They don't--"
Metal Man (GM): Roll inits. We'll do the actions you guys did like the lightning on your turns, those who haven't done anything yet choose on their turns.
Sinova: "Illian told me this would happen! Curse him for being too dead for me to punch him in the face!"
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Illian is alive."
Sinova: "Gahhhhhhh!!!!"
Valron: "And he'd probably punch you in the face if he was here. ...Through the face, all things considered."
Sinova: "I know! I'm almost contemplating once I beat you, destroying the way in so that he can't do that... because he will do that if he hears of this!"
Xavier Ridgecrest: "What did he do, whip you every day?"
Sinova: "He made me play Bomberman Act Zero!"
Xavier Ridgecrest: "What a heartless monster."
Metal Man (GM): Order: Nonna, Valron, Sinova, Xavier, Gelato, Kit
Xavier Ridgecrest: "I would almost feel sad about killing you, except I've had to kill at least two thousand variants of SIMBER, Nova, and annoying Gentlemen Androids."
Sinova: "If it makes you shut up, I'll tell you how many other of those exist!"
Xavier Ridgecrest: "...No deal."
Valron: "...Well, that explains why they mentioned the Thirteen Gentlemen. Hm."
Nonna: *Thinking ahead, she uses the rune of victory, Teiwaz on herself. She's now protected from a debuff and regens 10 HP per every hit she delivers to an enemy.*
Violet: *She then directs an Inguz Rune to Valron's incoming attack, making it fully charged when it fires.*
Xavier Ridgecrest: "So, was Julian losing your fault?"
Sinova: "No! Digi and Deloth did it!"
Xavier Ridgecrest: "I guess you really are useless, then."
Sinova: "Wait! I mean I did it! Yeah!"
Xavier Ridgecrest: "...Figures."
Nonna: *Then places a Gebo rune on Kit, so Nonna will take damage in her place. End Turn.*
Metal Man (GM): Valron: Roll a SKI check for shoop da woop, I mean firin' yer lightning at the thing. It still is a little tricky to aim, given the distance and it's like swatting a fly with an elephant. Sinova is loaded down by the heavy crystals on him. However, he has a force field.
Valron: "...Really."
Sinova: "Hahahaha! Take that, you bastards! Do you think Illian forgot about the force fields on Turion???"
Valron: "You are just going to drag this one out, aren't you."
Violet: *It's charged though, so the field will take a lot of damage.*
Metal Man (GM): He does still take damage, it's... hmmm... Normal lightning damage is a whopping 500. That is halved by the force field and dealt to the force field itself. What does the charge do, 2x, I think 2x if the spell doesn't have it specified.
Violet: *I think a charge is 2.5*
Metal Man (GM): 625 damage to his shield. His shield is already sparking. He stares at it.
Sinova: "...Cheaters. Cheaters! How dare you bring a space ship to a fist fight!"
Nonna: "You exist to make people suffer for no reason other than itself."
Metal Man (GM): Anyway, that action took 3 TP. Anything else, Valron? The lightning requires a little cooldown before firing it again.
Sinova: "Well duh!"
Valron: "Your fault for being dumb enough to leave an opening for a ship in the first place."
Valron: *And then, missiles.*
Sinova: "That was Illian's idea! ...Which by the way, is why I never defied him, because his laser was even larger than yours!"
Valron: "Remind me to thank you for not telling him it was a dumb idea."
Sinova: "...Oh no! It's the missiles that destroyed a casino!"
Metal Man (GM): Another SKI roll. These just behave a little differently to represent the multi-missiles.
Valron: "Or should I be thanking him for not thinking it through...? Hm."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Knowing Illian, he wanted this guy to die if he didn't succeed in his plan. I mean, the logs show Illian brutally murdering everyone who spoke like this to him."
Metal Man (GM): He gets nailed with three missiles for 150 damage, divided by two and sent to the shield.
Valron: "Even if your field decides to be annoying, it's going to be useless sooner or later!"
Sinova: "You underestimate how annoying I can be, then!"
Nonna: "You're dumb."
Sinova: "The supreme master of dumbness, if it causes you to despair!"
Valron: "It's less... 'despair' and more 'annoyance'."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "It's like Aetos was combined with Zio... I want to kill it so bad, even my jokes are slipping."
Nonna: "Like, really dumb."
Sinova: "I'll show YOU dumb!"
Metal Man (GM): He holds up his hands, and cool special effects show around him.
Nonna: "And just... not cool. I'll bet you were never invited to social gatherings by the other demons."
KitRedgrave: "And not just because you're stuck here in this... whatever it is."
Metal Man (GM): Sinova leaps up into the air towards Nonna. The camera moves around him three-quarters in slow motion. He winks at the camera, spinning around really fast, as light reflects off of all his surfaces, and a riff of guitar music plays as he yells "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!." Various engrams of various shapes and runes show around him as he flies slowly towards Nonna, with his shoe having a bunch of fancy spikes on it and skulls and unhappy faces, and he aims it directly at Nonna's face. The camera gets a fisheye lens look and then spins around some more as this happens.
Sinova: "ULTIMATE UNHAPPINESS SPIN KICK OF DEATHLY DOOM!"
Metal Man (GM): He dramatically spins around a billion times, then lands sideways on the ground.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "I'm going to erase the last 60 seconds from my memory banks. Thanks."
Nonna: *A bunch of daggers appear around him and attempt to pierce his body. Counter Attack!*
Valron: "Kinda looks like something similar to a trial I had to- ...Eugh." *He pauses for a moment, looking slightly disoriented by the abuse of the camera.*
Sinova: "Now that I have fooled you with my awesome feint--" *Looks at the daggers* "What the f@#K???"
Metal Man (GM): The camera zooms in as the daggers fly at him in slow motion, dramatically hitting him... And piercing his shield!
Sinova: "No! My totally awesome combat flourishes failed to help me!"
Violet: *Two get through and once inside, explode. for 68 damage.*
Metal Man (GM): He makes a girly scream as they hit him.
Sinova: "Gaaahhhhhhh!!!"
Metal Man (GM): He's not even all that wounded from it. But it hit for full damage.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "I wonder if you're the other half of Psycho Illian. You know. Psycho Illian seemed to have surgically shed his uncool side to the extent that even the way he died was vaguely Heavy Metal. ...Whereas there is nothing remotely like that about you."
Sinova: "You cannot question my darkness powers!"
Nonna: "Are you done?"
Sinova: "I'm just getting started!"
Metal Man (GM): He powers up a great powerful beam.
Sinova: "I can't seem to kill you with my awesomeness. So instead... I will blow you up with generic things everyone can do!"
Metal Man (GM): He powers up and then creates a hideous beam of darkness that resembles a Mad Man beam. It threatens Kit, Xavier and Nonna. (Or Nonna twice, I guess, due to the spell.) Xavier goes to dodge since it's piercing and can't be blocked.
KitRedgrave: *dodge.*
Violet: * Dodge.*
Metal Man (GM): I guess Nonna doesn't have to dodge twice due to Kit dodging it anyway. Nonna dodges it too... Xavier is hit. He burns a bit, since it was piercing and he couldn't seemingly dodge it... 75 damage to him.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Ow! Go back to spinning uselessly in the air!"
Sinova: "You made me use this, fools! Despair at... the minimal effectiveness of this..." *He pauses to start assembling some other weapon.* "Pay no attention, I will destroy all of you!"
Nonna: "You okay?"
Xavier Ridgecrest: "I could probably use a couple heals... that burnt like the inside of a bad microwave. Seems his greatest weakness is when he thinks he's winning, and his greatest strength is when he gets upset and skips his stupid speeches."
Metal Man (GM): Xavier decides to help himself out with a Silver Shield. Then he gets out both his DVD Launcher and Freaky Gun, as he glows from the shield. The shield heals Xavier for a minimal 10 HP... and may not be the best unless he tries a non-laser attack again... but better than nothing. Xavier then opens fire with both weapons, wanting to give this guy several holes in the shape of the Wicker Man and Battlefield Earth.
Sinova: "No! How could you defeat my force field with these horrible movies???"
Xavier Ridgecrest: "No movie is without sin."
Nonna: "We're in despair from your um... despairness."
Metal Man (GM): 93 damage, stun... which means Sinova is practically unable to dodge anything for a while.
KitRedgrave: "Ha ha... the one who causes despair is instead despairing!"
Sinova: "I've been waiting so long and all you fuzzy brats hid in a weird other realm, then you kill off my boss and stab me in the eye with a movie about a man being killed by bees! Bah!"
Gelato: D: *First action: Curing Xavier!*
Nonna: "You singlehandedly cause a lot of suffering and death, and when people fight back you turn into a whiner. Holy crap."
KitRedgrave: "Yes, YES... let the hate flow through you! Give in to the dark side!" *...Maybe Kit shouldn't have spent so long on the archives.*
Sinova: "Hey, that's supposed to be unholy!"
Valron: "Yeah, they always do that, Nonna. This guy's just being more blatant about it. Reminds me of Evil Wolfman when he started breaking down. ...Except whinier."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Hm... I think I should be able to survive another hit, I can take more healing and still have some damage left, but... up to you, Gelato."
Sinova: "Don't tell me that poser is somewhere... he ripped off all my powers!"
Xavier Ridgecrest: "He had cool sunglasses, though."
Valron: "The burnt remains of Angel Island. His new permanent residence that he shares with The Void. Think they might've opened up a pizza place there. Not sure."
Sinova: "How I hate those sunglasses!"
Xavier Ridgecrest: "I'm pretty certain the whininess is a feature, not a bug. Illian probably wanted to be able to detect if someone got into here from miles away."
Nonna: "Do we need to take you to a psych ward or something?"
Gelato: *Cure number two!*
Xavier Ridgecrest: "He's a combination of a vengeful AI with a senile AI, loaded up with Illian's psychotic mental issues... and some Solarian crystals. I think we need to take him to the junkyard."
Gelato: *Then... he runs up with a war squeal, grabbing Sinova and copying him with that Gobbu energy core!*
Metal Man (GM): Gelato copies: ULTIMATE UNHAPPINESS SPIN KICK OF DEATHLY DOOM!
Nonna: "You just got Gelato'd."
Sinova: "This isn't Italian Ice Cream!!!"
Metal Man (GM): His annoying force field takes 7.5 damage, and prevents the status effect, but the copy still works. Gelato may opt to copy the force field instead, though, if he wants.
Nonna: "Quick, someone kick his Sins."
Metal Man (GM): Gelato gained: ANNOYING SEASON 5 FORCE FIELD 1/2 chance to take the hit for you, and if it succeeds, the force field takes the entire hit, halves its damage. Its HP is equal to 1/2 your max HP. Basically the world's most aggravating means of drawing out combat. The description comes with a tag: "Banned in eight dimensions for sheer annoyingness!" Anything else, Deloth?
Gelato: :D *Just enough for one more use of Cure on Xavier as the team White Mage.*
KitRedgrave: "This is interesting and all, but I think it's about time to get to business." *She would bring out the Book, having already had it ready from the last time she used it, and would check if it can do anything here.*
Sinova: "You have no clue how many puppies I have wanted to kick! And you kind of look like a puppy!"
Metal Man (GM): He looks at the book and his eyes go wide.
Sinova: "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!"
Metal Man (GM): The book instantly brings up his schematics and controls, including the off switch. The description indicates... 'I, Illian, made this thing. I intended for it to be the most evil thing in the universe. Instead it was so lame, I had to lock it in the center of the planet, where nobody could find it. It controls the evil energy of the planet, with which I plan to make the entire planet a demonic killing machine. However, I must master this Book, the Nodes, and the Chaos Emeralds, in order to complete my plans. If you are seriously fighting this thing... ...well I don't blame you. I would have destoryed it myself, but... then my powers that it funneled to me would go away, and by extension this book.'
Nonna: "Put this thing out of its misery, or reprogram it to be good and benevolent instead, or something."
Metal Man (GM): 'If you don't mind the potential Book power loss, and I am presumably either dead or AWOL, I am not really going to be upset. Odds are it serves no purpose anymore.' -End Book Entry
KitRedgrave: "Well, here's the thing. Says here that if we kill it, the book stops working. And we still need it. Or at least, I'd still LIKE to have it... So I guess we're going to make you good, whether or not you like it."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "If nothing else, you could always just... turn it off..."
Sinova: "No one turns me off!"
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Ugh."
Valron: "Egh."
KitRedgrave: "And that'd have everything still work?"
Valron: "Can we repurpose him into something less stupid and evil?"
Metal Man (GM): The Book indicates that, from time to time, Illian turned off all his functions other than his existence so he could 'think' while he was here. Since the area before this being is clearly an area he parked his ship in.
KitRedgrave: "I'd like to do that. An early warning system would be great so I don't have to keep popping in every few days. That seems like a later problem though. So, goodnight despair-mo-tron."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "The Book is the master control device. I'm pretty certain you can figure out how to do that... I wonder what Illian did for his variant of it..."
KitRedgrave would just... flip the switch, turn Sinova off for now. "Unless, you'd like to keep playing with it?"
Metal Man (GM): *In a neglected niche of the area is a bunch of My Chemical Romance CDs and Hot Topic T-shirts with strings and empty soda cans set up to be knocked down near a radio if anyone goes near them.*
Sinova: "You can't possibly be serious!" *Falls face down into the ground and goes silent.*
Xavier Ridgecrest: "No. Nobody needs to play with an Uncoolness Elemental. Not even Alex Fender."
Gelato: "..." *He starts rolling over Sinova in his new force field, just to taunt him.*
Metal Man (GM): Turned off, it feels... less horrible, and the despair of being exposed to awfulness dissipates. The Book notes that reprogramming and remaking it was always an idea Illian had, 'but he never had the time' An oxymoron, as he was a Time Cop. Probably lazy.
KitRedgrave: "Time. Heh. Hahaha."
Metal Man (GM): Well, Time Cop Killer that used a Time Device... same diff. *Getting tired.*
KitRedgrave: "Time's always on your side, yet you never had any for this."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "I almost don't blame him."
Valron: "Yeah, we're reprogramming him. And then I'm going to relegate him to serve as AI duty for my ship. I could use the assistance."
Nonna sits down, a bit out of energy.
KitRedgrave: "I'm not sure he can really survive leaving here."
Valron: "After all the stupidity's drained out, of course."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "It's an AI, so the AI part could be moved. The body is more of the issue."
KitRedgrave: "But if he can, sure."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "It's like... ...the equivalent of Red Text, only... Obsidian Text? And the body isn't a friend of mine. It's a stupid 13 Gentleman Android. Those things sucked. Well, yeah. Nobody is really going to stop us now. We're in a hidden hideout even Sloan couldn't find. If we need to hide, this place seems pretty sweet to me, minus the fact that it was befouled by that... thing... screaming at the walls... for years... I swear I can still hear that voice in my head, so... nasally..."
Valron: "Eesh. Well, at least we can renovate it to be less awful. I mean, that's probably what we can use the control panel for, right?"
Metal Man (GM): The control panel has a place to set the book in. It's got the entire planetary control panel. Just like Angel Island. Only this one wasn't ever broken. In fact it seems to have been used primarily by Illian... the last instructions put into it were "Resurrect the people of the PSO Continent."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Huh... that's how those people came back to life."
KitRedgrave looks over. "Ah, perfect. Just what we need. ...Though I don't know why it needs a console when you can just ask the book directly to do it."
Metal Man (GM): The console has a bunch of weird crystals in it that seem to be sending energy to the book and vice versa. Some sort of remote control.
Nonna: "...Well, I'll be back on my ship." *She heads back.*
KitRedgrave: "Ah, of course. More power. Nonna, I'm surprised. All the power in the world and you just walk away?"
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Well... it's not really her planet, per se..."
Nonna: "I don't desire power."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "And the consequences of using it to warp the planet beyond what's needed..." *He shrugs* "Those weren't so good."
Valron lands his ship, now that he doesn't really need to provide support. He heads out and makes his way over to the others.
KitRedgrave: "Okay. Well. Time to fix everything then."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "I think we should probably just fix what's needed and leave the rest be, lest the curse of Illian occur some more."
KitRedgrave would place the Book on the panel pedestal.
Metal Man (GM): The Planet controls allow you to warp time and space to your pleasing. It would almost be tempting to change everything--but there's built in temporal safeguards. The Book itself would note "Illian put those in after he accidentally caused an identity crisis in which he became one person, then three, then fifteen, then five thousand, then himself again."
KitRedgrave: "...Right. Let's... not screw around with identity."
Metal Man (GM): The most important one is the lever supplying all the power to Sinova. It's a manual thing Illian put in many millennia ago.
KitRedgrave: "First order of business will be to stop these shenanigans. Oh, how convenient."
Metal Man (GM): The ancient seal on it is old as when you left...
KitRedgrave: "All our troubles, on this lever."
Nonna gets back on and tiredly sits down in the captain's seat.
Metal Man (GM): Disabling it will weaken this greatly, but once again allow people to choose their own destiny, rather than be doomed to suffering. Joe is busy looking out the window, a mixture of horrified and amazed at what happened.
Joe: "How do you encounter things like that on a daily basis and not go insane, Nonna?"
KitRedgrave: "...Before we cede power, let's make sure that this sort of thing doesn't usually happen again."
Nonna: "You need to be grounded."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Ah yes, how to prevent a recurrence of that."
Metal Man (GM): Xavier sets his hand on there.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "You know... there was a time... with this very book. Kuja had a study. And he told us all about how we'd screwed up, and how he was the only one who could fix everything. We never did see him again."
KitRedgrave: "I'm thinking first step would be to remove the Chaos Emeralds and nodes and all that other stuff that isn't this Book from play."
Metal Man (GM): The Book rather obliquely shows an illustration of Illian punching Kuja through the face.
Nonna: "Part of living is accepting that there will always be someone out there will be say, believe, think, and act in any way possible, even stuff you can't imagine. Just because they exist, it doesn't invalidate you."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "...Oh."
KitRedgrave: "Yes, Gelato? Probably."
Metal Man (GM): The book offers 'all food ever made, anywhere' with the only warning "May cause premature death due to obesity if overused."
KitRedgrave: "... ...Wow. That seems like too much."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "It's a magic book that writes reality. All of reality is too much for anyone."
KitRedgrave: "Thank goodness it's not really all of reality, then."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "My only question left for it, is that Kuja apparently died. So let's answer the question he put, and by extension, the last question of Alsa..."
KitRedgrave: "This is our pocket universe now, I won't have anyone turning it into a superweapon or killing everyone off again."
Gelato: *He stares at the book. Droooool.*
Metal Man (GM): The book casually shows a gigantic lock option. The description is as such:
Nonna: "The mistake is in thinking your perspective and view is the only one."
Metal Man (GM): 'This book was originally manufactured by the Time Cops to allow Wolfman or Other Person to control One (1) Realm. If he should at any time wish to remove supernatural controls on said realm, or pause them, this Book shall comply.'
Joe: "Hmmm... I see."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "So I guess, you can turn off the manipulation with that, but then you give up your magic god powers. Seems like a buzz kill. No wonder why Illian and Kuja fought over it. That said, I've become wise from watching them both act like fools, so. I'd say we should fix the planet and then lock this... but wait... it could still be unlocked. We need a more permanent way. But we can't destroy it... the reality is too tied to it..."
KitRedgrave: "I dunno about you, but I want to still reserve the right to keep an eye on things every now and again with it."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "It'd be nice, but it seems to have not been made that way. Which is probably why Illian and Kuja both leapt off a cliff and died to its allure. What a poorly designed object. Just like this!" *Gestures to his broken Time Device.*
Nonna: "If you're wondering why I left, it's because I don't believe it's right to play God. I have faith in them to do the right thing. I think."
Valron: "Seems like trying to make it... not completely rubbish would be a rather... long-term project."
Metal Man (GM): It would seem you could seal the book away here to deactivate the effects and unseal it later, but nothing about it prevents others similarly powered as you could intervene and find it...
KitRedgrave: "Oh, it's not the people living here I'm worried about. It's the people from outside."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Maybe we need to carry it with us and raid Time Cop HQ to find some new parts for it?"
Metal Man (GM): Xavier opens the back and gestures to the strangely magi-gear things in the back of it.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Because I spent some time staring at this myself and it appears like they cheaped out on it because they wanted to screw over Wolfman."
Valron: "Huh..."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "And screw him over they did. Nobody who's wielded this has ever ended well."
KitRedgrave: "Heh. Heh heh. Yeah, let's go do that."
Valron: "Sounds like a good plan."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "So, we use this pedestal, then take it with us in nice sealed storage and go fix it up so it can have some degree of permissions. Then when we all die some millenia from now, no weird freaks go and use it for evil."
KitRedgrave: "For now, we better just clean things up here, make it as difficult as possible for casual observers to find things like the Chaos Emeralds, and seal this away for now."
Valron: "That sounds about the gist of it, yes."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Oh... to finish my anecdote, Kit..."
Metal Man (GM): Xavier takes out his broken fighter remote thing. He pushes a button in the end of it. A pen tip comes out.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Kuja and Illian killed eachother over this stupid thing. They didn't get that the Book didn't need a pen at all. I swear... they never even bothered to read the little liner notes in it! This thing is a novelty pen at best! And it's out of ink!"
Nonna: "I wonder if my Grandfather would approve of me saying that, heh."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "The ink was pretty deadly, but we killed all of that. Maleficent SUCKED."
Valron: "I thought she ran back to her own realm."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Hence why she sucked. She didn't die. We killed the ink itself."
Valron: "A fair point."
Joe: "Your... 'grandpa'? Was he a religious man?"
KitRedgrave: "They killed eachother. Over a pen. That was unnecessary. And in all this time reading the book, they didn't notice? Really...?" *She cracks up.*
Nonna: "Nope."
Joe: "Huh. What wouldn't he approve of?"
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Well, to put it simply, Kuja was a recovering male fashion model who had just learned how to put jeans on, and had a lot of ostentatious magical powers, and believed he was the King of Stories. And Illian was... the guy who made that THING over there and might have at one time unironically thought it was cool."
Nonna: "He's never made a habit of trusting people he hasn't known for long."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "So yeah. Two really, really haughty guys fighting over a really bling accessory. And Illian was more violent than fashion mode--Kuja."
Valron: "Amazing. Absolutely amazing."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "In the end it wouldn't have made too much difference. If Kuja won, we'd have fought a weird guy with a pointy hat instead."
KitRedgrave: "And I wouldn't have brought him back, because he'd be just as aggravating in the past."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Both of them figured he could train the Questers... yeah... but continually beating them up and making them act like psychos wasn't it. So... my suggestion, Kit, is to just block off the holes to other dimensions and filter it out to us only. Like, Nintendus, basically. We already did that for Nintendus. Just make this place safe and remove the death curses and undead on Angel Island. And give us a map to find the Mobians with, but just send the pocket dimension people a message it's safe to come out now. That should fix most of the problems."
Valron: "Don't see anything wrong with that. Hopefully, after all that, things will start to take a turn for the better. You know, something that should be happening here more often."
KitRedgrave: "Right, then we'll do that, clean out the evil, and make the land actually usable again."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Then I figure, rather than us playing further God, the people of Alsa can fix it themselves, without being artificially compelled to go emo and punch eachother. Because you have to reckon, this guy probably haunted their dreams, telling them to kill eachother."
Valron: "Wonder if that means we can tell the Mushroom Republic it'll be safe for them to drop their barrier. ...If they'd even want to, I mean."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "And they got so little sleep from his whiny voice they probably really did get aggressive and kill one another. They'll drop it once they see reason to... ...which might be a while."
Valron: "'Eventually' is better than 'never', I'd think."
KitRedgrave: "Maybe we can even get the other people to warm up to the rest of the world someday."
Valron: "So long as the world stops being terrible, anyway."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "It's clear that, the combination of stupid things going on above plus this guy subtly biasing things below were the causes. There's no magic fix, but... well... we ought to put Illian and Kuja to shame this time."
Joe: "Hm... can we trust those people, Nonna? They seemed pretty odd to me."
Nonna: "They haven't done anything morally questionable since I got here, so... I guess so."
KitRedgrave would go ahead and ask for: a global evil curse/radioactivity/other environmental damage clearing, whatever reversal of this evil core thing's actions that can be done, and finally restricting dimensional travel outside and into Alsa to us and a moratorium on godlike power for now.
Metal Man (GM): The device glows and implements the new restrictions. Things feel... safer around here. Kit inadvertently ends up decontaminating the continent of Continia from that nuclear reactor waste site, too. Oh, and Jack's destroyed castle is cleaned up some. In case anyone wants to Go-kart drive on the creepiest place ever.
Nonna: "The problem is if they trust me."
Joe: "I see."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Right, that should finish our work here. Anything else, Kit, or shall we go?"
Metal Man (GM): The Book stays as just your grimoire of magic now, as long as the moratorium is in place. It will only be re-activateable by going back here in specific and reactivating it.
KitRedgrave: "Well, I just went and prevented myself from doing anything else. So... just need to go tell my people they can come back and that'll be it. And I can do that from here."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Sure. Once you do that, we can go on back up, probably meet them a bit, and then go back to face Time Cops..."
KitRedgrave would then go and casually flip the lever to starve out the core demon, before placing a call on her wrist device thingy.
Valron: "No objections here."
Metal Man (GM): The crystals dim, causing the core demon's great ability to cause destruction to disappear as it sits there, deactivated.
Fenris: *R* "Ah... hi. I sense a great evil has been silenced."
KitRedgrave: *R* "Sure has. It should be safe for you outside now, now and forever. Need us to open the door, or can you do it from that side?"
Fenris: *R* "Hm... we can do it, yes. We shall send you a portal so you can visit us after you leave the planet's core. Thank you for your work."
KitRedgrave: *R* "Couldn't just leave you to starve out between worlds."
Fenris: *R* "We will have much to talk about, once we have finished evacuating back to our village. We will see you soon." *Click.*
Metal Man (GM): Xavier heads back to his ship, and the portal back outside is open. We'll probably pause about here and resume with everyone back at the main area, getting tired here and nothing much else seems to be required at the moment.
Valron returns to his ship as well, before going to fly up and out of the portal back.
Nonna: *Portal.*
Xavier Ridgecrest flies his ship into the portal as well, after a moment of reflection on the image of Kuja and Illian having a slap fight over a fashion accessory.
KitRedgrave returns to the top of Xavier's limo and sillily goes "Excelsior!", pointing her finger ahead and zooming off towards the portal like some low-rent archive superhero or something.
Metal Man (GM): Xavier looks and sees Kit doing that.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "And to think, Aribar shuddered uncontrollably when I suggested he ride up there. Then again, this cave is lacking an underground waterfall to drive off of... bah!" *Flies into portal.*
KitRedgrave: "Aribar also can't just course-correct himself, either."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Did I mention Aribar also only had one arm at the time? Not the best at holding on."
KitRedgrave: "Totally reasonable to shudder then."
Metal Man (GM): The group flies back to the base... and now we pause. Pauzei. A good session, would have continued the fighting but plot wise Sinova is beholden to the Book. However I'll bring a boss NOT controlled by a Book next time! Also this counts as my April Fools session, which helped feed into the wackiness.