Super Smash Quest - Story - Chapter 324: Dracula's Psychedelic Castle

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Date: 3:09:45 PM, September 8th; 12:36:22 PM, September 9th; 6:33:32 PM, September 10th, 2006.

Metal Man (GM): Continuation
Lemme see... where were you last...

Charles Magellean opens his eyes. Nintendus sets beyond the horizon; the same way the sun sets in the evening.

Metal Man (GM): You see, vast, the planet, and indeed, the stars. It is a great sight.
But how to get to the Null Zone, that is a great question; for none have reached it willingly.

Charles Magellean stands up and walks from the highest point of the base. He opens the fire hatch, proceeds to drop inside, closes the hatch, and climbs down the ladder.
((Inside The Moon Base))

Metal Man (GM): You climb down into the main area, where you see your people working on the latest problem, as always.

Charles Magellean: "I come down from the highest point of the base like I always do, except this time, I could not clear my mind because I am anxious as to what is to come."

F.A.Y.T.H.: "This will be rather difficult to pull off. While Atlantean technology may be possible, I---"

Bob, Lord of Electric Death: "It is no matter. We do not need that technology. There is... one thing... and one thing alone... which we need."

Metal Man (GM): He speaks somewhat lowly, as if this is something great and evil.

Bob, Lord of Electric Death: "Long ago... the vile Gerald Robotnik created a machine with which to send his foes to that zone and beyond."

Charles Magellean: "Is something required in alchemy? Something required to find? Something required to be traded?"

Bob, Lord of Electric Death: "It was so evil, and so powerful; it made Yurie vanish forever, to some place even worse than the Null Zone. He himself was disturbed to the point of abandoning it--it was too powerful, even for him.
Of course, he did not carelessly leave it and move on; he only made it retrievable so that, in a time of crisis, he would survive.
Seeing as even then he didn't get it in time, I suspect it's hidden somewhere. Hidden in ways even he couldn't quickly find.
However... we may be able to find it.
This... is a dangerous, nay, foolish mission, but there is one clue we have.
It is apparently hidden where the cursed Solarians last touched this planet, in tribute to how both they and it are evil, horrible, destructive things.
But... none of us know that; while the great explosion supposedly last touched the outpost now active, some of them obviously survived the blast."

Charles Magellean clutches his heart, gasping for breath. His blood rushes to his head.

Bob, Lord of Electric Death: "For the last moments of their lives, they had the ability to go anywhere... remember, Sardis Mongul. He was hit by the blast and nanites too; and yet he teleported across time and space to extremes before dying."

Charles Magellean: .oO(Their mere mention causes my own blood pressure to rise significantly because of my hatred for them.)

Bob, Lord of Electric Death: "But it was on this planet, and it was apparently a settlement. Besides that, though, his highly encrypted documents fail to be legible. They resist most of our attempts; the bit we got was accidentally left in the memory of one of his machines."

F.A.Y.T.H.: "I do not recommend this mission. Whatever this is, even if it was deactivated, has the potential for great evil."

Bob, Lord of Electric Death: "It is not our choices; and I would rather it be found and destroyed than lost and found later by someone like Ganondorf was."

Ricky Koopa: "No matter which way you look at it, it's bad mojo."

Charles Magellean looks out the window to where Nintendus is setting.

Ricky Koopa: "At times I miss the military. We could sacrifice mindless robots to get this and viciously destroy any defenses it had. But now each one of us must venture in a vulnerable way, as heads of a body-less state."

Charles Magellean: "I miss it too, Ricky, but Haxgel made its rise to power, and now he's dead. As is the empire."

Bob, Lord of Electric Death: "What of Trevor? He hasn't been heard from for quite a while."

Charles Magellean: "The AI of Valhalla is on the Light Side of Nintendus. The only way to reach there is by Atlantis."

Bob, Lord of Electric Death: "Hmm. Disconcerting."

Charles Magellean: "One thing I do not understand. Bob, how does this machine that Professor Gerald used connect with the Dark Matter?"

Bob, Lord of Electric Death: "I do not know how it works, what it is, or if he even made it. Only that, for a short time, he used it."

Charles Magellean: "To be assured I am correct in my thinking, you speak of the Lost Outpost."

Bob, Lord of Electric Death: "That was a place. But where this device is is beyond me."

Charles Magellean: "Who else but the people of Neo-Earth to know where such obscenities could be?"
*He ponders for a moment for no reason.*
"Can the transporters work through the ionic disturbance of the Magnetic Wastelands?"

Bob, Lord of Electric Death: "Barely. You might land in the wrong place."

Charles Magellean: "We only have that clue to work on. Power up the transporters."

Bob, Lord of Electric Death: "Powering up..."

Metal Man (GM): You hear the generator charging up.

Charles Magellean: "...You know, I've been thinking for a while. FAYTH, the original, but corrupted, SIMBER; puppet of The Void, and Bob, Lord of Electric Death, also the puppet of The Void.
Is it possible that... both of your programs are compatible for merging?"

Bob, Lord of Electric Death: "Not so. I am a glitch; he is a controlling program."

F.A.Y.T.H.: "Incompatible file system."

Charles Magellean chuckles. "It's something that I've always wondered about. No hard feelings."
He stands next to the transporter.

Bob, Lord of Electric Death: "Transporter at full power in 3... 2... 1... now."

Metal Man (GM): The transporter lights up, ready to go.

Charles Magellean: "Here I come... Ivan."
*He walks into it.*

Metal Man (GM): You hurtle through the white space again, before landing face-first in some purple sand.
It is hot, sunny, and windy here, with the sky turned purple by the sand.
For miles this sand continues; nary a landmark in sight.

Charles Magellean pushes himself up and cleans off all the frickin' sand off of his face.

Metal Man (GM): However, there be one landmark, now that you stand up.
You can see a ghastly sight.
The destroyed wreck of Nova's former main sector station.
It's a massive pit, containing the rooms themselves, thrown all over and covered by sand.
Dead Kuja Supersoldiers lie everywhere.

Charles Magellean: "Hoolly crap. Is this what Garrick told me about? ...These... these must be..."

Metal Man (GM): The main room sits, exposed, full of dead soldiers; a single screen surrounded by keyboards.
It may yet be possible to use it, despite the death all around it, and the massive destruction.
One supersoldier, near death, chiseled onto a metal plate: 'The reign of Kuja supreme, the reach extended towards the heaven... but for all but him, it was no more than death.'

Charles Magellean enters the pit of Nova, looking over the remains of it. "What... a sight." He goes to the computer screen and keyboard... and sees this.
He checks over the screen.

Metal Man (GM): It's currently off; you'll need to turn on the console.

Charles Magellean looks for the console. "!" He turn presses the power button.

Metal Man (GM): It turns on... and a bunch of gibberish characters line the screen.
They begin to make sense, but it is odd; clearly nothing recent.

Nova (Corrupted): "Despair... destruction... death... despair... destruction... death... death do death do death end... Kuja... death..."

Metal Man (GM): *spark* It doesn't seem able to say much else than that.
Kuja did his best to disable this A.I....
But why? Garrick himself never appeared to have unlocked much; nor did this AI seem able to oppose Kuja with more than materials.
Some more flickering. This, however, is remnants of Gerald's virus.

Gerald Robotnik Virus: "Death to the tyranny of Kuja! The system here... has been deactivated. No longer shall we live in his shadow..."

Metal Man (GM): A recording, of course.
The panel flickers. It shows some blue text, which says 'SIMBER SYSTEM OVERRIDE--Planetary control ceded to SIMBER system'
This, too, is old.

Charles Magellean: "A pity that your machinations never came to fruition, eh Gerald?"

Metal Man (GM): You may be able to get something out of this jumbled mess of a computer, but that's hard to say.
It seems to do nothing but alternate between the lines I mentioned, occasionally glitching some more.
The keyboards still work, though.

Charles Magellean definitely doesn't have the innate skills as his player does, but he can at least attempt to use the keyboard to use the computer.

Metal Man (GM): Merely say what request you type in--the computer can't really be 'checked' anyway, as it fails to conform to any known standard.
Especially since its operating system appears to have been corrupted beyond recognition.

Charles Magellean types in "Machinations of Kuja."

Metal Man (GM): It beeps a bit, then displays all sorts of red text.
It shows an endless stream of commands from the hijacked system Kuja made, including 'Reroute planetary Energy to Dimensional Cannon' 'Disable environmental controls' 'Eliminate wildlife'
A rough image of Kuja out of text is seen on the monitor, which then returns to more words, including his angry speeches.

Charles Magellean: "Such arrogance. Even if he became powerful, he was too damn arrogant to effectively use it."
*He types in the keywords* "Solarians Neo-Earth Outpost."

Metal Man (GM): Typing that in, you get a lot of errors, followed by 'unknown'
It appears this computer has no relevant information.

Charles Magellean has narrowed it down as to where to find it. He types in the keywords "Neo-Earth last outpost."

Metal Man (GM): More errors, followed by 'Unknown subject'

Charles Magellean: "Fruitless, as usual."
*He turns off the computer.*

Metal Man (GM): That's where the odd stuff happens.
You attempt to turn it off, but the screen doesn't change.
Instead it powers up, before then shooting one of the dead Supersoldier corpses with a beam of corrupted data.

Charles Magellean: "!!?!?!"

Metal Man (GM): The corpse stands up slowly, before then glowing as well and firing more beams of that sort out of its beam cannon, causing it to now have a platoon of 10.
The suits then take one look at you, and walk into the desert steadfastly.
As the computer finally turns off.

Charles Magellean looks to the suits... is irises shrink, expressing fear in them. "Dear god... Gerald's virus has finally spread."
.oO(At least... I *think* it's Gerald's doing.)

Metal Man (GM): They mindlessly walk out into the desert, seeking something.

Charles Magellean performs a brief sending for the remaining souls that wander the ruined base, bows, then chases after the walking corpses.
He chases after them for 59 seconds before turning back to the base.
He looks to the computer that the beam had shot out from.

Metal Man (GM): The computer is off, and the corpses move slow enough for you to run back and forth without error.

Charles Magellean: "This is to make sure that it can't be done again." *He picks up the computer screen, and tosses it to the nearest wall.*

Metal Man (GM): You toss it, and it explodes. Junk hurls around everywhere.

Charles Magellean shades his eyes with his arms so the shrapnel won't hit his upper face.
He picks up the console and tosses it into the ground so it can break.

Metal Man (GM): It is too heavy to toss. You'll have to do with shoving it over.

Charles Magellean attempts to shove it over then. STR check?

Metal Man (GM): Yes.
You push it over. It makes a resounding thud, as several cables are severed.

Charles Magellean takes out a heavy breath. "There, now the source has been cut off." He scratches his head, looks out to the corpses, and sighs.
"This is...definitely...going to set me back a few hours."

Metal Man (GM): They're still marching away.

Charles Magellean shrugs and runs after them.

Metal Man (GM): *Gets a snack*
You chase after them, eventually catching up.

Charles Magellean begins to walk, catching his breath. All he has to do now is follow them since he knows he can't take on all 10 at once.

Metal Man (GM): 10 Supersoldiers.
They don't seem to notice you, instead heading... further and further into the desert.

Charles Magellean tries his best to start walking like them, seeing as how he can't do anything else except make light of the situation. Some kind of check involved?

Metal Man (GM): Hmmm....
They don't seem to notice you. You can tell they are nothing more than walking suits of armor.
However, lacking a vulnerable human occupant, they're probably 10x tougher than the originals could have been.
And yet they choose to wander through the desert rather than destroy all life in the name of whatever strangeness controls them.
They walk on by another bunch of ruins without batting a visor.

Charles Magellean: "I'mmma taaake a breeaakkk." *He looks to the ruins.*

Metal Man (GM): Hm. Those ruins look interesting; a bunch of bluish structures, and a cave. But these machines merely walk beyond them.

Charles Magellean: "Caaarrryyy oonnnnn." *He goes to walk normally into the ruins, wondering what these are.*
.oO(Walking like a zombie is definitely gonna be bad for my back tomorrow.)
*He makes a point of reference of which way the zombies are trudging into.*

Metal Man (GM): They're continuously moving in a straight line, off to the East.

Charles Magellean makes this note and goes into the ruins.

Metal Man (GM): You go on in; they smell of burnt ash.
Surrounding you are strange runes, and odd buildings.
The cave goes on into what seems a completely dark area.

Charles Magellean: "Phew!" *Whiffs his hand in front of his nose. He goes on to read some of these runes.*

Metal Man (GM): They are illegible and in shapes that seem to offend your eyes.

Charles Magellean looks to one of the odd buildings then.

Metal Man (GM): You look for them; you see a few square-shaped foundations, covered in sand.
Some sort of ancient dwellings, populated by objects and things no longer seen.

Charles Magellean looks for the seemingly largest building, that can be entered, and enters that. Don't want to explore for too long.

Metal Man (GM): You enter it, finding more runes and ruined bits of blue stone. It must have been destroyed in the great explosion long ago.

Charles Magellean examines one of the more bigger bits of the blue stone.

Metal Man (GM): It's a former piece of the building, resembling marble.

Charles Magellean cannot see how an archeologist would find this interesting. He leaves the building, back into the central cavern. He then begins to trek deeper into the cave... the seemingly complete dark part of it.

Metal Man (GM): You walk into the darkness. Hmmm... it's dark down here. Gonna use a light, or something, to see?
Otherwise it's pitch black.

Charles Magellean stops a few steps into the darkness. This is the end of exploring these ruins. He has no artificial light source, no candle, no oil lantern, match, torch, or even two sticks to rub together.
He yells out loudly, "HEEELLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOO!"
He listens for a response.

Metal Man (GM): It echoes around, but nobody responds.

Charles Magellean yells out loudly, "CAN YOU HEAR ME?"
He listens for a response.

Metal Man (GM): Again; no response.

Charles Magellean indulged with self-pride for the moment, yells out loudly, "CHARLES MAGELLEAN IS THE MOST HANDSOME GUY ON NINTENDUS!"

Metal Man (GM): Right after you say that, a rock bounces off of your head, having been blown off the ceiling by wind. Although it doesn't really harm you, it hurts a little.

Charles Magellean rubs his head and looks up. -_-#
"Oh yeah? Well screw you, too."
*He walks very slowly forward, crawling on the floor with his hands out, feeling every part of the way forward in the darkness.*
"Everything on Nintendus has to have a damn opinion..."

Metal Man (GM): It feels... gravelly.
Besides that, though, you don't see (or hear) much, and it's so dark you could be anywhere.

Charles Magellean moves to the left, and scooches on forward.

Metal Man (GM): You scooch into a wall. It feels to be made of sand compacted into stone. Sandstone.

Charles Magellean feels along the wall and turns right, feeling the wall and going in the direction that he was going before turning left in the first place.

Metal Man (GM): In that direction, the pathway keeps on going down and forwards, with no wall to stop it.
Aand we should fade out about here. I gotta go soon.
I might not have two minutes.
In fact, I must go just about now, so do whatever it is now or hold your peace.

Charles Magellean has felt enough. Assuming this is a burial site, he trudges along the wall in the opposite direction, this time getting up on his two feet and exit the darkness of this place. Timeskip, he exits the odd buildings and runes site, leaves the place, and heads East to be with the zombies.

Metal Man (GM): Okay. All good.
*Fadeouts.*
That mission which was ignored for quite a while
....
You're in the big room. Metal stares at the results of that coin flip, and then shrugs.

Julian Sawyer: "'Bout time we got around to this... How many peoples still alive, Mets?"

Metal Man: "Well, I know you may be concerned now, but this has been in progress for quite a while. It's pretty simple, really. All the people ran far, far away from the town, Mr. Sawyer. It's zombie town now."

Scott Gibson: "Zombies... I hate zombies." *Indiana Jones impression.*

Julian Sawyer: "So we gotta do a little cleanin'."

Metal Man: "So, naturally, you gotta kill hordes of them. And I mean hordes. Dead across many decades have risen."

Dragoshi: "...Fun. I haven't had a good zombie slaughter in quite a whi-...Yeesh. That many decades?"

Julian Sawyer: "Good thing I stocked up on grenades."

Dragoshi: "Amen to that."

Scott Gibson: "There's only one way to kill a zombie... blow their fuckin' heads off, baby!"

Metal Man: "Well, that, and at this rate they have a town, so... yeah."
*He mutters and turns on the warp elevator.* "Don't get too covered in dead zombie guts. You'll be doing another mission soon enough!"

Scott Gibson shrugs and heads through the warp. "Time for some well overdue stress relief."

Dragoshi: "We'll try." *Enters the warp elevator.*

Julian Sawyer: "They also burn."
*Entrance!*

Dragoshi: "And freeze. And explode."

Julian Sawyer: "Freezin's a temporary measure at best."

Aetos blinks and goes too.

Dragoshi: "And, melt into goop if ya have the right things."

Metal Man (GM): *WARP*
You appear at the base of the steps to Kakariko town. The moans of the undead can be heard; but the way the stairs slope hides the town from view. You're gonna have to walk up them.

Scott Gibson: "Let's get ready to par-tay." *Unslings guitar and grips it in hand.*

Dragoshi: "..." *Takes scythe out of his carrying case, then puts the case away.*

Scott Gibson starts quietly whispering the lyrics to the Union Underground's "South Texas Deathride". (Seemed appropriate for a zombie slaughter.)

Julian Sawyer casually tosses a grenade up and down in his hand as the group walks in.

Scott Gibson: "Everybody ready?"

Metal Man (GM): You walk up to the front gates... which are locked, and guarded by two zombie guards.

Guard1: "Brrraaaaaainsssss..."

Guard2: "Brrrraaaainsss brrrraaaaains..."

Guard1: "Brrrraaaains!"

Dragoshi: "...You know the drill, Jules."

Metal Man (GM): Brrraaaaaattle!!!!

Scott Gibson kinda stares for a sec..."Man, talk about cliche'..."

Dragoshi: "...Eh. Could be-...Not finishin' that."

Scott Gibson: "You've got this one, man."

Aetos: "Sic 'em bite 'em chew 'em."

Metal Man (GM): Order: Scott, Zombie 2, Zombie 1, Dragoshi, Julian
Aetos: Roll SPD check.
Okay. Azure warps in... SPD check, Azure.

Scott Gibson: "Welcome to the party, man."

Julian Sawyer: "Hey! Azure! Get the zombies!"

Metal Man (GM): Order: Scott, Zombie 2, Azure, Zombie 1, Dragoshi, Julian
You're all within 1 unit of the zombies.

Scott Gibson drops back and knows this is going to be fun. Launching at the zombies he nails the closest one, presumably zombie 1, with a heavy hit hoping to send it reeling. "C'mon, C'mon, C'mon get up! Get up! Get up! South Texas Deathride!"

Metal Man (GM): Hit.
Anything else?

Scott Gibson concentrates on the same zombie and jumps straight up to bash it in the head with a downward strike for, what could be called, the coup de grace'.

Metal Man (GM): Hit.

Scott Gibson uses his last TP to jump back in line with the others, if it's needed, EoT.

Metal Man (GM): Zombie 2
Zombie 2 attempts to poke Scott twice with his spear.
12 damage per hit.

Azure's eyes glow. He wasn't sure if the redead were cursed... but shrugs. He taps into the power of the eye of evil and uses that power on zombie 2.

Metal Man (GM): The eye of evil causes a pentagram to appear on the zombie and makes it glow with an evil aura. Nothing else, though.

Azure: "That... is unfortunate..." *EOT.*

Julian Sawyer: "...Azure, 'the Hellyou jus' do?"

Scott Gibson: "Well they're definitely 'evil' zombies I can guess."

Metal Man (GM): Zombie 1
Zombie 1 also goes to poke Scott twice.
12 damage per hit.

Dragoshi: "...I was expecting it to asplode. Ah well, can't have everything now, huh?" *Dragoshi slides out a a grenade from under his cloak, and tosses it at the Zombies. DC 18 EVD check for the zombies. I think.*

Metal Man (GM): They can't really move fast enough to evade it.
The reason I asked you was to save having to look for it, but... thank you Julian.
The grenade explodes, burning up the zombies, but also being in range to hit everyone else. EVD checks for everyone.

Julian Sawyer: *God.*

Metal Man (GM): So it burns Dragoshi, Julian, and Scott for 50 damage, because they were within 2 units of it too.

Dragoshi: *...What the feck is up with these rolls?*

Julian Sawyer: "..."

Metal Man (GM): On the plus side, you roasted down the wall into the town.
Whereupon you see three zombies circling a tree, zombies walking in the pathways... zombies living in the houses...
Azure dodges it, with his monk skillz.

Dragoshi: "...Right." *Takes out an Ultra Shroom and eats it.*

Azure: "What is this place..."

Scott Gibson begrudgingly swigs down a recovery vial.

Julian Sawyer: "Kakariko Village. Didn't you read the mission profile?"

Metal Man (GM): You get a dex transmission.

Dragoshi: *Hands Scott an Ultra Shroom*"Use this."

Smash Dex: (Metal) "Reports have indicated you need to reach the graveyard. Otherwise they'll keep on coming back."

Scott Gibson: "Thanks."

Julian Sawyer: *Has his open* "You got it, Mets."

Dragoshi: "...Thanks for the info, boss."

Metal Man (GM): The graveyard is past the wall and the tree, both of which are surrounded by redeads three.

Dragoshi: "Okay, who wants to bet a lich is behind this?" >_>

Julian Sawyer: "Huh?"

Scott Gibson clips his dex open.

Dragoshi: "...But, either way..."

Scott Gibson gets the message then puts it away again.

Metal Man (GM): They're mindlessly walking around in circles around the tree.

Scott Gibson: "Can I call a guess?"

Dragoshi: "...Don't see why not."

Julian Sawyer: "Shoot."

Scott Gibson: "Zombies need brains, right? So would we be able to lure a few away at a time and thin them out that'a way?"

Julian Sawyer: "...That's gonna take forever, Scott."

Scott Gibson: "Meh, idea was worth a shot."

Metal Man (GM): There's three by the tree, and three by the well. That's all that's in the way.

Julian Sawyer: *So, Julian's turn?*

Metal Man (GM): Well, not really your turn, just do whatever you think needs to be done.

Julian Sawyer first thinks they need to get the zombies in front of them out of the way. Julian gives one of 'em a good dexing first.

Dragoshi: "...Good idea."

Smash Dex: "Ding! Redeads. With roughly 50 HP and slow reflexes, they lack the ability to do much other than scream at people, paralyze them, climb on their shoulders and eat their brains."

Alexia warps in.

Dragoshi: "...So they're like monkeys, only more annoying and they're braindead?"

Scott Gibson: "Looks like."

Dragoshi: "Minus the reflexes and lack of ability stuff, of course."

Azure: "It appears... exactly what causes this redead to be created I wonder..."

Julian Sawyer: "A'ight, so..." *How many Re-Deads between them and the graveyard again?*

Metal Man (GM): 3 around the tree, and 3 around the well, further back.

Julian Sawyer: "A'ight, so... Dragoshi, you grenade the tree, I'll grenade the well, then we hit the graveyard."

Alexia: "...Please tell me those aren't zombies."

Julian Sawyer: "Re-deads."

Dragoshi: "...They are. Re-deads at that. Feckin hate Re-deads."

Julian Sawyer: "You hear me, Drag?"

Dragoshi: "They're all annoying with the *Moan* this and *Chomp* that, an-Yea." *Shuts up.*

Alexia: "Hmm... Would fire work well?"

Scott Gibson: "It has so far."

Azure: "Fire... I see..."

Julian Sawyer: "A'ight, so let's do it." *Julian heads over to the well, grenade in tow as Dragoshi assumedly heads for the tree.*

Alexia: "What should I target?"

Dragoshi heads for the tree, grenade in hand, and stops 2 units short from the Re-deads.

Julian Sawyer does the same with the well.

Scott Gibson: "Hold on for now. Julian and Drag have a death from above idea. ...Err... Grenade bombing them into submission.
Be kinda redundant to say to death."

Azure: "Agreed."

Alexia: "Got it."

Metal Man (GM): You head on about, to where you wish to be. Gonna throw the grenades?

Dragoshi smirks, then hums something to himself... While throwing the grenade two units ahead at the enemy Re-deads. DC 18 EVD check!

Julian Sawyer: *Yeop. DC 22 Zombads!*

Metal Man (GM): They all explode, relatively simply. You can walk right into the graveyard now.

Julian Sawyer: *Twin explosions! Radial* "YO! We done! C'mon!" *Heads for the graveyard.*

Alexia: "Wow."

Alexia follows the others to the graveyard.

Azure advances.

Dragoshi: *Under his breath, in a somewhat singsong voice* "Total slaughter, total slaughter, I won't leave a single man alive..." *Stops, then advances towards the graveyard.*

Metal Man (GM): Walking in, you begin to realize the town wasn't being guarded much for a reason.

Dragoshi: "..."

Metal Man (GM): The graveyard itself has been converted into some sort of unholy summoning place, with Dracula himself summoning evil from its grave here.

Julian Sawyer: "..."

Alexia: "..."

Julian Sawyer: "What the hell."

Metal Man (GM): You walk on in; Dracula himself seems to greet you, as he doesn't seem to fear you at all.

Dracula: "Velcome to my haunt!"

Azure sighs.

Dragoshi: "...Well, it was either a lich or Dracula. ...And I was hoping it'd be the lesser evil. Ah well."

Dracula: "Now vhith the blood of vhree Questers, I have vhe power to revive all which I once had."

Julian Sawyer: "This' gonna be E-Z."

Azure: "For once I agree. I lack any malice toward him. But... he also can't stand for most of his attempts. So I just may forget to restrain myself." *Looking around it was becoming pretty easy to guess who was behind this.*

Dracula: "Easy? You vhon't understand. I vham immortal by nature... and vhou lack any implements to kill me."

Julian Sawyer: "Also, where'd you get the blood of... three? think it's three... Questers? I got a buncha grenades."

Dragoshi: "...If only we had holy grapes to chuck at him."

Alexia: "Julian, remember when Ninja saved our asses?"

Julian Sawyer: "Azure's holy."

Dracula: "I sucked it vhree when they fight me at the cliff near vhere my castle vonce was! Thus, I am vhree to stand in the light, and take your foolish attacks. I am truly vhunderful."

Julian Sawyer: "No. When'd that happen?"

Metal Man (GM): He laughs before then raising his hand over the pentagram.

Alexia: "I'll tell you later."

Dragoshi: "...It's two, you idiot".

Scott Gibson: "Sunnova bitch... this just gets better and better."

Dracula: "I vhill not fight you infidels... vhor you are below me now. Instead, I vhall taunt you vhith the ultimate evil!"

Julian Sawyer: "? He didn't say anythin' that sounded like two."

Dragoshi: "...No, actually it is. He drained Gibby of blood twice and Trigger once. But, eh... Whatever."

Metal Man (GM): He raises his arms, around the pentagram, and the ground shakes. He himself turns into a bat and flies off, leaving instead the pentagram, which glows red and spews fire.

Julian Sawyer: "2+1 = 3."

Metal Man (GM): It literally melts the cliff behind it, making it into a sort of stairway.

Alexia: "Uh, guys, bigger problem right now!"

Scott Gibson: "No shit..."

Dragoshi: "...Screw it. WE have bigger fish to fry."

Metal Man (GM): Then a massive stream of fire erupts from the mountain atop it, carving a new entryway into what was formerly the shadow temple.

Scott Gibson: "Math was never my strong suit anyway... Now combat on the other hand...*Laughs*."

Julian Sawyer: "I'm jus' sayin'..."

Metal Man (GM): The fire continues to pour out, forming windows, and converting the stone to cobblestones and castle materials.

Dragoshi: "..."

Metal Man (GM): Within a few moments, you see before you a castle. And guess which castle this is?

Scott Gibson stops laughing and stares...

Dragoshi: "...Oh, god DAMMIT."

Julian Sawyer: "...Castlevania? The hell?"

Scott Gibson: "Not to be discouraging... but we're boned."

Azure: "I see this task gets harder and harder."

Julian Sawyer: "It's a castle."

Azure: "No reason to stop however."

Dragoshi: "...Yep."

Julian Sawyer: "We done harder shit than this. All we gotta do is burn it down."

Metal Man (GM): After the flame ends, all that's left is the pentagram... which speaks with an infernal voice. Indeed, Dracula's, projected.

Julian Sawyer: "Or somethin'."

Dracula: (Projected) "In order to vhight me, you vhust first vrave my mansion. Vhif you succeed, vhou shall vhe able to fight me. If you vhlose... I suck your vhlood!"

Azure: *the monk seemingly advances folding his arms inside of his gi and walks up to this stairway past dracula. To be mean he rubs his foot across a portion of the pentagram formation breaking it so he doesn't have to hear dracula speak.*

Dragoshi: "...Nice accent."

Metal Man (GM): You attempt to break the pentagram, and then realize it is made out of fire.
*BURN* 10 fire damage.
Also, even poking it, it appears to be magical in nature, rather than merely drawn.

Julian Sawyer: "...Yeah, I'mma jus' be movin' in an' such." *To Castlevania!*

Metal Man (GM): The massive gates swing open to the mansion, and a small breeze blows in from it.

Dragoshi: "...If only your foot was made of water, huh?" *Follows Julian.*

Scott Gibson: "Heh... As AC/DC would say...'If you want blood... you got it...' Course be ready to taste your own."

Azure: "It can be arranged..." *He turns walking up to the gates.*

Alexia merely heads into the gates with a grim expression.

Metal Man (GM): Walking inside, you see a very delightful sight.

Azure: "I get the feeling our eyes may deceive us. Do not put your absolute faith in them."

Scott Gibson heads toward the castle gates.

Metal Man (GM): A large foyer with bookcases and a table. A table with a variety of drinks and food on it, as if set out for dinner.

Julian Sawyer: "No foolin'. You don't think we might run into couple traps in here, Cap'n Trustin'?"

Metal Man (GM): There's doors in all directions: One left, one right. The one dead ahead is locked with a big chain and a skull-shaped padlock.

Dragoshi: "...No problem on that, Azure."

Scott Gibson: "Nice decorum."

Azure: "Quite a selection of reading."

Alexia: "...This is the weirdest place I've ever been in. And I've seen Kefka's castle."

Dragoshi: "...I've seen weirder."

Julian Sawyer: "Yeah yeah yeah, everyone's been everywhere, I'm goin' right." *Heads right.*

Dragoshi: "...Right it is then." *Follows Julian.*

Metal Man (GM): You go to head right... a sinister laughing is heard, and the room literally TURNS to prevent you from entering that door.

Julian Sawyer: "..."

Dragoshi: "..."

Scott Gibson: "Ah... shit..."

Alexia: "Whoa. Glad I didn't move."

Azure: "Like I said. I didn't just mean traps Julian. Everything... for that matter."

Dragoshi: "...The LEFT, then. Bastards..."

Alexia heads into the left room.

Scott Gibson stops and tries to think... to no avail..."What's your call, Azure?"

Metal Man (GM): Alexia walks towards the left room, stepping on the board right before the door.
*CLICK.*

Dragoshi: "..."

Azure: "The left door appears to be the only place we can advance." *He looks around for a moment before they advance with true sight seeking out anything else in the room that might be of help in the choice.*

Julian Sawyer: "...I don't like that Click."

Alexia: "Oh hell." *Ducks down and gets ready to jump.*

Metal Man (GM): Suddenly, the books and items on the table start floating around, and three green ghouls sink down out of the ceiling.
They laugh evily and the objects begin spinning around them.
The door to the left is engulfed in flames.

Scott Gibson stares... then shakes his head a sec and gets ready for a fight.

Metal Man (GM): Of course, I'm open minded. Do you A. fight them B. Something else C. Run away screaming?

Alexia blinks a bit. "Why is this somehow not scary at all?"

Dragoshi: "...No idea."

Azure: "Because we have all seen worse and this looks like a cheap horror display."

Julian Sawyer: "Let's send 'em back where they came from!"

Dragoshi: "...Can any of us even hit them though?"

Scott Gibson: "Not me."

Alexia walks over and tries to open the door with the lock. Hey, it's worth a shot.

Scott Gibson: "At least I'm pretty sure not."

Metal Man (GM): Green Ghoul Battle: Now with 150% more green
Order: Ghoul C, Scott, Julian, Azure, Alexia, Dragoshi, Ghoul B, Ghoul A.
This be merely moving around round.
Ghoul C moves to the center of the room, floating over the table.
Questers: Pick your location'
I'll assign unit distances for everyone.

Alexia: "I'll take the joker at the center."

Azure places himself near the rooms center also.

Julian Sawyer places himself near Ghoul B.

Dragoshi follows suit with Julian.

Metal Man (GM): That appears to be everyone but Scott. So I'll move the ghouls while he does that.
Ghoul B moves to the bookcase on the right; Ghoul A to the bookcase on the left.
And I'll start a veggie burger, and if he's still not back, get on with the battle. brb in about 3 minutes.
Okay, now lessee...
3 Battles; A, B, and C.
A is Ghoul A all alone; B is Julian, Dragoshi, and Ghoul B, and C is Azure and Alexia vs. Ghoul C.
Battles A and B are 3 units away from battle C.
Battles A and B are 6 units away from eachother.
A is left, B is right, C is middle.
Combat
When I say it is, you may take your turn at will.
That is, if it's yours.
Battle A
Ghoul A uses his unfair ability to hit people from far away to hurl a chair at Azure.
27 damage if that hit.
Battle B
Julian, Dragoshi: Attack at will.
Ghoul B tries hurling a book at Julian.
24 damage if that hits.

Alexia: "Azure, idea."

Julian Sawyer: *Ow!*

Azure is chaired, blocking a bit as it breaks across him. "That's just rude..."

Alexia: "Let's trash the stuff they can throw."

Dragoshi tries destroying the stuff on the bookcase by pulling out...
...An Albatross? ...Right. Well, anyway, throw albatross, attempt book bookcase stuff destruction.

Julian Sawyer's fists flare up with dark purple flame... "Huh..." *As Julian tries to punch the ghost! Uppercut!*

Metal Man (GM): The evil attack heals the ghost. Hmmm. Bad idea.

Dragoshi: "..." *Facepalm.*

Metal Man (GM): Meanwhile, the albatross gets picked up by the maelstrom of twirling stuff and is now just another projectile.

Julian Sawyer: *Good thing no damage was dealt earlier!* "...Alright, that didn't work."
*Alright, it's a vortex of books, right?*

Metal Man (GM): Books, table items, and an albatross.
And it's spinning around. A lot.

Julian Sawyer: *They're flammable, right?*

Dragoshi: "..." *Attempts to carve the Albatross up with his scythe. Twice.*

Metal Man (GM): You slice up some stuff, including the albatross, but the bits of albatross are now spinning around.
Julian: Yes.

Dragoshi: "...Well, at least it's in smaller pieces..." *EoT.*

Metal Man (GM): *flips the burger while Julian mulls over burning things.*

Julian Sawyer attempts to burn up the Ghoul's ammo with a grenade. Please don't just set everything on fire...

Metal Man (GM): Where do you throw the grenade?
Up in the air? On the floor? At a ghoul in specific?

Julian Sawyer: *Better idea. Let's throw it at the ghoul and see if he's damaged by non-dark fire damage Ghoul B.*

Metal Man (GM): You hurl it up into the ghoul and it explodes. The ghoul is healed by the fire; all the items, however, are burnt to shreds. No ammo left.

Julian Sawyer: *Again, good thing the ghoul hasn't had any damage dealt to it. EoT.*

Alexia: "Oh, COME ON, is there anything that can hurt these guys?"

Dragoshi: "...Holy water?"

Metal Man (GM): Battle C
Alexia, Azure: Go.
Meanwhile, Ghoul C appears dismayed to not have anything to throw...
So it picks up Ghoul A and hurls it at Julian. The net effect is being attacked by a massive green fireball.

Azure casts his arm out creating two barriers around himself and Alexia (Barrier Type 1: 26 Hp)

Metal Man (GM): 60 damage if that hits. Ghoul A also takes 30 damage from that before bouncing back to where it last was.

Dragoshi: "...Ghost fireballs? Creative."

Julian Sawyer: *ARGH.*

Alexia: "Doesn't seem like I can hit these guys normally..."

Julian Sawyer: "An' fuckin' painful! Ow..."

Metal Man (GM): On the plus side, they might kill one another by this tactic. On the negative side, it may burn most of you.

Alexia Overloads for some extra damage, first of all.

Dragoshi: "..."

Alexia blinks a few times. "Azure, cover me! My energy's not focused anymore and I'll have to charge for attacks!"

Azure: "Alexia I did that before you acted."

Metal Man (GM): Scott: You are in Battle A, off to the right, against Ghoul A. Your turn.

Scott Gibson stares down the Ghoul for a sec then flips his guitar up to playing position. His fingers start flying up and down the fretboard until the friction creates a massive fireball which collects and he then bats with all his might at Ghoul A.

Metal Man (GM): You bat the massive fireball into the wall.
Toasty, but not hit-worthy.

Scott Gibson seeing how his attack failed (miserably) decides to save his TP.

Metal Man (GM): Okay. NEW ROUND (TM)
Hm.
Battle A
again! Yay! As well as Ghoul A, which hurls the entire table at Group C, threatening them both.
Aimed at Dragoshi and Julian, respectively.
And Dragoshi and Julian, respectively, again.

Dragoshi takes the full thirty. Dammit.

Metal Man (GM): On the plus side, there's no more table to hurl around.
Hmmm... looks like he pinged out again.

Julian Sawyer's momentarily knocked unconscious from that table!

Metal Man (GM): Julian and Dragoshi: Go... or... that too.
Ghoul C hurls Ghoul B at Azure.
60 damage if that hits, + 30 damage to Ghoul B.

Azure's barrier takes the hit and fades.

Dragoshi drinks a Recov vial, and checks to see if there's anything left to destroy on Ghoul B's side.

Metal Man (GM): Nothing left, Dragoshi.

Dragoshi saves up his remaining TP. EoT.

Metal Man (GM): Battle C
With Mr. Azure and Ghoul C, who hurls Ghoul A at Dragoshi.
60 damage if that hits, 30 damage to Ghoul C.

Azure: "Cast another barrier around himself" *EOT.*

Dragoshi: *...What the hell is up with these rolls? Hit.*

Metal Man (GM): Battle A
Ghoul A gets angry and chucks Ghoul C at Julian.
60 damage if it hits, 30 damage to Ghoul C.
Battle B
Then he did waste it, yessirree.
Julian and Dragoshi: Go.

Dragoshi: .oO(What a waste of ammo)

Metal Man (GM): Ghoul C picks up Ghoul A and hurls him at Azure.
60 damage + 30 damage to Ghoul A.
Ghoul A is nearly dead.

Azure: *Barrier down*
"This is working quite well."

Julian Sawyer Liiiiiiiiiives! And has no means of attack! So much for that! "Jus' keep livin!"

Dragoshi drinks three Recov Vials. EoT.

Metal Man (GM): Group C
Azure and Ghoul B. Ghoul B hurls Dragoshi at Julian... but only if he can hit Dragoshi, then hit Julian!
He picks up Dragoshi... and throws him at Julian...
Dragoshi and Julian collide, with Dragoshi dealing 50 damage to Julian and taking 25 for himself.

Dragoshi: "...That was stupidly cheap."

Julian Sawyer: *Argh!*

Metal Man (GM): Also, Scott may take his turn.

Scott Gibson is still somewhat flustered after his repeated attempts to use his "Heatseeker" attack have thus failed... Now he decides on a different approach. With just about everything he's got he begins playing a different tune then unleashes a string of lightning attacks. "You've been... THUNDERSTRUCK!"

Metal Man (GM): You launch a bunch of lightning into the sucker. The Ghoul explodes in a veritable spray of ectoplasm.
Hmm... attacking them with some attacks works better than others...

Scott Gibson grins, EoT.

Metal Man (GM): New Round
Scott: You may move to Battle B, if you want.
Or C.
Your choice.
Okay.
Battle B
Scott, Dragoshi, and Julian vs. Ghoul B.
Ghoul B attempts to hurl Ghoul C at Scott.
That is good and bad.

Julian Sawyer, lacking any elemental attacks that AREN'T fire, it stuck with taking Recovery vials. 3, to be exact.

Metal Man (GM): Bad: 120 damage. Good: Ghoul C explodes.
So, just by being hit by a ghoul, Scott contributes to the death of a second ghoul.
So, anything with Dragoshi?

Dragoshi: "...Hmm..." *Tries something by firing a Tidal Blast at Ghoul B.*

Metal Man (GM): Oh. And since that makes Battle C obsolete, Azure can take his turn too. Only one ghoul left.
Miss hit hit. Double damage, too!
They appear to be made of fire.

Dragoshi: "...It appears water is their weakness..." *OH GOD, TIDAL BLAST BARRAGE.*

Metal Man (GM): Hit miss hit miss miss hit hit hit hit
It's nearly dead now.

Dragoshi: *EoT.*

Metal Man (GM): New round
Julian/Scott/Dragoshi/Azure (Who now has two turns' of TP) may go. And yes, Scott.

Dragoshi: *TIDAL BLAST BARRAGE.*

Metal Man (GM): It explodes. +1200 EXP to all... and now I must go.
We resume whenever I get back.
Continuation
Last time on Super Smash Quest...
The Questers made their way through a zombified Kakariko Town, eventually encountering Dracula himself in the graveyard.
But he held no fear of them or the sun, being full of the blood sucked from two Questers (though he kept saying 'three' for some reason).
Thence he used his infernal powers to shape a new mansion, a new Castlevania, out of the rock and rooms of the Shadow Temple.
The Questers entered, wanting to reach him, but were confronted by three fire ghouls.
After a long fight, and the ghouls burning Julian and several others, the ghosts killed one another from chucking one another around and then being beaten up by Dragoshi.
Now the Questers are in the empty main room; having beaten the ghosts, both the left and right doors are open. The other Questers who were not already there are warped in as backup.
The door ahead remains enshackled.

Julian Sawyer: *To the right!*

Dragoshi follows Julian.

The Ninja: "I heard what happened and came to help!"

Scott Gibson gets up after having been asploded by having a ghost thrown into him!
"Ow, my head..."

Metal Man (GM): So, left or right; take your pick.
Going right, Julian and Dragoshi have wandered down a stone corridor, into a dungeon of sorts.

The Ninja follows Julian and Dragoshi.

Julian Sawyer: "..."

Scott Gibson jogs to catch up with Julian, Drag, and Ninja.

Metal Man (GM): There's a bunch of skeletons chained to walls, and bars, and you're walking on a walkway. On either side are many prison cells.
In each cell is a skeleton chained to the wall.

Scott Gibson: "Cozy."

Julian Sawyer keeps on a-walkin', keeping his eyes sharp...

Metal Man (GM): All are locked; the typical occult evil themes of Castlevania are everywhere.

Dragoshi does the same as Julian.

Metal Man (GM): Torches in little torch-holding thingies line the walls.

Julian Sawyer grabs a torch while he's at it. For up-close burning.

Metal Man (GM): Wandering through the dungeon, you reach another odd area.

The Ninja uses his senses to see if any of them are a trap or if there are anything well in the area.

Metal Man (GM): This here being an area with a chessboard-like floor, a wide-open square area, and a tall ceiling.

Julian Sawyer: "...I seen somethin' like this before..."

Metal Man (GM): Ninja: You sense evil... but! Your senses are clouded, for even the walls and ceiling ooze it.

The Ninja: "...The walls and ceiling leaks."

Julian Sawyer: "...K... Don't really help us out here."

Editor's Note: I can't stop laughing at the absurdity of how ridiculous that statement is without context.

The Ninja: "But... I don't think they should be leaking."

Julian Sawyer: "It's a dungeon. Stuff's gonna be leakin' all over the place."

Metal Man (GM): Walking on out here, you suddenly realize a big old key standing on a table on one end of this massive room.

The Ninja: "It is gooey ooze stuff."

Julian Sawyer: "Go f-Heyyyyy, Key."

The Ninja: "...I sense trap."

Julian Sawyer: "No kiddin'. Think I seen this before."

The Ninja: "You go first."

Julian Sawyer: "You're the ninja. YOU go first."

Dragoshi: *Watches.*

Metal Man (GM): You bicker over it, however
suddenly, a knight emerges from a nearby corridor, behind the desk.

Julian Sawyer: "All you gotta do is pick the right-...Goddamn."

Metal Man (GM): The Knight grabs the key, drunkenly stumbling around.

Dragoshi: "...Friggin drunk knights."

Knight: "You who come *Hic* here! My head hurts... what want... you... key... belongs to meeeeee!!!!"

Julian Sawyer: "A'ight Ninja, go get it."

Knight: "I've seen you... *Hic* before... get out of my house!"

Dragoshi: "...For that, I think all of us should kick his ass."

Julian Sawyer: "For what? I ain't crossin' the checkerboard a' death."

Knight: "Ow... head... hurt... you... die! You dead! The Void's heir got you! Gotcha! You're dead!"

The Ninja blinks and moves close to the knight, staying his distance. "Erm. Mr. Knight. We need key."

Metal Man (GM): He points his sword at The Ninja.

Knight: "How dare you! This key... belong... Matek! You... no take!"

Julian Sawyer: "...Matek?"

The Ninja: "...A trade then?"

Knight: "Come back... Sunday... bring... monkeys... and... daisies..."

Metal Man (GM): His head spins around 360 degrees. He stabs the floor drunkenly.

Knight: "You... icecream maiden... I deny you rule over my foot fungus!"

Julian Sawyer: "Ninja, for the last time, we don't negotiate with crazy people!"

The Ninja: "...I have moonshine for you, Mr. Knight."

Knight: "You didn't negotiate with me before. Foolish man named Razor! He attack me... I outlive him... I curse him... I dance... I... moonshine? Why... I am most thirsty... I have not drunk for 10 years..."

The Ninja: "One drink for key."

Knight: "Trapped in... X-zone... freed... by man in cape! Matek would be imploded."

Dragoshi: *...Laughs at the knight's comment about an icecream maiden* "This guy's a hoot!"

Julian Sawyer: "You got a crazy sense 'a humor..."

Metal Man (GM): He hurls the sword up in the air behind him. It clatters some distance away, as he stumbles towards the Ninja, before then grabbing his shoulders, desperately.

Knight: "Drink... for... key! Yes! All I need... is... one drink!"

The Ninja nods and fishes out a glass, pour the knight one glass of the holy moonshine in exchange for the key.

Knight: "I have been... denied drink... by Trackula... he demands... I guard this hunk of gold... but gold... is useless! I have an entire mountain of it!"

Julian Sawyer: "...Gold you say?"

Metal Man (GM): He takes the glass, thrusts the key into one of your pockets, then drinks it all, and eats the glass it's in too.

Dragoshi: "...Gold?"

Knight: "Ah. Just what I needed. More alcohol. Master Matek used to feed me it all the time."

Julian Sawyer: "Hol' up... Where's this here gold you're talkin' about?"

Knight: "You wanshhhhh gold? I haveeshhh gold. *Hic* But it has price too! Give me key for eight trillion coinsshhhh. *Hic*."

Julian Sawyer: "'Thought you said it was useless."

Knight: "You are useless! Me... I am a man of Matek. Matek is dead... long live Matek!"

The Ninja: "We're good. We go now!" *He backs away form the knight.*

Metal Man (GM): He gets up and backs away too, stumbling and leaning on the desk.

Knight: "Curse the woman who killed Matek! She, too... sent to nowhere! Hahahahahahahaaaaa!"

Julian Sawyer: "...Whateva." *Julian heads out...*

The Ninja looks around to see if there's anything else in the room.

Dragoshi: "...I'd ask, but I gotta be goin'. Adios" *Follows Julian.*

Julian Sawyer: "When the HELL did all our enemies become drunks?"

Knight: "You Questers weird... not like ones who try to kill me for Matek's gold... where is your mindless need for violenccceeehs?"

Dragoshi: "We left it at home" *Rimshot.*

Metal Man (GM): Ninja: Nothing else, besides a passageway behind The Drunken Knight of Matek.

The Ninja: "Err... Julain! Where is passage behind knight!"

Julian Sawyer: "...Huh?"

Knight: "Yes! Passage. Five dollars. *Hic* I wish I was a passage. Then people could walksshhh on me!"

Julian Sawyer: "Passa... Jeez." *Julian pulls out his Dex and tries to find out the conversion rate from Coin to American Dollars.*

The Ninja: "Erm. Mr. Knight. Is floor rigid with traps?"

Knight: "Oh I wish I wasshhhh... a thousand crumbs made of plastic... *Hic* where art thou... monkey king of Nintendus? Ehhhh? Traps? Traps? Traipse? I am not sure. Holes in eyes prevent seeing for me."

Smash Dex: "Approximate conversion rate--estimating. 500 coins to 5 dollars."

Knight: "There be snakes in them fancy hats! They're all named lucy!"

Dragoshi: "...Huh. That was the obvious answer..."."

Julian Sawyer: "Deal." *Julian reaches into his back pocket and pulls out a small bag with 500 coins inside* "HEY! Can you catch?"

Knight: "Only 22s."

The Ninja knows his senses doesn't work, so he tries to find them with this eye sight.

Julian Sawyer: "..."

Knight: "But... if you're here... then where is Aribar?"

Julian Sawyer: "So you want me to fire it out of a gun? What?"

Metal Man (GM): Ninja: You sense the passageway is full of traps. Dracula didn't trust this Knight beyond a key.

Knight: "I wish for a catch 22. Hail! Flying monkeys ahead!" *He runs into a wall and bounces off of it.*

The Ninja: "...I go first through passage."

Knight: "You go. For Dominos."

The Ninja goes up to the door and sees if it's trapped as well.

Metal Man (GM): The passageway's door is only locked; you sense no real danger in it.

The Ninja then has an idea. "Mr. Knight. Can you go through passage for me?"

Knight: "For more drinkshhh, yes."

Julian Sawyer: "...This is fucked up."

Scott Gibson: "Eh, Why send him through through?"

The Ninja: "Hai! One drink if you lead us through castle!"

Julian Sawyer: "So he can catch all the traps, 'parently... Ninja! You got things handled over here?"

Knight: "Okay. This waaaay." *He opens the door haphazardly and begins walking through the hallway.*

The Ninja: "I think... If I can keep Knight under control."
*He blinks and watches the knight walk though the passageway.*

Julian Sawyer: "You do that. We're gonna check out the Left... C'mon fellas." *Julian heads for the Left Corridor.*

Metal Man (GM): We start with whoever's with the Knight and the Ninja.
You walk in, behind the Knight. However, you soon discover the traps are enchanted not to go off when he walks through... *click* an axe pops out of the wall and tries to slice you in the side. EVD check.
Booyah! You dodge it, however you'll have to find some way to follow the Knight without being constantly swung at by axes.
They appear to be all over the floor, as you land on the next floorboard with one toe, and an axe swings by it, barely missing it.

The Ninja: "Eep!" *He Barely dodges the axe* "I do not want haircut!"
*He then catches to see if there's traps on the walls or ceiling.*

Knight: "Oh! Sorry. Systems are in floor. Attempt to avoid them... somehow... *Hic*."

Metal Man (GM): You don't sense much in the walls or ceiling... gonna have to wing it, though, you can't be 100% sure.

The Ninja: "...Hmm." *He shrugs and starts to climb the walls to avoid touching the floor.*

Metal Man (GM): You do so; no more traps fly at you.
You climb through the walkway, eventually reaching the final room at this branch.
The Knight's throne room.

Knight: "Here I sleepssshhhh. Look!"

Metal Man (GM): He points at his 'throne', which is a mere office chair.
You see many old paintings of some odd temple, and a few of some man named 'Matek.'
Finally, there is a safe in the wall, a bookcase across it, and a red rug on the floor.

The Ninja will once against you his ninja senses to see if there's anything trapped in here. Or anything hiding at all.

Metal Man (GM): You sense stuff hiding in here. Somethings of value; those things are probably trapped, too.

The Ninja: "Mr. Knight. Can you open safe?"

Knight: "I cannot see... there's a safe in my room? *Hic*"

The Ninja: "It's in wall."

Dragoshi: "..." *Just watches.*

The Ninja: "..." *Then attempts to guide the knight to the safe.*

Metal Man (GM): You attempt to. He reaches the safe.

Knight: "Ohhh!!! Thatshhh... but... I cannot sheeee the numbers! *Hic*."

The Ninja: "What are numbers to open?"

Knight: "*Hic* I need alcohol to remember that. My brain's hardly real! See I speak. Better when drunk! Otherwise... lost."

Dragoshi: "...Got any more drinks, Ninja?"

The Ninja then pulls out the sake and gives the knight the whole bottle.

Metal Man (GM): He drinks it, again, and then, slaked, looks at the safe harder. Although his eyes are broken, so it's questionable that he can see anything.

Knight: "Ah! Yes! I remember!"

Dragoshi: "...?"

Knight: "9... 9... 1... 0... 5... 7... 3... 6... 4."

The Ninja: "...Is he right, Dragoshi?"

Metal Man (GM): He hasn't turned the safe, of course; you'll have to do that.

Dragoshi: "...Wha? Let me check." *Tries to use the Eye of Truth on the knight to see if he's right.*

The Ninja wants to be sure it's the correct code so nothing bad happens. ...Then uses his sense to see if the safe is trapped if he touches it.

Metal Man (GM): Dragoshi: It sounds truthful to you. Also, the Knight appears to be some sort of ghost or something, for your eye of truth sees right through him.
Ninja: Sense thingy check.
No traps on it, except if you put in the wrong combination; you sense that.

Dragoshi: "...'Pparently he's a ghost, so no idea, though it sounds truthful to me."

The Ninja has another idea, then guides the knight's hand to pushing the right keys.

Dragoshi: "Or something along the lines of one, but, eh."

Metal Man (GM): You do so; the safe opens, revealing an identical key to the one he gave you.

Knight: "Whuh! That thing is a key too! I can't tell them apart!"

The Ninja: "But it's same key..." *He then reaches in to grab the key.*

Metal Man (GM): You have an exact same key.

The Ninja sees is the two key can be combined.

Metal Man (GM): They do not fit together.

Knight: "That is all I can think of so far. You will have to visit other sector by self! Not my place. Traps would hit poor me."

The Ninja decides to search the bookshelf before leaving the place.

Metal Man (GM): The bookshelf has a book or two on it. All written about 'The Magnificent Matek, executor of The Void's will.'
There's 500 copies off it, all in that bookshelf.

The Ninja then moves over to the rag to sense anything different about it.

Metal Man (GM): You notice it may be covering something.

The Ninja then reaches over to grab it, slowly pulling on it to uncover what it's hiding.

Metal Man (GM): You uncover it, and find a small hole in the ground, into which a strange artifact sits, labeled 'Property of Matek'
It's a cylinder of some kind.

The Ninja blinks and looks at the artifact, seeing if it's something he knows about.
He realizes he doesn't know how to tell if it's an artifact or not, so he tries to see if it's trapped.

Metal Man (GM): You check it... no traps.

The Ninja picks up the artifact.

Metal Man (GM): It's got a button on it, and nothing else; very plain, and old.

The Ninja knows what happens when you randomly push buttons, so he places it on the floor and drops a sandbag on the button before hiding behind the knight.

Metal Man (GM): A weird looking green metallic blade juts out of it.

Knight: "Ah, that! That is Matek's sword, named 'Die, infidel!'. It is worthless to me. *Hic*"

Dragoshi: "...Odd name for a sword."

The Ninja blinks and looks at the sword... Then see if it's worth taking.

Metal Man (GM): It is ancient, engraved with runes, and seems enchanted. It'd probably outdo anyone else's current weaponry handily.

The Ninja takes the sword to see if he missed anything else in the room.

Dragoshi: "...Interesting weapon, though."

Metal Man (GM): Nothing else in this room; you've looked everything over.

Dragoshi: "...Though, it'd prolly' be better in your hands."

The Ninja: "We must rejoin gr- ...wait, didn't you go with Julian?"

Dragoshi: "...Changed my mind."

Metal Man (GM): If you're done, I'll do Julian's segment next. Then finishimo!

The Ninja nods to go rejoin Julian's group.

Dragoshi: *Follows.*

Metal Man (GM): Julian and co.
While The Ninja was digging around in the throne room, Julian made his way on into... a watery weird area.

Aetos suddenly pokes Julian.

Julian Sawyer slaps Aetos' finger away "Quit it." *Julian looks around this watery weird area...*

Metal Man (GM): You're in a marsh. Which is inside a castle. Strange.
Dracula apparently left the water on; the ground squishes as you watch through an odd marsh.

Julian Sawyer holds up his torch as the two-man group continues on.

Metal Man (GM): Up ahead, you reach a big ol' rusted door.
It has no keyhole... but it's all made of iron.
Water seeps out from under it slowly.

Aetos scratches his head.

Julian Sawyer: "...I'm bettin' there's some kinda water behind that door."

Aetos: "I know that. I'm already on the stage where we think of how to not drown."

Julian Sawyer knocks on the door for kicks.

Aetos: "Nice..."

Julian Sawyer: "What? Can't hurt."

Metal Man (GM): More water leaks out, this time from in-between the doors.

Aetos steps back.

Julian Sawyer: "I'm wonderin' if you can swim."

Aetos: "I'm wondering... if I could make like some kinda whirlpool or something in it. That would be cool."
*He fastens on the Boba Fett helmet and sighs.*

Julian Sawyer: "Jus' stand back..." *Julian takes out Vendetta and cuts a small hole in the door.*

Metal Man (GM): A bunch of water sprays out from it.

Julian Sawyer tries to judge how much water is in the room from that. Most likely won't work.

Metal Man (GM): You can't really tell.
Because soon it is up to your ankles, and the water behind the door is emptied.

Julian Sawyer: "...Well there ya go." *Julian cuts a person-sized hole in the door so they can pass.*

Aetos: "Uhh... maybe you should stop for a second."

Julian Sawyer: "What? The water's out."

Aetos: "But why don't we look -through- this hole you made, and see what's in there, before we walk in?"

Metal Man (GM): You cut it open, revealing a bunch of rusted junk everywhere.

Aetos: "Maybe we'll see what's causing the overflow."

Metal Man (GM): There's something at the end of this hallway--but you can't see it from here.

Aetos shrugs.

Metal Man (GM): You continue deeper into the area, eventually reaching... hmmm...
Sorry 'bout that. Distracted by TV.
Okay. You enter deeper, eventually reaching two staircases.
One goes down, underwater, and another one goes up... into fire.
Freaky.

Julian Sawyer: "...Aetos, you got an air tank?"

Aetos coughs.
"No?... But..."

Julian Sawyer: "...Oh, right, you're wind." *Julian takes an Air Tank out of his back pocket, hooks it up to himself, and heads to the underwater staircase, motioning for Aetos to follow.*

Aetos: "You know... Wind doesn't necessarily mean I can live without air... but we'll find out."
*He snaps his fingers and becomes that wind elemental, and attempts to follow Julian.*

Metal Man (GM): Julian walks down under the water; and with him, Aetos, who, in Wind elemental, doesn't need to breathe.
Down you walk, into the dark depths... hmm... that there's a problem! You can't see down here!
Have anything that could light stuff up?

Julian Sawyer: *Is the Dex waterproof?*

Metal Man (GM): *No.*

Julian Sawyer: *Is Vendetta waterproof?*

Metal Man (GM): *No, but it won't explode unless turned on underwater*
So, you're halfway down the steps and in the dark.
Do you proceed, or go back upwards?

Aetos sighs... as much as an Aetos can sigh underwater... and motions Julian back up.

Julian Sawyer: *Go back up, for now. Julian shuts off his Air Tank to conserve whatever air he's got left...*

Aetos: "I ... Hrm. Well we have the Aetos plan."

Julian Sawyer: "An' that is..."

Aetos: "But if you have an idea, we could do that."

Julian Sawyer: "What's your damn plan?"

Aetos scoffs.
"Douse the fire with the water?"

Julian Sawyer: "An' you suggest thi-...Forgot, you're wind. Go right ahead."

Aetos: "Ummm..." *counts his techniques on his fingers.*
"Grab the water and throw it?... I dunno how that works with water... what about... knocking the water upward...?"

Julian Sawyer: "Can't you summon a tornado or somethin' an' pump the water at the fire?!"

Aetos: "The only Tornadoes I have is what I get from this thing." *One-Winged Angel... in some electric fashion... appears in his right hand.*

Julian Sawyer: "...So do it!"

Aetos: "But... " *Tries to note the electricity.*

Julian Sawyer: "Aetos, is we IN the water right now?"

Metal Man (GM): Seems you both went up, and for good reason.
The blade is ready; you now just need to do something with it.

Aetos sighs. "You don't understand me" he says in an emo teenager way. He sniffs.
He holds his keyblade toward the water, and concentrates on his being empowered with wind and molded into a tornado-like fashion.

Metal Man (GM): Energy control check.
With that, yes.
You make it into a tornado. Now what?

Aetos attempts to strike the water from low in order to spray it upward.

Metal Man (GM): You cause it to fly upwards, and into the fire.
Both staircases suddenly merge... creating two staircases which appear to lead inside a trippy-looking rainbow portal thingy.

Aetos: "Look what you made me do."

Julian Sawyer: "An' there we go. Don't know what you was so worried about."

Aetos tries to shake off the Keyblade's wind energy before making the blade fade away.

Julian Sawyer: "Now c'mon, times'a wastin'." *Julian heads up.*

Aetos follows Julian. "What do ya think that is?"

Julian Sawyer: "The next step."

Metal Man (GM): You enter the psychedelic portal. Hmmm. Maybe you shoulda checked before entering.
As, soon, you find yourself in an infinite rainbow-colored void, with weird shapes flying around everywhere.

Aetos: "Hope it has treasure!"

Julian Sawyer: "...This is new."

Aetos: "Hrm. Weren't we on the mission to free the village from zombies?" *he acts casual.*

Julian Sawyer: "Already did that. Now we gotta beat Drac so they don't come back."

Aetos: "Then why are we even bothering with the vampire's castle of death-- Oh. That works for me."

Metal Man (GM): You begin to pick out the semblance of something. Why, it is a key!

Julian Sawyer: "Man, this like some kinda bad trip... YO! ANYONE IN HERE 'SIDES US?!"

Metal Man (GM): A key... *SLAM* locked inside a prismatic cage.

Julian Sawyer: "Fuck."

Aetos twiddles his thumbs. (Are they floating in the void? :D)

Metal Man (GM): Then, appearing out of thin air, a single angelic thing with a flaming sword appears.
Hmmm... primatic void... astral monster... perhaps there is a connection?

Aetos: "Heh... I was just about to tell you I was in the mood for skittles... but that will wait now."

Julian Sawyer: "...'Ey, you... Mind openin' that cage for us? We're on a mission to wipe out a vampire."

???: "Hahahah... how dare you ask an astral being to open a key that belongs in the astral realm... inside the astral realm?"

Julian Sawyer: "...THIS is the Astral Realm? No wonder the Ghost drinks..."

???: "Dracula paid many souls to keep this key safe..."

Aetos: "Yeah, good going Julian."

???: "A part of it. There are many places. This portion cannot be sensed by mortals."

Julian Sawyer: "What? We 'pparently was gonna fight this guy anyway."

Aetos: "We COULDA pretended we were zombies or somethin."

???: "Now... your presence here unbalances everything in this realm. Prepare to die! ...And wind up here. But die!"

Metal Man (GM): BATTLE; Questers vs. Astral Swordsman

Julian Sawyer: "Think that went out the window when you said somethin' about Skittles."

Aetos snickers.
"Alright now."

Julian Sawyer: "Waste 'em!" *Julian puts up his dukes.*

Metal Man (GM): Order: Astral Swordsman, Aetos, Julian

Swordman: "Meet your doom, fools!"

Aetos: "I resent that."

Sword: "...FIREAJA!"

Metal Man (GM): *FWOOOM*
He fires a nearly incomprehensible ball of fire at Aetos
..Which flies into him with a CRIT!

Julian Sawyer: "Hey! That's illegal!"

Metal Man (GM): *FWOOOOM* 300 damage.

Aetos: *KER-DEAD?*

Swordman: "This realm belongs to us. We can kill any mortals who come here for unbalancing our reality."

Julian Sawyer: "That's still fuckin' illegal! I'm gonna call the Mage Council on yo' ass..." *They've gone to the Astral Realm before. Does the Dex get a connection here?*

Metal Man (GM): Yes. It does.

Julian Sawyer calls up the Mage Council! Yay!

Swordman: "Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha."

Nadra Liah: "...I sense... this call... is from the Astral Realm. What do you want?"

Julian Sawyer: "I got a guy over here usin' -Ja level spells. Can you do anything about that?"

Nadra Liah: "...I will put it simply. Get out of there. Only another Astral being can counter an astral being in that realm.
Whoever lured you in there was very keen--the Astral Beings hunt stranded mortals for sport."

Julian Sawyer: "But there's this key I gotta get so I can defeat Dracula. An' he's got it."

Nadra Liah: "Well. Only the more cruel ones, like how they hunt animals down here. That's not my problem. Sorry!" *Click.*

Swordsman: "None of your foolish buddies can help you. You have no astral friends... only enemies!"

Julian Sawyer: "I got the Ghost, but he's currently takin' a nap... I'm GETTIN' that key, one way or the other." *Julian grabs Aetos and bolts for the portal back to Real World.*

Metal Man (GM): You go to run. Hmmm. MNT check.

Aetos: *Practically incinerated!* ;.;

Metal Man (GM): You get... a genius idea!

Julian Sawyer: *A Master plan!*

Metal Man (GM): And that is... ask Aetos for help! Aetos is revived.

Swordsman: "Go ahead, talk to him. I'll destroy you after you fail to trick me."

Metal Man (GM): Swordsman skips his turn.
Aetos' turn

Julian Sawyer: "Aetos, you got any ideas?"

Aetos: "Of course I have ideas! It just depends on which one we go with!"

Julian Sawyer: "Which ones ya got?"

Aetos: "You fight to the death while I get some lemonade... I summon The Business Man... he still owes me a 'meeting'... I try to deactivate the prismatic bars guarding the key while he probably smacks me with those swords a lot..."

Swordsman: "...The... the businessman?"

Julian Sawyer: "Whoa whoa whoa... The Business Man still owes you a favor?"

Swordsman: "Are you a mafia man or something?"

Aetos points at the swordsman, "Yup! I got 'connections'"

Julian Sawyer: "Business Man = Astral Realm, right?"

Swordsman: "You're just a silly kid. The Businessman don't do business with you."

Metal Man (GM): As he says that, though, a man wearing a suit and tie shows up behind him.

Julian Sawyer: "...You might wanna be takin' that back right 'bout now?"

Aetos: "I'm not a kid!"

Julian Sawyer: "...An' how old are you, anyway?"

The Businessman: "I believe you are mistaken." *Merely touches the Swordsman with one finger.*

Aetos: "Thirty something."

Julian Sawyer: "...Daymn, you're 30? That's plain OLD."

Editor's Note: Hahahaha. Now just imagine how old that makes me feel. (SSQ itself is 20+ years old...)

Swordsman: "ARRRRGHHHHH!!!!! AAAAHHHHH!!!!" *Disintegrates, then melts, explodes, and ceases to exist, leaving a miniature black hole.*

Aetos: "Wow..."

The Businessman: "Now. What 'favor' do I owe you, Mr. Aetos? I did not kill this petty thug for nothing."

Aetos: "Um... well I was gunna ask for your assistance... but you did it already..."

Julian Sawyer: "Thank BM. You take care'a that while I go about getting that key..." *Julian heads over to DA CAGE.*

The Businessman: "I wouldn't touch the bars of that cage if I were you. They have the power to release you from that thing often called 'The Mortal Coil.' It's more of a curlicue if you ask me."

Julian Sawyer: "...K... So could you open it please?"

The Businessman: "Unless I have some debt to you, Aetos, I'll be considering this as something you owe me for. I'm no petty thug. I can only open it if you pay me."

Aetos: "No debts. We just never had a meeting yet. What's the cost... hope we can negotiate it... ?"

Julian Sawyer: "...You don't got no use for coins, do you..."

The Businessman: "In this realm, gold is the equivalent of dirt. Now, if you'd gladly accept dirt in exchange for your soul, I'd also take gold for opening that cage."

Aetos: "...Right... I gotta ask you for another deal, also..."

Metal Man (GM): He flicks one coin, which becomes a trillion coins mid-air, and then vanishes.

Julian Sawyer: "...Think I got that. So what you want for openin' the cage?"

The Businessman: "Cough it up, then, wind-wannabe. I don't have all day. I want your sword. Vendetta. It's been around too long."

Aetos: "Could you do something so we can become more... Astral-enemy deterrent?"

The Businessman: "Such a thing is not easily acquired. It usually involves death."

Aetos: "Of who?"

Julian Sawyer: "Vendetta? What're you gonna do with it?"

Aetos: "We could definitely go without some Goombas and stuff."

The Businessman: "You, slick." *Turns to Julian* "I need a new weapon. I'm bored with touching people and making them disintegrate."

Aetos: "What is Julian supposed to use, then?"

The Businessman: "His head."

Julian Sawyer: "...Touchin' people an' makin' them disintegrate seems awful effective to me, no offense... An' I take offense to that."

Aetos snorts, then laughs.

The Businessman: "That weapon is scarier to most people. The people who don't pay up, I feel they need to be more afraid. The disintegration is only painful for seconds. That blade... it can cause much more."

Julian Sawyer: "Anyway, Vendetta's run mostly outta juice, anyway. All I use it for these days is cuttin' open doors. But if you want it, take it. Jus' open the door to the cage so's I can get the key."

The Businessman: "Now. I don't have much more time to fritter away." *He knods* "I'll do so, then."

Metal Man (GM): He waves a hand, opening up the cage, and then holds out his hand for Vendetta.

Julian Sawyer takes Vendetta out of his back pocket for the final time, turns it over a few times in his hands, and gives it to the Businessman. "Jus' take good care of it, hear? I saved two planets with that sword."

The Businessman: "It shall kill many a debtor."

Julian Sawyer: "...A'ight." *Julian grabs the key* "Now, don't Aetos got to pay you somethin'?"

Metal Man (GM): He spins it around a bit; in his hands it lights up a bit more. He puts it in his pocket, still looking like an unassuming 50's businessman.

Aetos: "I've got chalk. It's very... um... dear to me!
I write on walls with it..."

The Businessman: "I have a favor I need you to do, and no amount of chalk can erase that debt."

Aetos snaps his fingers. "Alright. What do you need?"

The Businessman: "There's this guy trying to break the system. His name is Charles. He wants into our hidden zone. Stop him. Because we really can't, not without unbalancing the universe."

Aetos freezes. "Charles who?"

Julian Sawyer: "...Aw hellllllllll naw, you want him to take out Charles?"

Aetos uses his wind vacuum to silence Julian.

The Businessman: "Charles Magellean. I dealt with him once. Personally, he doesn't bother me, but it's against the rules. Kill him? No. Make him not go to the Null Zone."

Metal Man (GM): You find your wind vacuum doesn't work here.
Why?
He can speak using his thoughts alone.
Mental thoughts can be easily projected in this place.

The Businessman: "I have some stuff there I'd rather nobody see. Do it well, and you may even garner cash."

Aetos: "...But... it's Charles! I can't hurt him... and I don't think h-- Wait! Where can I find him!?"

Julian Sawyer: "Hell, you do it, I'LL pay ya."

The Businessman: "You'll get a portal for it when I need you to do it. Now. You've been here a bit too long. Don't mention me to anybody--my fellow lords seem to consider me soft for speaking with mortals."

Aetos shakes his fist and relaxes, sighs, and nods.
"Get the key, Julian?"

Julian Sawyer: "Got it."

The Businessman: "Even worse. They claim The Void still lives. They're nuts. He's dead." *Makes a portal back to the entryway, where Ninja and Dragoshi are waiting.*

Aetos: "See you later."
*He easily brushes off the Void statement.*

Julian Sawyer: "Later, BM." *Julian heads into the portal.*

Aetos goes too.

Metal Man (GM): You both warp... AFK for a sec before we finish up. I need a snack before I GM that.

Aetos softly snickers, and then laughs out loud.
"This is all your fault."

Julian Sawyer: "What the hell's so funny?"

Aetos: "A couple things. I actually proved I was useful... and then we ended up losing some close things for a key."

The Ninja blinks, looking at Dragoshi. "Does he get along with anyone?"

Julian Sawyer: "All I'm gonna say is suddenly I got more respect for the Businessman than ever."

Aetos: "Really though... I'm just surprised someone besides Charles and Aribar listened and agreed with my plans."

Dragoshi: "..." *Shrugs in response to Ninja.*

Aetos: "So where do we go next, guys? To Dracula?...What is that key for?"

Julian Sawyer: "That door, duh." *Gestures towards the large, locked door.*

Metal Man (GM): Backeth.

Aetos: "Oh. Well, I see."

Metal Man (GM): The door has one padlock... but you guys have three keys.

The Ninja: "...Who can pick this lock?"

Aetos: "Wouldn't it be crazy if our key was useless, Julian?"

Julian Sawyer: "..."
*Twitch* "We got 3 keys. One of 'em's gotta work."

The Ninja decides to use the key he got out of the safe.

Metal Man (GM): You stick it in there, turn it, hear a click, then nothing.

The Ninja blinks and sees if the door opens.

Metal Man (GM): Nope. Not yet. Better try another key.

The Ninja then tries the key he got from the knight.

Metal Man (GM): Another click. The door doesn't open yet.

Julian Sawyer: "Hope this works..." *Julian tries the key they got from the Astral Realm.*

Metal Man (GM): Three symbols light up; then the door swings open. Hm. Apparently it wanted all three keys.

Julian Sawyer: "...A'ight, whatever." *Julian heads in.*

Metal Man (GM): Wandering inside, you reach the final destination; Dracula's room.
Dracula himself is sitting there. However, he still isn't dismayed.

Dracula: "So you made your way through a few obstacles... you vhille never defeat me."

The Ninja: "Hi Dracula!"

Dragoshi: "...And you are an overconfident lout."

Julian Sawyer: "Yo, deadhead!" *Punches fist into palm* "Time to put you down for good!"

The Ninja: "Hey Drac... Did you ever get moonshine smell out?"

Dracula: "I vhill kill you all... no matter vhat sort of vhoolish defences you have."

Aetos: "I admit I am phazed at the fact you are unphazed that we overcame an astral warrior that you had help you."

Dragoshi: "...Wait, wha?"

Julian Sawyer: "Long story."

Dragoshi: "...Ah."

Dracula: "Yes... vhou should have heeded his vhords."

Julian Sawyer: "Shut up and die... again."

The Ninja: "Does this mean I'll get to keep your coffin this time?"

Dracula: "Did vhou expect me to vhuse the same tactics as vhere used to kill me the vhirst time?"

Dragoshi: "...Right."

The Ninja: "Actaully, we learned something new... But I kept your favorite weapon."

Metal Man (GM): He then whips out something really odd. In fact, you never thought Dracula would use this.
It is... none other than some odd cube device. Which is constantly shifting.

Julian Sawyer: "...Is than an Omnicube?"

The Ninja: "...Ah! Where he get that!?"

Dragoshi: "...I don't like the smell of this..."

Dracula: "Vhis is the successor to those vhorthless cubes you used... it vhas made by a close vhriend of mine... Vhatch what it can do!"

Aetos: "Ok!"

Metal Man (GM): He holds it up, and crushes it, causing it to glow brilliantly in his fist.

Dragoshi: "..."

Metal Man (GM): Suddenly, he gains metallic enhancements... and, in fact, some sort of weird dome over his head, as well as a staff with a dome on it as well.

Aetos: "Dude! That is awesome!"

Julian Sawyer: "What the he-GRODUS?"

Dracula: "Vhou cannot defeat me now. I vhave the powers of two vhillains in one!"

Metal Man (GM): Questers vs. Techno-Dracula

Julian Sawyer: "Jesus..."

Dragoshi: "...Holy cra-...Oh, great, he has the power of the leader of the friggin' X-Nauts in his ugly hands!"

Metal Man (GM): Order: Techno-Dracula, Dragoshi, Ninja, Julian, Aetos

Dracula: "I bring doom... and the power of the vhuture! You cannot outsmart me!"

The Ninja: "Did it once..."

Julian Sawyer: "An' again..."

Metal Man (GM): He's 2 units away from all of you.
He opens his cape, and fires three lightning bolts at Julian from it.

Dragoshi: "..." .oO(I've faced worse)

Metal Man (GM): 30 damage and 2 knockback per hit.

Julian Sawyer: *Hate you so much Fucking OW.*

Dracula: "Now... die!"

Metal Man (GM): He suddenly teleports, then reappears BEHIND The Ninja, attempting to hit him critically in the back of the neck with a lightning-fast kick ..But he does not manage to do so critically. 55 damage if that hits.

The Ninja blinks as he looks around, then senses the vampire behind him, but not soon enough as he finds himself rolling on the floor. "Ow! Hey! I was nice to you last time..."

Dragoshi tries to scan Dracula with the Eye of Truth.

Metal Man (GM): You see he is truly Dracula, wearing Grodus-style armor.
-2 TP

Oh, yeah. Smash dex too, I presume. *Adds that on*
TECHNO-DRACULA
Level 200
HP: 0/400
STR: 40
SPD: 36
EVD: 30
MNT: 40
AC: 20

Smash Dex: "End of entry."

Dragoshi concentrates and...
*A Molotov cocktail flies at Dracula!*

Metal Man (GM): Hit.

Dragoshi: *EoT.*

The Ninja: "Looks like I get to use it now!" *He the pulls out the cross and extends the blades, tossing the Belmont weapon at the vampire.*

Metal Man (GM): Hit, hit.

Dracula: "Gah! Vhou have the holy cross!"

The Ninja: "Don't you remember? I got it when I stole your Coffin last time."

Dragoshi: "...Sucks to be you, count."

The Ninja catches as he leaps in to gives the count a crushing blow with the same weapon.

Dracula: "Vhut rarely do Quevhsters keep such vhings! Vhou are too smart..."

Metal Man (GM): Hit, miss.

Dragoshi: "Well, that's Ninja for ya."

Julian Sawyer: "Ow... ow..." *Julian gets up, greatly signed from those lightning bolts... and very far away. Julian decides to recover with a couple Vials. EoT.*

Metal Man (GM): Aetos' turn

Aetos whips his hand outward and a long scimitar made of wind forms in his hand. He makes a long flurry of slashes at Dracula.

Metal Man (GM): Miss hit miss hit
Dracula is 4 units away from everybody but Julian, whom he is even further away from.
Seeing as he's a bit long for range, he opens up his cape and throws a buncha lightning at The Ninja like he did to Julian.
30 damage per hit, knockback 2 per hit.
Then he moves 3 TP closer... and... attempts to smack Aetos with his staff.

Aetos: "'Ey!"

The Ninja gets moves back and plays Texas Hold'em with Julian.

Metal Man (GM): Knockback 20, 40 damage if that hits. You fly across the room and into the wall, which is 15 units away.

Dracula: "Get vhout of my vhace!"

Dragoshi: "...What. The. Hell?"

Aetos: "Ahhh! You walked up to meeeee."

Dracula: "Your exhistance is in my vhace too!"

Dragoshi then blinks for a second, thinking he had a drink after seeing Aetos FLY across the room. He then stands back... EoT.

Julian Sawyer: "...This is bad."

The Ninja munches on a holy grape, then moves forward enough and uses the power of concealment.

Metal Man (GM): You vanish, making it harder for stuff to hit you--+5 to AC for one round.

Julian Sawyer: *Alright, Drac is still 7 units away... Julian recovers some more while waiting for Drac to come into Range EoT.*

Metal Man (GM): Aetos' turn

Aetos runs back 8 units toward Dracula.
*Now next to Julian, then...*

Dracula: "Now you shall see the true power of my plan!"

Dragoshi: "..." .oO(...*Mental yawn*)

Metal Man (GM): He thrusts the staff forward, causing it to rain flaming debris from above. Himself safely 4 units away from it; everyone 4 units or more away from him is affected by this. Roll EVD checks.
If you're effected by it.
80 damage to Aetos; 20 to Dragoshi.

Dragoshi: *Only takes 20 damage.* "...Huh."

Metal Man (GM): Julian and Ninja dodge it entirely.

Dragoshi dashes 4 units ahead, then attempts to fire a gout of flame at him.

Metal Man (GM): Hit.

Dragoshi then proceeds to fire six blasts of water at him
*And, he finishes this off with...
An amethyst shard!*

Metal Man (GM): Hit.

Dragoshi: *EoY.*

The Ninja attempts to sneak up on the vampire.

Metal Man (GM): He sees you from a mile away.

The Ninja sees that isn't working for him, so he moves to the next step. He takes a swig of moonshine, but instead of swallowing it, he does an odd pose as he spits it out, only to spit out a fireball at Dracula.

Dragoshi: "...Heh."

Metal Man (GM): Hit. Burnination.
He's not looking too good anymore.

The Ninja then goes back into concealment.

Metal Man (GM): You vanish again; still, +5 AC.

Julian Sawyer finally decides to get some offense in! He charges at Dracula, then lifts up his foot and attempts to connect the sole of his boot with Drac's face for a Big Boot!

Metal Man (GM): Hit.
He hits the wall, which is only 1 unit behind him. +10 damage.
Aetos' turn

Aetos moves 6 units along and holds his arm out. It gets enveloped by wind and shapes like the megabuster. It charges up quickly and a ball of wind shoots out and blasts into Dracula.

Metal Man (GM): Hit again, he's hit, but he's still standing.

Dracula: "Hmph. Vhou are vhough again. Vhat I vhall not Vhall to you!"

Metal Man (GM): He shakes the staff, and then moves it out to the side; a hole in reality itself opens up, and he leaps into it.

Dragoshi: "...?"

Julian Sawyer: "...Aw c'mon! I was just warmin' up!"

Metal Man (GM): Clearly an escape attempt.
What do you do?

Dragoshi: "...We should pursue him, ne?"

Julian Sawyer: "Yeah, we almost had 'em."

Dragoshi: "...Then, let us give chase."

Julian Sawyer: "Let's move!" *Julian heads into the hole.*

The Ninja: "...Is it a trap though?"

Aetos: "Probably."

Dragoshi: *Follows Julian* "No time to worry 'bout that, follow us."

Metal Man (GM): The hole is closing; all who wish to follow better hurry.

The Ninja shrugs and leaps into the portal.

Metal Man (GM): ???

Aetos is set to follow.

Metal Man (GM): Runnin' after him, through another void in reality, Dracula appears to be... very disturbed.

Dracula: "Vhat? No! Bhou cannot catch vhe!"

Julian Sawyer: "Says you!"

Dragoshi: "...To quote an owl, 'Oh, really?'."

Metal Man (GM): He opens yet another portal, and leaps into it; you follow him, of course.

The Ninja does.

Metal Man (GM): And out from it, you land... ... ...this cannot be. It's completely nuts.

Dragoshi: "...What the hell..."

Metal Man (GM): You've landed on The Second Moon. Dracula is running towards some sort of cave... *PAUSE!!!!!*

The Ninja: "...Where is place?"

Julian Sawyer: "...Huh. Aetos might get his chance sooner than I thought."

Metal Man (GM): Mission paused. +2500 EXP. Stay tuned for Part 2: The Unexpected Discovery, where the Questers chase Dracula all the way into some cave on the Second Moon, which continues next mission.

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