Twelve

[Fluffie]

Originally Posted by No Dachi

No Dachi looks around, trying to take stock of his situation by examining each of the evil creatures swarming around him in turn, looking for anything he could use to his advantage.

OOC: Or something. Better posts will follow DMing, once I know where I am and all.

Weren't you a Ninja of Light or Good and me an Angel of Smiting? Or something?

[No Dachi]

I think I was a samurai. But yeah, something like that.

[Hewitt]

Originally Posted by Planetkiller II

Fire
I may have been dormant for a long time, but that doesn't mean I'm ignorant. The magical fountains that power Exodus have existed forever, only recently have these... regulations come into effect.

The will stopped... speaking for a moment, as if thinking.

While I cannot conjure papers for you Jasmine Hewitt, you have given me an idea. I can BECOME the documents, at least for a short time.

There was a crackling of paper, as the seal on the Will dissappeared and the page rolled up of its own accord, flapping like a released blind in a cartoon. A second later it unfurled again in the form of a small booklet, official looking stamps inside, including one that looked suspiciously like the wax dragon seal from the Will's original form.

I apologise, but I cannot become two papers. Thus, you are now Mr. and Mrs. Hewitt. I'm sure you'll adapt.

That piece of paper truely was exasperating.

ooc: \o/

"Mr and Mrs Hewitt... you cannot be serious..."

*Jasmine flipped open the now passport and sure enough the creditials were all there, the cheeky will had even come up with a mock photo of herself and Warder 'kissing' if such an action were possible between a half-dragon and a completely normal human being. Jasmine arched an eyebrow at Warder standing emotionless as ever.*

"Cute. Real cute. Well given the present situation I suppose I can make do with sharing around the funny looks I normally receive with someone else... meh."

*Bundling up her gear within the color-shifting cloak, Jasmine Hewitt takes a few deep breathes and prepares for the immense acting skills that will be required to act out the part of a newly wed. Grinning her best fake grin, she moved up alongside Warder and put her arm around his back.*

"Come along *ahem* lover..."

Damnit will! I swear I'm gonna make you pay for this somehow you overstuffed bunch of papers!

[AcidK]

*Cid stopped in his trracks, his staff held firmly in his hands and his eyes slughtly squinting in distanst. He lowered his staff slightly but kept his posture, slowly feeding from the death aura around him that the death lightning dwarves were pouring out, slowly gaining energy from them.*

I amm no chaotic, Coen the Liightning Maggge. I am a Demonnnic, thhe namme iss Ccid the Necromccer. I amm on a tassk to sstop the desstructtion off tthe universse. I pray yyou to lissten to what I musst ssay... Measter, heel!

*Cid let Little Measter hobble to his side and turn around, looking at Coen's staff eagerly watching to see if Coen tries anything.*

Whattever it iss, it hass come to ennd thiss universse, and in lesss than twelvve hourss thiss shall be sso. Thhere iss little timmelefft for thiss universee and iff there iss no universse, there sshall be no deattth. Iff there iss no deatth, mmy reasson ffor being willl be meaninlesss. The elementalll you havve releassed iss a danger to the universse, but at thiss point I find it erelevant ffor now. I am loooking ffor Devilss Crownn, ffor it iss my quesst ssent by the Daark Sshriness off Marss. Thiss iss my bussinesss here.

[Fluffie]

Originally Posted by No Dachi

Ariake Katana
Sword (1 pt)
Elemental Ability: Light (1 pt)
Ability: Divine Protection (it absorbs bullets, cleared with PK, 1 pt)

Kami Wakizashi
Sword (1 pt)
Elemental Ability: Order (1 pt)
Ability: Arbitrate (gives No Dachi increased abilities when fighting in the name of justice, 1 pt)

Clairvoyance Amulet
Artifact (1 pt)
Ability: Clairvoyance (the amulet allows No Dachi, when combined with his zen conditioning, to clear his mind completely of emotion and outside thoughts, allowing him to detect very subtle changes in the environment around him. Basically enhances his senses a lot, 1 pt)

Plane Rider
Horse (beast, 1 pt)
Elemental Ability: Air (1 pt)
Ability: Rift (Plane Rider is an etherial being composed of elemental air, though it looks like a normal horse, and thusly has the power to 'slip' in and out of dimensions, thus allowing No Dachi to travel vast distances in a relatively short amount of time. It does limit his speed in the physical realm, though)


Character: No Dachi
Race: Human
Age: 24
Main Element: Light
Sub Elements: Air, Order
Items: Nano-Enhancements (Speed, 1 pt). Amulet of Clairvoyance, Plane Rider (transportation)
Weapons: Ariake Katana, Kami Wakizashi

History: No Dachi is a samurai (for a change), and a member of a very ancient order of warriors dedicated to upholding the Will of the Light. He was recruited into the order at a young age after his innate Light energy was spotted by the wizened eyes of an elderly swordmaster. This same swordmaster took No Dachi in and, through all of the young lad's childhood up to the age of 17, trained him in the ways of the warrior. Shortly after No Dachi turned 17, the old swordmaster passed away, marking No Dachi as a full member of the order before he did so. Since then No Dachi has travelled around the solar system, and enigmatic figure, punishing the evil and the dark for their crimes. Whilst he will always do what is right, he also strictly adheres to Bushido, the Way of the Warrior, as was taught to him by his sensei, this is what gives him a strong sense of Order. No Dachi was also very well schooled in old lore and in mind control by the elderly swordmaster, and in one of his many meditation sessions drew close also to the spirits of air. As such he is said to move a little faster than the ordinary human. Over his years as a paladin of truth, justice and good No Dachi has aquired contacts in all of the species, though mostly humans and the Angelic. He has often worked in the past with an Angelic Crusader of Smiting named Fluffie (lo Fluffie ).

Appearance: Middling height, No Dachi will always have his swords showing as a warning to those who would seek to antagonise him. At the start of the thread he is dressed in bamboo armour laced with blue and gold thread. In his pack he also carries a pure white kimono for when the armour gets damaged to the point of needing extensive repairs.

Originally Posted by Fluffie

"Fluffie"
Angelic Crusader of Smiting

Once set out to smite all those unjust and unorderly, to uphold order and to make the world a safer place to live in. That kind of thing. May sometimes have an unorthodox way of smiting (see the Uzi part a bit below), but (according to himself) he is a rightious smiter.
Having been wandering across the surface of many different planets, he has become quite an adept in using his wings, uzi and conjurable shield. However, he is also a bit looser when it comes to behaviour, some might call it strangely happy, some might call it mad, but all will hopefully recognize the amount of justice he has and will spread. Hopefully.

Main Element:
Order
Sub Elements:
Technology & Magic

Abilities:
"Flight" (1 Pt)
Notes: A basic ability of the Angelic kin, due to their having wing. Due to training (or a point spent) however, their skills improve and they are capable of much more with their wings.

Shield of Order (3 Pts)
Item Type: Power (1 Pt)
Elemental Ability: Magic (1 Pt)
Elemental Ability: Order (1 Pt)
Notes: Can be conjured at will, this is like a big-ass shield that knights would use, only it is transparant and it shimmers, so you can actually see it... a bit. It offers all round general protection to anything it happens to block and has extra blocking skills against that what is unorderly.

Items:
Crusader's Uzi of Divine Smiting (3 Pts)
Item Type: Machine Gun (1 Pt)
Elemental Ability: Technology (1 Pts)
Elemental Ability: Order (1 Pt)
Notes: An oversized and souped up Uzi with an equally oversized clip. Fires high power and velocity bullets of smiting, that will damage 'normal' 'stuff' 'normally', but it will do smitingly extra damage to those that need to be smited (the unorderly). Comes with a Clip o' Smiting by default.

Clip o' Smiting (3 Pts)
Item Type: Ammo (1 Pt)
Elemental Ability: Magic (1 Pt)
Ability: Regeneration (1 Pt)
Notes: An oversized clip of smiting bullets for the Crusader Uzi of Divine Smiting. When not inside the Uzi, it magically regenerates bullets.

Ring of Orderly Movement (2 Pts)
Item Type: Artifact (1 Pt)
Elemental Ability: Magic (1 Pt)
Notes: Grants the user the ability to tear down the walls of time and space, to instantly move from one location to the next. Only can be used to move to a location or person that is "order"ly though.


All perhaps still subject to change.

Originally Posted by Planetkiller II

Light
The swarm pressed in, spilling out into the open area, crushing their way out of alleys and doorways. This was more than just a small force, this was an army. Dachi had never seen this many demonics in one place, and he'd fought many before. Another of the creatures, this time a mindless demon-soldier came at him, wielding a fleshy axe that pulsated and made sickening sounds like bone breaking. The samurai nimbly dodged to the side and sliced the weapon in half, causing a gout of viscous fluid to spatter over the previously clean steelcrete that was rapidly becoming stained with black bile. Suddenly, another dog familar leapt at his unprotected back. It could have scored a fatal wound, had it not been obliterated in a gout of lilac magical energy a second before its claws impacted. The SEP had joined the fight. C-6Ms blazing, they had begun organising fire teams at the entrance to their headquarters, fighting with the effectiveness brought on by years of training. Fluffie came in to land next to the warrior, blocking an incoming stake thrown from a crossbow before he is able to speak.

"We should move. We need to find the key. We need, more, time!"

There is a piercing shriek from the opposite end of the plaza. Something is coming, something that causes the other demons to quickly move out of its path. It sounded dangerous.


Order
Fluffie stood back to back with Dachi, the demonics rushing about the two fighters. Though they had already cut down several, their numbers had not dwindled in the slightest. They had overun the entire station except headquarters and main square in under a minute. Such a massive force The SEP were proving highly proficient, incinerating more leathery beasts with each shot. There is a piercing shriek from the opposite end of the plaza. Something is coming, something that causes the other demons to quickly move out of its path. It sounded dangerous. It came into sight a moment later. It looked somewhat like a behemoth type demonic, but they didn't usually look this intelligant, or walk on two feet. It must have been ten metres tall. Its two arms ended in three muscley fingers which it flexed convulsively. Its single, baleful eye glowed an eerie red as it threw its head back an roared. This looked like it was in charge of the demonic force. A rather optimistic SEP officer fired a lilac burst into its toughened skin. It bounced off, frying a nearby bat familiar. The Behemoth slowly turned to stare at the gate to SEP Headquarters where the shot had come from and began to lumber towards it, other demonics scattering out of the way of its huge feet. In its wake, the full force of the demonic army followed, screaming and howling in anticipation of the chnace to spread yet more darkness to a place that had always been a beacon of justice and light.

For Dachi and me... If he's still wanting to go on with this thread.
We're on Jupiter, which is being invaded by the evil guys. We're searching for Gryphon, who holds the Light/Order key or knows where it is, which we want.

[Fluffie]

With his Spider-sense of order ringing the alarm bells like a crazy church at a wedding, Fluffie stepped around and faced the incoming behemoth, with its minions happily following in the it cleared. Only turning his head to look at No Dachi for a moment, the angelic considered the options.

Help fight the battle here, which most likely was a sign of the coming apocalypse... Or turn and run, not necesarily fleeing, but continueing their quest to prevent, maybe only in the very bitter end, the end of.. the universe, time, everything?

"Do we have time for this? There is the world to save..."

Looking back at the still incoming behemoth, he levels his Uzi and squeezes the trigger again, sending the remaining few bullets in the clip flying at it, probably not doing much damage. Reloading again, he doesn't fire again.

"Do we finish these off or... find Gryphon, for the greater good?"

[No Dachi]

No Dachi brought his katana up and left in a smooth diagonal sweep, cutting a Dog Familiar in half. Where the blade, gleeming golden with the Light Energy that shone from within its steel, touched the creature's tainted flesh, it burned away, glowing orange, untill a few moments after No Dachi's sword had first cut through it, there was nothing left but ashes drifting through the air. He paused momentarily, holding the katana two handed, slanted across his front protectively, and stared in the direction the shriek had come from; a hawk searching for its next prey. His life had been spent killing Demons, and he knew that whatever lurked unseen in the shadow beyond would be something dangerous indeed.

"We need to start working our way toward the door to the SEP Building." No Dachi said, speaking slowly and clearly as though still thinking it over - he had time, for the SEP's counter-attack had taken a lot of weight off of he and the Angel of Smiting. "Whatever that is, we have more pressing matters to attend to."

[Fluffie]

"Right. I'll clear a path for you..." he smiles, not giving the Samurai much time to consider what he meant exactly, nor giving him time to ask. Instead, the slightly out of his mind Angelic acts upon his words immidiately.

Conjuring his magical Shield once more and doing a full 180, Fluffie charges in the direction of the SEP building, blocking incoming attacks and shoving everything in front of him forward as long as he can. Saying a final prayer, so that those who might seek rest in the after life could perhaps still find it, as he suddenly stops charging and instead of going forward now moves up, using his wings to push himself off the ground. Aiming his weapon at the collection of enemies he wiped together just a few seconds ago, he gives'em all some extra breathing, or bleeding, venting and other kinds of holes.

[Planetkiller II]

Nature
The troll-beast just laughed at Rofellos' words, and did not even reply to him. More black fire spurted from its mouth, and it proceeded to stamp forwards, towards the little girl once more. It swung its giant club, but the girl was able to skip out of the way. The club impacted into the ferrocrete, smashing a large dent into the ground. There was nothing Rofellos could do from where he was, so he jumped down in order to keep his options open. The black troll pursued the girl across the floor, his lumbering gait hampering his speed, but never tiring, despite the girls swift feet. She ran without stumbling, hopped over a small side channel bringing sewage in and scrambled her way up onto a ledge at one side of the room. It seemed that she thought the height would be enough to save her from the troll. It didn't seem like that was going to be the case though, as the troll reached the ledge, and with a smile on its face, reached up and plucked her from it with a muscle bound leathery hand. Unable to move and helpless, the girl screamed a single word as the troll squeezed its fist painfully.

"Help!"


Fire
Warder looked rather bemused by the whole thing, but clearly decided to go along with the plan, as he seemed to relax a little. The two 'newlyweds' got in line in the smallest available queue. After a few minutes, they got to the end, and a check in attendant. She motioned for them to hand over their papers, so Jasmine did so, trying to look happy and relaxed. The attendant obviously had not looked at Jamsine very carefully, for when she saw the photo, she gave a little start, and looked up sharply. Then, realising that what she was doing was rather rude, she handed the Will back and typed the details into her workstation.

"They seem to be in order... just a few standard questions for you to answer. How long have you been married? Your reason for visiting Saturn, and is there a specific habitat ring you would like to be placed on?"

The attendant was obviously making an effort to be nice, despite not quite being able to the look that she was giving Jasmine and Warder. A look that spoke all too clearly 'this is pretty wierd'.


Chaos
"You look for your master's throne? Such irony. I wonder, demonic, has the arch-demon Ragnarok wiped your memories in some act of cruel humour? Do you truely believe the lies you have just told me, or do you really think that the world is ending. I certainly know that for me, this is not the end. Merely the beginning, and... but wait... twelve hours you say? This detail is most interesting. Could the C-Lock have been used?"

By this point, Coen seemed to be almost talking to himself. As he did so, he was moving slowly in the direction of the exit, as if Cid either didn't matter to him, or he had been forgotten.

"If so, then this is one of the Twelve Heroes. There is not much time, and there is a decision to be made. If the Key is needed, then its power could not be mine, but if I risk not giving it up, then all my plans could come to nothing. A dilema indeed. Lightning Dwarves, detain our guest. Or failing that, delay him, I have work to do."

Coen walked more briskly into one of the cavern's entrances, leaving his small army to press in closer about the demon pair.


Order
Fluffies path through the airspace between the centre of the square and the SEP entrance was not an easy one. The air was thick with bat-familiars, and Fluffie was going through his bullets quickly. The few he had launched at the Behemoth seemed to have had a little effect, surprisingly. Fluffie could see angry welts on the creature's skin, and its eye was glowing ever brighter in anger. But wait, was it just in anger or... ? Then it was past time for speculation, as a red blast burst from the eye and gouged a hole out of the ferrocrete of the square as the Behemoth tried to track Fluffie with it. It was fortunate that he was able to fly, and fly well, else he was probably have been turned into a smoking pile of ash, like several familiars had been. The upside though, was that the bat familiars had scattered out of Fluffie's way, and those that were left in his path could be put down easily. With uzi roaring, Fluffie divebombed the demon troops on the ground, assisted by the lilac sizzles of energy from the SEP forces. It seemed to be enough, for Fluffie could see the Samurai moving through the newly open ground, cutting down a few enemies as he did so. The angelic smiled, and flew down towards the SEP lines, making sure to show his white-feather wings in order that he not be mistaken for a fallen angel and blown out of the sky...


Light
"Right. I'll clear a path for you..."

Then the Angel of Smiting was off into the sky, blasting away with his mystical sub-machine gun. No Dachi saw it and smiled, just about regaining concentration quick even to dive to the side, as a red energy beam from the Behemoth nearly blasted him to hell. The samurai began to move forward in Fluffie's wake, taking the time to slice up a soldier type, cleaving his disgusting flesh-gun in half before doing the same to its wielder. Another soldier type firing on him, launching a pellet of toxic goo at him, but Dachi managed to deflect the projectile with the flat of his blade before taking out that soldier with a leaping slice. Then, seeing that Fluffie and the SEP had pretty much cleared a path, Dachi began to run along it, hoping that nothing would be able to hit him between his position and the relative safety of the SEP Headquarters entrance, where the fire teams continued to lay down their barrages.

[Ur_Quan]

Eeeeeeeeeeeek! Is it that time already? :eek: I'll come up with a post very soonish.

[Spritely Zombie]

Baldur ignores the official's protests and turns back to examining the door. He traces the subtle arcs of protective runes with one gauntleted hand, gently probing for any hint of weakness, leaving trails of multihued light and tiny flashes of colour.

The display seems to almost hypnotise the guardsmen and the official, who have all fallen silent.

Seemingly satisfied with what he found, Baldur plants his feet wide apart, places a hand upon each door and pushes...

[Ur_Quan]

OOC- Sorry if this post is a bit poor, but I kinda rushed it since it's already late and you want to DM the thread. -OOC

Tex watched the scene from a distance. The electro ooze looked quite menacing and even though it might be relatively harmless to sentinels, he wasn't willing to bet his life on it, that it wouldn't harm him either. After all, what was the point of installing a sea of electrically charged liquid in a high security area if people could just wade through it at leisure?

Then there was also the scanner. It looked passive, but Tex had, on a rather personal level, learned long ago that looks can be deceiving. Just to be on the safe side, he activated his cloaking enhancement and walked over to the scanner to investigate. He soon found out that his suspicions were correct; the thing was actively scanning its surroundings for uninvited guests, but due to his near perfect cloak, it wasn't detecting Tex. Built into the scanner was a keycard slot which was probably used by employees to identify themselves to the scanner. He quickly noted that this thing was constructed in such a way that it offered maximum protection against tampering, so he had to look for a different way to get across the ooze. As he walked to the edge of the basin he saw what looked like an extendable platform, but it was retracted into the wall. Presumably people used this to get to the other side. He then looked at the niches and alcoves that were embedded in the wall and into the ceiling to house all the sentinels. There were quite a lot of them and they weren't that far apart. Figuring that it was this was his only option, he climbed up into the first nice in the sidewall and from there, he carefully, but still going as fast as he could manage, climbed from alcove to alcove.

Tex had been making good progress and he was nearly there when his cloaking enhancement shut itself down due to a low battery. It didn't take very long for the scanner to detect him, for several seconds later a computized voice politely requested that he identified himself with his keycard within 60 seconds or there would be 'severe repercussions'. A countdown was initiated, but Tex didn't pay any attention to it; he was trying to make the most of his minute. Finally when he reached the second to last alcove, his time was up and he saw they were slowly opening. In a desperate attempt to make it to still make it to the other side before he lost his footing, he made a short sprint and leapt across the gap between him and his destination. He barely made it, but he did and not a moment too soon, because the first sentinels were already starting to come out of the ceiling. He ran towards the exit and it occurred to him that he'd lost valuable time crossing the electro liquid and that anyone that was coming after him would just use the drawbridge. To take away this aparent disadvantage, Tex decided to pay the Overwatch AI Core a visit before going to the Top Security Room. He might not be able to entirely disable security, but that wasn't his plan; they knew he was here and they were coming for him. No, he wasn't going to disable security, on the contrary, he was going to increase it; right up to the point where the security system would identify everyone as a potential threat, even the people that were supposed to have the required access. An evil grin was on his face as Tex hurried to the AI Core.

[Ur_Quan]

Can I still get a DM post too, please?

[AcidK]

*Cid's eyes narrowed and he rose his staff. He shouted down the cave after Coen.*

There iss little timme left beffore all hope on mmy endevvour iss losst!

*Cid whacked his staff on the ground, a chaotive wave suddenly pouring out and sending lightning dwarves flying in each direction.*

Measter, let'ss go!

*Cid charged after Coen, using all he could to force the dwarves away from him, Little MEaster sending off Choatic Moon shots towards groupd of Dwarves in a hope to knock them down dead or at least drained of enough life to become useless. Cid almost screeched to a halt as dwarves began to appear in front of him and at this point Cid was getting really annoyed.*

Nno-onne will sstop mmy paath, nno-onne!

*Cid's staff started to glow as it charged with chatoic energy using Chaotic Fists, using his newly energised staff to, quite literally, smash dwarves out of his way as he began to run after Coen again in the hope to find out where he was going. Cid knew Coen was hiding something and heard him mention a Key to the C-Lock. Cid hoped it was not too late to stop this lightning mage and gain that Key.*

[Hewitt]

Originally Posted by Planetkiller II

Fire
Warder looked rather bemused by the whole thing, but clearly decided to go along with the plan, as he seemed to relax a little. The two 'newlyweds' got in line in the smallest available queue. After a few minutes, they got to the end, and a check in attendant. She motioned for them to hand over their papers, so Jasmine did so, trying to look happy and relaxed. The attendant obviously had not looked at Jamsine very carefully, for when she saw the photo, she gave a little start, and looked up sharply. Then, realising that what she was doing was rather rude, she handed the Will back and typed the details into her workstation.

"They seem to be in order... just a few standard questions for you to answer. How long have you been married? Your reason for visiting Saturn, and is there a specific habitat ring you would like to be placed on?"

The attendant was obviously making an effort to be nice, despite not quite being able to the look that she was giving Jasmine and Warder. A look that spoke all too clearly 'this is pretty wierd'.

*Jasmine Hewitt put on her best sh.t-eating smile as she very much tried hard to stop herself from screaming out with indignation.*

So gonna pay... so very much gonna pay...

*Hewitt holding warder by the arm holds him closer and pretends to snuggle in a show of affection while ignoring the strange probing looks from the attentant that she was very much familiar with. Deep down she wanted to die from the humilation of it all.*

"*giggle* Why a couple of weeks now! Me and muscles here are going on our honeymoon to heh we'll I really don't need to diverge that information do I? *nudge* *nudge* *wink* *wink*"

So very much gonna pay dearly...

"Honey you know which habitation ring we are supposed to go to... tell the nice lady will you 'darling'... *bats eyelids.*"

So very f*cking much gonna pay dearly... period.

[Planetkiller II]

Magic
The doors hummed with the power that Baldur was putting out. The metal of his gauntlets, and the materials that made up the doors were perfectly in tune, creating a deep reverberating note that only he could hear. The rest of the faeries in the hall had been zoned out at a thought from him, unprotected as their minds were. Begining to glow now with the multicolours of pure magic, Gokan pushed with all his might, both physical and mental. The doors shifted, but did not open. He strained again, and he felt movement under his gauntlets. The doors parted, but there was no ensuing blast of Mageflies this time, only a bright, soft, all encompasing light that spilled out and over him in a tidal wave of emotion and power. He stepped forward, into the light, and the doors swung silently shut behind him, as if he had never been there. He emerged into the council chamber only a few seconds later, feeling refreshed and calm. The thrones of the Council of Twelve stood empty around the room, and in the centre, anobsidian black pillar stood, glowing gently with energy.

Note: For further explaination/description of the chamber, see Zappa's eariler DMs.


Technology
Finally through the mass of security The Vault had placed in his path, Tex was just happy to be moving at a decent speed. He actually ran the length of the corridor to the AI Core, which was fortunate, as he was able to barge over the two guards coming from that direction without getting into too much trouble. He charged through the door into the Core that they'd just come from, and locked it behind him. Only then was he able to take a look around inside it. The Core itself was a massive, tall pillar of crisscrossing wires and circuitry in the centre of the room. A single terminal stood next to it, and holographic images kept flashing up in the air around. It looked most impressive. When Tex entered, the AI's voice, now sounding more neutral, and somehow more intelligant spoke to him.

"Intruder has reached AI Core. Security measures have failed. Resorting to personal defence systems."

From high in the ceiling, Tex could hear the whine of anti gravity units, that meant more Flyers were on the way, but for the moment he was more concerned with the cables that had unravelled themselves from the pillar, looking suspiously like limbs. Then, with only a slight touch of computer voice to it, the AI spoke to him once more, now sounding more like a woman than a machine.

"You must leave now, or face the might of an Elemental, Tex."


Chaos
By the time Cid had managed to extrigate himself from the mass of lightning dwarves, Coen was completely out of sight down the tunnel he had gone into. Cid ran forward, motioning for Little Measter to follow. The familiar did so, after pausing for a moment to finish chewing on a lightning dwarf. They ran together in pursuit of Coen, the dwarves right on their heels. Chasing this mage proved not to be that easy, as he moved with unearthly speed, and the tunnels forked off in many places. It wasn't long before he lost the two demonics. Cid skidded to a halt in front of three tunnels that led off in different directions, but just as he began to wonder which to take, another group of armed people charged out from one of them. Cid dodged to one side, and was about to attack, when he noticed that they were not lightning dwarves, but a mixture of species, armed with highly varying weapons. They charged into the lightning dwarves that had been following Cid and Measter, completely ignoring the pair, at least for the moment. Whether they would continue to ignore them, was an entirely different matter. Cid considered for a moment. Should he he them, or leave the two groups to fight it out?

Note: I kinda need Mouse to post, or this may become a little difficult.


Fire
Warder managed a half smile at the performance. He didn't react much himsefl, clearly acting was not his strong point.

"Concentrics Station please."

The attendant smiled at the words from Jasmine, then typed in the answer from Warder to her terminal. She looked up, then handed over a printout, with a pen.

"Of course. All that remains is to sign this disclaimer, you of course are aware of the risks involved in gating to the worlds further from Earth. This is a waiver to any legal suitesyour relatives might take up in event of an accident..."

Once the paper was signed, the attendant hurriedly took the sheet back, before they could change their minds, and let them into the transferal room. The portals to Saturn were suspicioisly empty, and Jasmine and Warder were able to walk up to it without having to wait in line. The operator looked at their pass, raised an eyebrow as if questioning their sanity, then tapped in a few commands to a console, casting several sidelong galnces at the pair. The portal beam lit up and ripped open the fabric of reality before them. All that remained was to step into the pulsing light...

[Zappa Tenderlea]

growling slightly in anger as he saw himself being forced into action, Rofellos mumbled the growth spell again, his clothes ripping apart as his muscles bulked... gripping his spear tightly, he aimed carefully, and threw with all his might, hoping to pierce the troll, and disable him, but NOT kill him

[Planetkiller II]

All done.

[No Dachi]

Reaching the steps of the SEP building, No Dachi leapt nimbly up to the top steps before turning to the nearest gun-toting SEP agent.

"Do you think you can hold them back?" He asked, raising his voice so as to be heard above the noise of battle.

[Fluffie]

Our Angelic hero touched down just in front of No Dachi, letting him do the talking while he fired some more rounds into the not-so-friendly mass of dark creatures attacking. Again running out of ammunition, he silently blessed his magically reloading clips as he loaded a fresh one into the Uzi, picking off more targets seconds later.

He spoke too a moment or so later, raising his voice enough to be heard above the noise of the battle going on.

"We need to find the Gryphon."

[Hewitt]

Originally Posted by Planetkiller II

Fire
Warder managed a half smile at the performance. He didn't react much himsefl, clearly acting was not his strong point.

"Concentrics Station please."

The attendant smiled at the words from Jasmine, then typed in the answer from Warder to her terminal. She looked up, then handed over a printout, with a pen.

"Of course. All that remains is to sign this disclaimer, you of course are aware of the risks involved in gating to the worlds further from Earth. This is a waiver to any legal suitesyour relatives might take up in event of an accident..."

Once the paper was signed, the attendant hurriedly took the sheet back, before they could change their minds, and let them into the transferal room. The portals to Saturn were suspicioisly empty, and Jasmine and Warder were able to walk up to it without having to wait in line. The operator looked at their pass, raised an eyebrow as if questioning their sanity, then tapped in a few commands to a console, casting several sidelong galnces at the pair. The portal beam lit up and ripped open the fabric of reality before them. All that remained was to step into the pulsing light...

*Still wearing what was quickly becoming a very obvious shit-eating smile Jasmine stared into the pulsing light of the transporter and took a last moment to consider her current options.*

Hmm.... impending death or a few seconds more of this humilation?

*Without a second thought Jasmine Hewitt practically lept into the transporter beam.*

[AcidK]

*Cid nudged Little Measter and hissed through his rotten rips.*

Llet themm ffight and diiee, wwe have aa magge to sstop!

*Cid ran towards where he hoped this lightning mage had gone, letting the scent of death behind him, rejuvinating his energy and what passed for health.*

[Ur_Quan]

Tex stood baffled for a moment. The AI had known his name, yes, but so what? There were probably hidden cameras and they probably had records of everyone in the city and they'd just compare them until they had a match, quite a simple process really. Still, there was something about this thing that gave you the impression that it was actually alive and that its function was the same as that of a queen in a hive.

Then he realised that he didn't have time for this. He needed to get the Key of Technology; the multitool, to prevent the world from ending. It seemed a pitty to destroy a machine as 'beautiful' as this and he didn't have to, but it would allow him the time he needed to acquire the multitool. Also, a lot of people were depending on him and people came before machines; he had learned that the hard way and he wasn't going to make the same mistake again.

Tex adopted a fighting stance and activated his Techno Katana. The blade started to hum softly as he set it to full power. He looked up at the machine and yelled: "Bring it on, I say!" and charged, slashing at anything that came in his way.

[Planetkiller II]

Nature
Rofellos' spear flew straight and true from his hand. With the extra muscle he had put on via magic, the weapon sang through the air with much greater force than usual. The troll-thing either didn't notice the weapon being thrown at it, or didn't care and chose to take no action. The tip of the blade punctured the skin, causing a little dark blood to ooze slowly down its shoulder. The spear remained stuck in its flesh, but the troll didn't seem to mind too much. There was no howl of pain, but it did at least drop the girl, perhaps in surprise. It reached over its shoulder, trying to grab the stick that had been stuck in it and pull it out. This proved difficult for it, as it couldn't quite reach. Stumbling backwards, it crashed around in a circle, like some kind of massive upright dog chasing its tail. After a few circuits, it managed to catch hold of the spear, and rip the weapon from its shoulder. It grinned, holding Rofellos' spear in its massive hand, making it look puny by comparison. Another jet of black flame snorted from its nose, and it pulled back the arm holding the spear. Its beady eyes darted about, searching, before settling on the girl, who had been too frightened to run further. It threw the spear directly at her, with a force that would surely kill her if Rofellos did not do something in the short time between the throw and when the spear pierced her body.


Light
The SEP officer, by the starburst insignia on his shoulder, was a Captain. He looked nervous, even as he fired off several more lilac bursts from his C-6M.

"Who the heck are you? Wait, nevermind, it doesn't matter right now as long as you're on our side. I'm not sure we can hold them back actuallly, not with these men at any rate. Sergeant!"

Another officer ran over to the Captain.

"Get us some reinforcements, now! I need every man that can be spared. And tell them to rotate the guns towards the streets, there's no other way we can clear the demonics out. While you're doing that, I want exact numbers on what they have out here, we have to know what we're up against."

"Yes sir."

The Sergeant ran off to carry out the orders, just as Fluffie landed in front of Dachi.

"We need to find the Gryphon."


Order
Fluffie saw Dachi conversing with an SEP Captain as he landed, and spoke to him quickly as he did so. As soon as Fluffie had finished, the Captain spoke to him, slightly wider eyed than before.

"An Angelic? Our odds just got a little better. I don't know where you two came from, or why you're here, but I'll take any help I can get. From the why you were fighting out there, I'd say you being here was a good omen, but I don't want to jinx it."

As soon as he got the sentance out though, he was interupted by a deafening roar. The Behemoth was lumbering forward intent on the entrance to the SEP Spire. Its red eye glowed, pulsing brighter and brighter. Fluffie suspected it was about to produce another large energy blast, anytime soon. He just hoped it wouldn't do too much damage, and that those reinforcements that had been orderd would arrive very soon.


Fire
Jasmine felt a wierd sensation of pulling on her skin, as if it was being tugged in every direction at once. Her eyes, despite their dragon enhancement, couldn't see anything except a shining white light. She didn't know whether Warder had followed her into the portal, but could only assume that he was behind her in the portal stream somewhere. Suddenly, she was forcibly ejected back into the real world. Before her eyes were able to see once more, she felt a pain in her side, and got the impression that she was rolling over and over, possibly down some steps. Her hearing was the next to return, and she heard a male cry of pain behind her, recognising the voice of Warder. With a blurry vision returning, she raised her head. The pair had emerged in a portal room, similar to the one they'd just left, but much larger, grander and more ornate. It was also completely empty of people. Leading out of the room was a transparant walkway, that stretched off as far as she could see, with other sections and rooms attached along its length. It was all designed to look as awesome as possible, while still remaining technological. Through the glass, Jasmine could see the giant mass that was Saturn and its rings. She wondered where the people were, whether they normally left the teleporters unattended, not expecting visitors perhaps. She saw Warder getting to his feet, and heard him say, as impassively as usual,

"Fun."


Chaos
As the battle began in full force behind him, Cid and Little Measter ran headlong into the nearest tunnel, hopeing that it was the right one. Cid could here running feet in front of him, but they weren't moving away from them, but towards them. The footsteps rounded the corner, and showed themselves to be more of the diverse troops attacking the lightning dwarves. If Coen had come this way, then he had to be able to make himself invisible or similar, as these troops didn't seem like they'd encountered him. Cid ran back down the passage, thinking to try a different exit, his familiar in hot pursuit. He ran back into the cavern, seeing the skirmish in there take place with much ferocity. Both sides were fighting hard, with firearms and in hand to hand. Cid made his way through the maelstrom as quickly as possibly, bludgeoning those that got in his way with his staff until he got to another passage. This seemed mercifully empty of soldiers from either side, and the pair of demonics made their getaway from the brawl. Cid hadn't got twenty metres though, before the tunnel split again into three, and he could see more splits down those passages. It appeared that his quarry had escaped, at least for the time being.

Note: REALLY could do with Mouse posting about now...


Technology
The Ai's voice came through clear and softly as he charged at it.

"I cannot led you do this, Tex. I am charged with protecting this facillity. I will do what I must to ensure the safety of the persons and items within it. While your abilities are admirable, it is doubtful that you will stand any chance against me. Your best and most rational course of action would be to surrender."

As if to emphasise the point, several Flyers decended to attack Tex at that moment. He slashed them in half, but clearly there would be many more very soon. They were not his only problem though, for the cable-like limbs had unfurled completely. One took a swipe at him, which Tex only barely avoided. The limb was as fast as a whip, and agile as an octopus tentacle. Another tried to slice the feet from under him, but he jumped at just the right moment to avade it. This was proving to be far more difficult than merely throwing a switch.

[Planetkiller II]

All done.

[AcidK]

-ooc-
I really doubt Mouse will reply, tbh
-ooc-

*Cid looked up at the passages and sighed, shaking his head carefully.*

We wwill remmemmber thiss passsage, Measster, ffor when the timme comess... Ffor now, wwe ssearch onwwards...

*Cid picked a tunnel at random and began heading down.*

[Spritely Zombie]

Baldur's footsteps echo around the chamber as he walks cautiously towards the pillar. He squints at the strange writing upon it. Frustrated by his lack of understanding he turns back to the rest of the room, spending a long while concentrating on the mosaic of the floor.

Finding few clues, Baldur focuses his attention back on the pillar, willing the sigils to make some kind of sense.

[Zappa Tenderlea]

Rofellos' spear flew straight and true from his hand. With the extra muscle he had put on via magic, the weapon sang through the air with much greater force than usual. The troll-thing either didn't notice the weapon being thrown at it, or didn't care and chose to take no action. The tip of the blade punctured the skin, causing a little dark blood to ooze slowly down its shoulder. The spear remained stuck in its flesh, but the troll didn't seem to mind too much. There was no howl of pain, but it did at least drop the girl, perhaps in surprise. It reached over its shoulder, trying to grab the stick that had been stuck in it and pull it out. This proved difficult for it, as it couldn't quite reach. Stumbling backwards, it crashed around in a circle, like some kind of massive upright dog chasing its tail. After a few circuits, it managed to catch hold of the spear, and rip the weapon from its shoulder. It grinned, holding Rofellos' spear in its massive hand, making it look puny by comparison. Another jet of black flame snorted from its nose, and it pulled back the arm holding the spear. Its beady eyes darted about, searching, before settling on the girl, who had been too frightened to run further. It threw the spear directly at her, with a force that would surely kill her if Rofellos did not do something in the short time between the throw and when the spear pierced her body.

thinking quicly, Rofellos cast his Nurturespell an extra 2 times, once on the spear, forcing it's wooden shaft to sprout branches, tangling together and slowing it's pace, and once on the life below the ground, forcing the vegitation that lives in the soil to grow, grow like it has never grown before, to bust open the stone ground and shoot up like a rocket, to graple the spear and it's branches, and to stop it's progression even more... meanwhile, Rofellos jumped forward, towards the girl, in hopes of getting her out of the way if all else fails

[Fluffie]

Did I tell them yet we need to find that Gryphon?

Fluffie looked up at the Behemoth. It sure was big. It's eyes didn't look as if they wanted to be friends and play catch. Or maybe they did want to play catch... Our Angelic fool didn't intend on finding out the hard way. Turning his head and facing Dachi and the Captain again, he spoke again. His voice clear, loud and with a more than just slightly serious undertone.

"We need to find the Gryphon. Billions of lifes are at stake."

[Hewitt]

*Jasmine lay of her hands and knees for a few moments trying to regain her composure. For all her expeditions on earth and travelling around the globe this was her real first endevour to an off world location before.

And she hated it.

Perhaps it was the last half hour of having to act as an empty headed newly wed or maybe it was the very obvious looks she had been getting in the tele-port but Jasmine was not in a very good mood... not that she usually was after her beloved foster father had been consumed by a milliea old sentient parchment with about as much personnality as Mr Spock. The trip over here certainly hadn't improved things either, it's not like one would expect to end up coming out the other end blind, deaf and dumb - that was just plain scary. The falling and the tumbling wasn't very nice either...*

"Fun? Fun!? You call being disintergrated into subatomic particles then reintergrated with no bloody senses having no bloody idea if you've been put back together the wrong bloody way as you go rolling along some unknown alien landspace after having to spend half an hour publicly humiliating ourselves FUN!?!"

*By the end of the tirade Jasmine Hewitt was on her feet right up into Warders face her teeth clenched, eyes blazing, even a tiny amount of smoke was trailing from her nostrals. Then, a weird thing happened. Jasmine's anger completely faded from her face. A smile creep up on her, along with a chuckle... then a laugh... and before she knew what was happening she was laughing so hard it made her eyes water. Just the absurdity of it all... for some reason it was just so damn funny.

This lasted for a good few minutes. By the end of it she was certain Warder was thinking she had finally lost it, that the weight of her recent lost had finally hit home and broken something... as she slowly began to regain control of herself she felt herself wondering the same thing.*

"Ahahaha... *gasp* haha... ha... ha... heh. Thanks Warder. I haven't laughed so hard since before, well... yeah..."

*Morbid thoughts entered her head then, causing her to sober up quickly. Now on her feet with vision restored, Jasmine took a good look around at the deserted room before her. She looked out over the transparent walkway and whistled impressively.

Well that's certainly very stunning.

"Say Warder, is it just me or does this place seem a little... quiet."

*Indeed the room was completely deserted. Not a sole in sight not even when she looked out over the walkway. Of course to Jasmine Hewitt this looked a little more than a tiny bit suspect, especially given that the universe was supposed to come to a screeching halt very soon. Jasmine frowned, she did not like this one bit.*

"Hmmm... well, welcoming party aside I think we should proceed. After all I see no point in delaying any further... wouldn't you agree Mr Warder?"

*Jasmine wandered over to where she had fallen and after a quick scan picked up the bundle that she had brought along with her. Lucky no one had noticed the colour-shifting cloak that had been neatly tucked beneath her arm the whole time during the entire 'married' act... and as such had not noticed the unique sword wrapped up within it's folds. Deciding that something was off in this place, Jasmine Hewitt considered if it was the right time and then unravelled the sword from her cloak. Equiping herself accordingly with both weapon and cover, she proceeded to follow Warder down the transparent walkway. As she walked the cloak swayed back and forth, partially revealing her draconic form underneath as the enchantments upon it tried to blend with the consistantly changing background.*

[Ur_Quan]

After demolishing some more flyers while avoiding the AI's tentacles, Tex was prepared to admit that maybe he had underestimated the machine. However, despite everything the machine had thrown at him, Tex was still in one piece and this seemed to unnerve the machine, for the calm voice that the AI had used to speak with, had been replaced by one that was saturated with frustration and anger. The machine definately had a personality, but perhaps it also had some sort of humanity to it and Tex knew that humans could be bargained with.

Realising that time wasn't on his side, Tex tried to reason with the AI, while still eveding its attacks. "Hey listen. I'm not a criminal; I'm here on a mission. See, the world's going to end in 12 hours and I need to acquire an artefact that might prevent it from happening. I'm not at all interested in this facility. I came here in the assumption I could buy some time, but instead it's costing me time. You say you're in charge of protecting this facility, well, if I don't get that multitool, you'll be without a job tomorrow. In fact, I'm not even sure there will actually be a tomorrow to speak of. On the other hand, if you help me get the multitool, I'll be out of here before you can say 'blueberry pie' and everything will return to normal and you can continue watching over this facility and I'll never bother you again. What do you say?"

[Planetkiller II]

Chaos
The sheer number of tunnels made finding the mage an impossible task. Cid was beginning to move at random now, hoping to come across something, being a person or physical clue to what could be done next. He flattened himself against the cave wall, as three figures passed by in an ajoining tunnel. One was a young, beautiful women with long, silver-white hair. A second was a man of around the same age, but hardened and scarred. The last one, a dwarf looked wirey and strong, with a beard white as snow and pink, albino eyes. The man spoke first.

"He's done it Freya, he actually let the damn thing out. What is he thinking of?"

"In all honesty, I'm not sure he's still entirely sane. But still, there must be a reason behind such recklessness."

The woman's response seemed calm and collected, but the following comment from the dwarf was less so.

"A distraction perhaps. Get us to run around trying to save my people from Thor's pet project? I still can't believe he made it in the first place."


Magic
The pillar glowed more brightly as Gokan approached. Oddly, it seemed to be managing to glow black, which should be impossible. The runes on its surface seemed to reach out and burn themselves into his retinas But he understood them. Baldur didn't know how or why, but the symbols that he'd never seen before were making sense to him. In a tongue that he knew the meaning of, but could not explain in basic language, the mage spoke words of power to the pillar.

"Fanris rayn deltan harnen."

The pillar shifted in power, a motion which Gokan recognised as something akin to a nod. then it began to collapse into the floor, sections falling into place in the ground, forming a perfectly neat staircase of smoth obsidian. Gokan followed the steps down into the darkness, but his path was lit as he moved by symbols that lit up around him. Upon reaching the bottom, he realised that he was in some sort of catacombs. The sigils continued to light his way, seeming to nudge him towards the leftmost passage he could see.


Nature
Rofellos' almost had time to smile at his quick thinking, when the troll raised a hand, and his plant all erupted in a hail of black fire. While slowed slightly in its flight, the spear continued on with plenty enough force to kill. Seeing no other option to save the girl, Rofellos leapt at her, trying to tackle her out of the way before she was skewered. He got there just in time to push her away, but not quite fast enough to get out of the way himself. In mid air, he closed his eyes, expecting to feel his own weapon between his shoulder blades. Nothing happened. He didn't even hit the ground. Rofellos opened his eyes to find himself held in mid air, his spear barely a few centimetres in front of him, also floating. Slowly, both the elf and the spear dropped, and landed lightly on the floor. Rofellos, puzzled, looked around, expecting to have to fight the troll, but it had disappeared. Oddly, there didn't seem to be any doorways large enough for it to have left through. He turned again, this time to the girl. She was still there, but she seemed... different. Older and wiser somehow. She spoke in that wierd voice of hers, but much more calmly now.

"You have shown selflessness in protecting me mage. You have passed this test."


Order
The Captain raised an eyebrow at the comment, as if he thought it somewhat crazed.

"Er... you realise Gryphon is a legend right? As in, not real? Though, looking at what's coming at us, I can believe anything today."

He paused for a moment to blast a bat-familiar that was attempting to fly over the fire teams, then continued.

"Well, there's no way you could get to Gryphon if he existed at the moment. The spaceport is through that lot, and you need to get up there"

He pointed straight upward, at the swirling maelstrom that was Jupiter's red spot.

"Besides, how do you expect to fly into that and survive? We've got much more to deal with than legends at the moment anyway. If you want to help, fine, we can use it. If not, stay out of the way."


Fire
"Oh, I agree entirely, Miss Jasmine. However, I must say that it is gratifying to hear you laugh. I had not seen you smile till now. It suits you. Follow me please."

Warder wandered off towards the walkway, Jasmine following in his wake. Warder either didn't seem willing to explain why no one was about, or didn't know and was unphased by this. The view from inside the transparant tube was stunning. A glow from the planet below lit up everything, and Jasmine could now seen the rest of the station they had arrived upon. It seemed to sprawl away for miles, connecting and interconnecting with chambers and walkways. In the centre, or what Jasmine guessed was the centre, was a large spherical chamber, that had satelite dishes and sensor arrays poking out of it in every direction. It emitted a faint white light that seemed very warm and appealing. Warder pointed towards it.

"The page said that's where we have to go. Concentrics Central Control. The locals used to call it the triple-C point. I don't know much more, the Will wasn't all that forthcoming. Do you see a path through these twisting catwalks? My eyes aren't good for this kind of work."


Technology
"While your logic that if the world was destroyed tomorrow, I would have nothing to watch over is correct, the likelihood of this occuring is minimal. Ah... you lied to me Tex. You are a criminal. I have your records here. I can be reasonable, but I do not like being lied to. Your capture and detention remains neccessary for now. As the elemental of technology, I know the signifigance of the Multitool. You however, I think, do not."

The cables were now whirling in all directions, though surprisingly, most weren't attacking. It seemed to Tex like the AI was trying to gradually sheppard him into a corner, probably so he could be subdued easily, without causing too much damage. Through the door to the AI core, Tex could hear the sounds of shouting voices in the distance, It didn't sound like they were happy.

[Zappa Tenderlea]

thank you... tough I was not sure I had to protect you... the elders had told me to be carefull, as nothing was as it seemed, that's why I tried not to kill eighter one of you, and keep both of you from killing each other...

are you the one that can help me? have you heard of Cronos?..

I'm sorry, where are my manners? I know not who you are, I should show some respect, but the world is in great danger, when I started this quest, we had but 12 hours, and I know not how many have passed, I must find the keys

[Spritely Zombie]

Gokan follows the leftmost passage, attempting to read the sigils as he does so, all the while pondering who built the catacombs and whether their purpose was in parrallel or opposed to his own...

[ooc]Hmm... Somewhat lacking in inspiration atm, might edit this later if I come up with a good idea.[/ooc]

[AcidK]

*Cid waited for them to pass before looking towards them, making a hand gesture towards Little Measter to make him be as silent as possible. He then began to follow the trio with as much discretion as possible. Being hidden in dark caves was easy enough for him and Little Measter, but he did not know who these people were, so found it best to be hiding behind rocks and random crevases as he followed them down the caves.*

[Ur_Quan]

OOC- Oops, I thought I had replied to this thread long ago, but it was just ICE9 that I did then. Sorry. -OOC

"What you mean all those parking tickets I got and never paid? (NOTE: It says in my intro post that Tex was never caught, so he couldn't have had a criminal record or at least not one that includes theft.) They had no right to give me all those tickets, you know." Tex said while fending off some more tentacles. The machine was severly getting on his nerves by now. Tex'd rather not fight the elemental if he didn't have to, but he was running out of options very fast. However, Tex would never have gotten this far if he hadn't been a quick thinker and he decided to try one last thing.

"You say that chances that the world will end tomorrow are minimal. Well, you're a brilliant machine, but I'm sure there are things that even you do not know. What if I can come up with a riddle that you don't know the answer to, eh? Will you let me have the multitool then?"

The machine was silent for a moment as if in doubt and then, confident in its own abilities to solve any problem that a mere human could think up, agreed to the proposition.

"Alright, here goes. Three brothers have inherited a herd of camels from their father. In his will, their father has ordered the herd to split amongst his son as follows: his oldest son gets half of the herd and of the half that's left, the youngest son gets a third of the amount the oldest son is getting and the middle son gets twice the amount the youngest son is getting. Now this poses a problem, because the herd consists of 11 camels and that'd mean they'd have to slaughter one camel to give each of them their fair share. Camels are valuable so they don't really want to slaughter it, but neither of them is prepared to give up part of his inheritence. Then along comes a wise man on a camel and the brothers explain their problem to him. The wise man takes a look at the herd and says: 'Yes, I can help you with your problem. You can each get your fair share without having to slaughter that poor camel.' Now tell me, mister elemental, what did the wise man do?"

[Hewitt]

ooc: likewise

*Jasmine raises an eyebrow.*

"What do you mean used to?"

*Sighing, Jasmine looked back towards the large glowing orb in space. So that's our destiniation huh? Looks appealing enough... too bad about the endless f*cking maze in between it and us. Looking around the clear chamber of the corridor and out into the ongoing series of chambers and walkways Jasmine began carefully studying her surroundings, searching for whatever clues could lead her to this mysterious 'CCC'. Every maze had a secret to them experience told her, and with her interest in this amusing little endevour growing Jasmine was becoming determined to find out what this might be.*

"Hmm... you ever seen a film called 'the cube' Warder? This place reminds me of it..."

[Planetkiller II]

Nature
The girl laughed her strange laugh once more, as if nothing Rofellos had said to her held any importance.

"The worries of the tested mage are of no concern. Time is malleable here, ever changing. Even were that not so, there should not be anything to distract you. The trials do not end here, you are only beginning your journey to see if you are worthy. I am the first of the council of twelve, but clearly I am not the last."

The girl began to subtlely fade. It wasn't that she was disappearing exactly, more that the suroundings were gradually taking her place. When all traces of her were gone, Rofellos found himself once more alone in the tunnels. A last shred of voice came to him, dreamily, as if far away.

"Perhaps I shall help you when you least expect it. You never can tell, Rofellos, mage of nature..."


Magic
The sigils were written in that language that Gokan had instinctively known, but a nagging suspicion in his mind whisphered to him that other people would be unlikely to see them the same way he did. They didn't seem to mean specific words as far as the scambled thoughts in his head were telling him, but more a feeling. In a mumble Baldur couldn't supress, he spoke out loud to himself.

"This way is the right one."

From behind, Gokan heard a low hum, and turned to see one of the mageflies dancing around. He wondered for a moment where it had come from, but dismissed it as nothing when it took no action except following him, bobbing and flying about. He walked forwards down the passage, trying to keep his mind focused, but it was becomming harder to see the meaning of the symbols. Feelings and thoughts kept flashing before him, but they were fleeting, like the magefly that danced before him...

Note: This tunnel leads to where Zappa is currently.


Chaos
The man continued, somewhat angrily.

"Well he did, and now it's become our problem. If we don't deal with this then even if we win down here, the surface of Mars will be decimated, and all our planning will be pointless."

The woman known as Freya turned her grey eyes on the others in a tranquill gaze.

"I'm sure you know what we have to do. The only being capable of stopping the Elemental resides within our foe. It is no longer enough to destroy or lock away Coen."

Gruffly, the dwarf interjected.

"We need Thor. With him we might actually be able to..."

"I know. And you know why that's not possible."


Technology
ooc// Curses, I forgot about that. Assume it meant the police 'believe' you to be behind a few things, and thus have a file on you. Also, gurrrk that that problem. The herd can't have 11 camels in it, otherwise the sums don't add up. 13 would make sense. Unless ofc I've misinterpreted it somehow. Anyhow, I've answered as if it were 13. //ooc

"I believe the answer to your riddle would be that the man takes a camel for himself, Quentin. That was not my reason for pause though. I have been reevaluating your previous statements. There is a more signifigant probability of the world ending than I had thought, given the coincidences of your statements with the truth. I cannot risk everything by subduing you just yet, thus I shall give you a chance to...."

The elemental seemed unable to continue speaking, as if cut off by some other entity. It began to speak again, in the flat monotone Tex had first heard it use.

"AI override software triggered, reverting to full security mode."

The AI's weaponry continued to attack.

Note: I suggest that you don't destroy the Elemental, it could well be helpful to you.


Fire
"The Will referred to it only in the past tense. I got the impression that the Angelics aren't here anymore. As to why, that has not been shared with me. This maze should not be too dangerous, unless decay has rendered part of the station uninhabitable. That might make things more difficult. Otherwise it should be fairly straightforward."

A computer voice echoed from nowhere in particular.

"Station will self-destruct in forty minutes."

"Or perhaps not."

Warder walked swiftly into the tunnel ahead of them, instantly understanding the urgency of the situation. He twitched again as he did so, as the Will gave him another jolt of informaion. The paper had been fairly quiet recently and Jasmine was glad of it.

"The Will informs me that most paths should lead to the triple-C point eventually, but the security systems may also have been activated, if the self destruct has been armed."

[Zappa Tenderlea]

what in Gaia's name... I hope they know what they are doing... then again, if they knew, would we have been sent back?... I had better hurry...

not knowing wheretoo or wherefrom, Rofellos picked up his spear, and started running

[Ur_Quan]

OOC- No, 11 is alright, and remember the text says that the wise man comes riding along on a camel, so he already has one, so why take another? I assume you don't know the answer then? -OOC

[Planetkiller II]

ooc// Surely 11-1 = 10 , 10\2 = 5 , 5\3 doesn't go... The herd would have to be divisible by 6 in order for it to work, right? Maybe I'm just being a dumbass. Anywho, looks like I don't know the answer //ooc

ooc2// Did by any chance the wise man give them his camel? That would make it up to 12, which works. Can't see why he'd do that though //ooc2

[Ur_Quan]

OOC- Ehhh, sorry, but there IS a mistake in the text. It should say that the middle son is getting HALF the amount of the oldest son, and NOT twice as much as the youngest. Sorry. Perhaps now you can solve it? Oh, and the wise man leaves no richer or poorer as he was was when he first came. -OOC

[Planetkiller II]

ooc// But... but... that doesn't seem to work either 6/12 + 2/12 + 3/12 = 11/12 leaving 1/12 of the herd that nobody gets. Plus the numbers still don't divide into 10. I'm stumped there... //ooc

[Ur_Quan]

OOC- The wise man said to the brothers: "You have a problem, for 11 is an odd number and therefore your herd cannot be divided according to your father's will without slaughtering a camel. To help you and to save this poor camel's life, I give you my camel. Now the herd can be split properly." And then the wise man took half of the herd and gave them to the oldest son and said: "Half the herd is yours, so these camels belong to you." Then he took half of the 6 remaining camels and gave them to the second oldest son and said: "You get 3 camels, which is half the amount your older brother got." And then he took 2 from the 3 remaining camels and said to the youngest brother: "Your father wanted you to get a third of the amount of camels that your oldest brother got. Well, he got 6, so you get 2, here you go." Then he walked to remaining camel (which just so happened to be exactly the camel that he had given to the brothers a moment ago and said: "And I will take this one camel as payment for my services to you. Good day!" and then he rode off again, leaving the brothers baffled, for they all got more camels than they would have gotten if they had split 11 camels amongst themselves and they didn't have to chop up any camels either and the wise man had got his own camel back.

I was told this riddle once by my grandfather some 18 years ago. I didn't understand how it worked at the time, but I think you sort of solved it, because the reason this works is that 1/6 +1/4 + 1/2 = 11/12 so they would've had bits of camel left that nobody was entitled to have, had they chopped up one of their 11 camels. Even so, I think it's a pretty neat riddle and you were very close to solving it. -OOC

[Hewitt]

ooc: I think my IQ jumped up by at least five points after reading that.

[Hewitt]

Originally Posted by Planetkiller II

Fire
"The Will referred to it only in the past tense. I got the impression that the Angelics aren't here anymore. As to why, that has not been shared with me. This maze should not be too dangerous, unless decay has rendered part of the station uninhabitable. That might make things more difficult. Otherwise it should be fairly straightforward."

A computer voice echoed from nowhere in particular.

"Station will self-destruct in forty minutes."

"Or perhaps not."

Warder walked swiftly into the tunnel ahead of them, instantly understanding the urgency of the situation. He twitched again as he did so, as the Will gave him another jolt of informaion. The paper had been fairly quiet recently and Jasmine was glad of it.

"The Will informs me that most paths should lead to the triple-C point eventually, but the security systems may also have been activated, if the self destruct has been armed."

ooc: Short due to writers block

"Oh great. That's just peachy."

*Jasmine mentally curses as she draws forth her sword from the sheath strapped to her back, her previous moment of release already forgotten. As the curved, single-edged, eastern style longsword blade catches alight Jasmine starts running after Warder quickly catching up with him.*

"You had best let me go ahead if security has been activated, booby traps and I have a long running history..."

[Zappa Tenderlea]

*bump*

[Planetkiller II]

I would like to DM, but only 3 people posted...

[Spritely Zombie]

Gokan slowly becomes aware of the sound of running water over the hum of the mageflies. Turning a corner he finds himself in what appears to be some kind of treatment works, stone pipes dumping water into pools, several somewhat impressive, if mildly neglected looking boilers and pumps chugged mechanically. Out of the corner of his eye he sees a figure dash into a passageway.

He pauses to cry out but realises the sounds of water and machinery would almost certainly drown him out. So instead he breaks into a run, heading after the figure.

[Ur_Quan]

OOC- My sincere apologies for being such a lazy ass. -OOC

"To what? A chance to what? C'mon, tell me!" Tex screamed after the voice had stopped speaking to him. "AI override software triggered, reverting to full security mode." was the only answer Tex got before the machine stopped talking altogether and resumed its attack with increased ferocity; the tentacles suddenly appeared to be a lot more agile and he could hear swarms of the flying sentinels that were on their way down from the ceiling high above. Tex had to think quickly if he wanted to survive this mess, so it was a good thing for Tex that he was a quick thinker.

The AI had been talking about a chance and that had sounded very promising in view of his current situation. Also, he'd probably need the AI's help in order to escape, so destroying it, was probably not a very good idea. Tex possessed excellent computer skills and there was a terminal present in the room, so it might just be possible to undo the override and get the AI back the way it was, especially if the elemental was really an entity, because it'd be fighting against the override as well. The only problem with this, was that this required him to spend some time behind the terminal and that was just impossible with all the tentacles trying to squash him and soon also the droids that would be trying to shoot him.

Tex was outnumbered and he needed a way to even the score a bit. Then he remembered Pinky. Maybe Pinky's disruptive EM-field could help him here, not by disrupting the AI core, that probably wouldn't work anyway, but by disrupting the sensors of all the flyers. With any luck they'd go beserk and shoot everything, including the AI and since they'd be a bigger threat to the AI than Tex was, the machine would mainly focus on them instead of Tex and it might buy him enough time to undo the override. True, it'd be very near suicide to be in a closed room where laserbeams would be fired in almost every direction, but it'd be preferable to being in a closed room where all laserbeams would be fired at him. Figuring that this would be his only chance to make it to the terminal and get the original AI back, Tex took Pinky from his pocket and enabled its jamming field. "Don't fail me now, old friend..."