[IC] TotMV:G^2: Clash of Fate: The War Room (Social/Prep Phase)

[Hal Henderics]

"Those Jerks! what did I ever do to them!?"

 

 

"..."

 

"Ok, I'm done with those guys."

 

Dackly softens a stone, and shapes it into a drug pipe of some kind.

 

"Guard, I'm going to engage in recreation, stop me if I get silly with you."

 

She winks at Rand with her single giant eye, before breaking the Paranoia Aerogel into chunks, stuffing it into the pipe, lighting it off Gozer's flame, and smoking it to try and develop an immunity.

 

--

 

Laver thinks for a moment.

 

"What about the ley-lines? We've got magic people in our group, maybe we should let them in on the secret, if we want to break the siege enough to get to these servants."

 

"Also, Maybe we should retake the mine and forests first, so you guys can kick start your war engine better? Denying them something while taking it for ourselves could be handy."

Edited June 29, 2017 by Hal Henderics

[Powder Miner]

Navin takes a casual look behind him at Dackly's "stop me if I get silly with you", and his eyebrows practically shoot into his hairline as he sees the mist start to slowly rise from her pipe, and immediately tried to dissuade her, though as politely as usual. "Ah, my apologies, but... you... well, you really probably should NOT be letting any of that mist into the courtyard! The... mist of paranoia, when there are a lot of people here!" He raised his hands up in the air in a "stop" motion.

[Hal Henderics]

Dackly looks at him, as at the same time, Gozer is manipulating the mineral gas, holding it in a bubble.

 

"Sorry, should have mentioned that."

 

Dackly says, before the drop hits her suddenly, whatever that may be.

 

"I can control stone.  This smoke is still stone, thankfully."

 

 

Edited June 29, 2017 by Hal Henderics

[Yours Truly]

Solomon stifled a snicker for a moment after seeing how confused Rand seemed and successfully resisted the urge to pat them in the back before saying with the usual grin on his face "

Wait, he actually plants explosive spells in his books to prevent anyone from stealing them? If he wanted to keep them safe why doesn't he just invest in a secure pocket dimension or something? Seems like a waste to be honest"
 

He had a thoughtful look on his face for a while as he considered whether or not a person in a war zone would be interested in a certain object, but after a while his brain reasoned that he honestly would lose nothing if he tried, especially since what he was offering was power, if you had a rather odd view of power that involved curling up in front of something anyway. "How interested would Lord Bellenus be in expanding his collection anyway?".

 

After waiting a few moments to listen for Rand's reply he turned to the Indian man who spoke in that one language whose name started with Mar or something and said "Speaking Egyptian is easy, you just have to learn the vowels" which is the only sentence he knows well enough to say in.....Mararthi?. Solomon made a mental note to ask for the man's name later, he didn't want to be the guy who referred to someone as 'The Indian'.

[IntSys]

Halley bounced up from the pile of books. "That was FUN!" she exclaimed.

 

She looked back to the others. Apparently, there was nothing to do but wait until the 'officers' return. She figured that she should at least pretend to be occupied, so she took out Solomon's book, titled 'Assassinomocron', and made an honest attempt at figuring out the contents of the book.

 

(Inactive for 11 days. Halley will follow the group once the intermission ends.)

[Strider]

Edmond

Edmond watched resignedly as Solomon walked off to speak with someone else. ". . . Sorry about him. We've got many types of people in our group. So. . .," Not sure how to continue on that subject, Edmond reverted to his information gathering. "What can you tell me about the lay of the land? How far away was the border between Shienar and Asterlux lands, are there any large cities, what are the locations of the other noble houses, any oceans, rivers, or mountain ranges that I should know of?" Edmond, while he listened to the response from this question, lifted up his helmet to peer at something on the inside screen, checking the local temperature. Once he had noted that, Edmond looked up to the man presumably talking to him. "What season is it currently, and what time of day? I presume night, based on lighting, but how many hours after sunset would it be? And actually, it would probably be good if I could know a bit more about the noble houses and the history of this land in general. That might be useful in defeating them." A brief pause, then a final burst of questions. "Are you aware of the spiritual beings commanding these draconic legions, and have you had any encounters with them. And hopefully my final set of questions, mainly to ensure that I don't accidentally insult someone or accidentally insinuate something based on my lack of familiarity with the land. Is Lord Silef or Lord Belenus the lord of this castle? And, since you mentioned 'Lumabella', I should probably know a bit about the religions of this land, and what I should generally avoid saying or doing in order to not anger people of high rank." And that seemed to be all. Edmond had a few more questions, but none were important enough to warrant the taking of this man's time in the middle of a siege, and he could probably find answers to those if this Lord Belenus would let read in the library a little.

[DragonRage]

Lexiel groans lowly, and resists the urge to slam her forehead against the table.  This is what she gets from learning diplomacy at the knee of the Tezzeret, the Multiverse's Biggest Asshole.  "If you know what moonsilver can do, and were still unable to trap these entities, it's even more impressive than I'd thought that you've held out this long," She attempts to mollify the now irate noblewoman, "You've been on the ground for far longer than any of us.  What do you believe absolutely must happen for the tides of this war to turn in your favor?"  Hopefully, some schmoozing will smooth things over and get a clear objective on the table.  Now it's starting to feel like applying for grants.

[Powder Miner]

Navin opened his mouth, and then closed, and then opened it again. "Okay... right... that is better, but considering the paranoid nature of the gas, and how it affected both you and I last time, I just think it might be the sort of thing it is best to do alone, or just with your stone friend...?"

 

Then Navin turned at the sound of his first language being spoken, and he looked confused at Solomon for a moment before he then replied to the man in Marathi. <"I-- uh, what? I'm not sure what...>" Navin still didn't understand what the man was going on about, but something did click, <"...oh, you speak Marathi?">

Edited June 30, 2017 by Powder Miner

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Eventually, Walmond got tired of waiting around and simply watching events play out from the sidelines. He would be working with these people, and developing a reputation of being just an observer and not speaking to anyone unless specifically spoken to would not be a good thing to happen later down the road. Instead, he actually had to take some initiative.

 

With that in mind, Walmond suddenly began walking forward, Lambda following after him not a second later. There WAS one person he was interested in learning, specifically, a woman who he had seen taking on the skeletons with nothing but a knife, the same person he had decided to assist in that regard, "I noticed you're a part of these travelers as well, given that you seem to already know Dackly and Gozer" Walmond said when he approached her, stopping a fair distance away.

[Strider]

Liliya

Liliya spun around at being addressed, and was greeted by two rather normal looking people. Both a bit tall though. As seemed appropriate on this journey with such varied compatriots, Liliya began to take a more in depth observation of the pair after she had completed her initial judgement of "reasonably normal" (compared to the likes of Dackly and Gozer). The man seemed human, not really different from the humans she knew well. Clothes were worn, fairly simple, but slightly antiquated in fashion. The vest and cloak seemed to have that effect. If she recalled correctly, this was the man who had electrified her knife, so evidently like most people here he had some talents that could be considered magic. The woman seemed fairly normal too, though her attire was a bit odd. The frilled dress seemed a little unnatural, but the primary thing that Liliya noticed was the gauntlets that ran up to her shoulders--and the fact that she was floating. Huh. After the second or two that it took Liliya to process this, she awkwardly held her hand out. Assuming that he had heard her name when she started to address the other woman--Samantha: the one she had met in the castle halls earlier, now that she thought about it--Liliya said, "Oh, hi. Uh, nice to meet you and all that. Yeah, I'm on the team. Been here only a few hours though. Been to a desert world, a fast food place, a brief stop in some future earth, and now here in those short hours. . . Anyway, your name? And yours too." She addressed this last part to the woman floating next to him

[DragonRage]

"Uh, I'm fine?" It sounds more like a question than a statement.  "I'm Samantha Grey.  Pleasedtameetcha, Liliya.  I-  Ohmigod you look exactly like a rule 63 Malcolm Reynolds.  Er, that came out wrong...  Unless you liked Firefly in which case it probably came out right."

[GodofGamingRWBY]

"Walmond Reigard, scientist and inventor" Walmond replied, reaching out himself and shaking Liliya's hand. Then he let go, gesturing to Lambda, "And this is Lambda, an artificial human made by me, before I was brought here, at least" He added. As soon as he said that though, he couldn't help but turn to Samantha, "... I feel like it is not my place to ask, but what do you mean by 'rule 63 Malcolm Reynolds'?" he asked, pure curiousity getting the better of him there. He could make the assumption that Malcolm Reynolds was someone from Samantha's world, like he had used Samantha calling the woman he was originally speaking to Liliya to figure out her name, but he did not exactly understand what she was meaning with 'rule 63'. 

Edited June 30, 2017 by GodofGamingRWBY

[Strider]

Liliya politely shook the man's hand. "Scientist. . . Nice to meet you though. So Lambda? She's a robot then? That's pretty cool."

And, in answer to his query, and Samantha's exclamation, she frowned a moment, dredging up some memories. "Firefly. . . that was a short tv show, right? In space? I, uh, didn't watch many shows. So, I guess you'll have to tell me whether it's a good thing to look like this Malcolm Reynolds person?" As she said this, Liliya watched Samantha skeptically. They had met briefly in the castle corridors, and she had seemed a little less rushed and nervous. But then again, who knew how being in a medieval castle surrounded by skeletons might affect someone. "I only asked what was up because you seemed a bit nervous. but if you're fine. . . Wait, so you're from earth? Weird. . I thought maybe with the whole multiverse thing that there wouldn't be many earth people."

[Yours Truly]

Solomon shook his head at the Indian man after hearing his question, and he made an odd gesture as he said "Eh....little little, I only know enough to make that archaeology joke, and that you are asking me if I understand the language. Well that and I can sort of read it a bit, although I do find it to be a bit too complicated for my tastes..." he was silent for a bit after saying that, although he eventually got the idea to ask "I don't think that we have met before by the way, may I ask for your name?".

[UrbanSamurai]

Magnum cups his hands around his eyes, mimicking a set of binoculars, and surveys the courtyard scene. The castle legion stands alert as the enemy bombard the exterior walls. His Teammates they mingle with one another, chat with the castle faculty, violate the Geneva Convention. 

The RV's A.I. voice pipes up, "Darlin', why didn't you up and volunteer to be one of 'em to speak with that fancy lady? Strategy is your calling after all, you could've added something real nice with your experience."

Magnum squints his eyes, further focusing on the view outside of the van, yet he finds the facial coordination to simultaneously burst into one of his rosy smiles. "Now, you should know me better than that by now. How long have we been on the road together? Long enough, yes. I have a few years under my belt, but each of these adventures makes me feel like a rook again. And you know what a rook does? He watches, observes, learns from the big dogs. Can't stir up a fried egg if you ignore the chef! Some of these folk, I think they have a grasp on whatever's going on right now, a better grasp than I do. I'll follow the leaders and move where I'm supposed to move, do what I'm supposed to do. I was a coordinator and assistant for a good while before I was a coach or broadcaster, and it did me well to live and learn. I can certainly wait for this."

"That sounds mighty fine when you put it like that, Richie. So what will you do now?"

"You gotta' do what you gotta' do, and for now that's building foundations with the Team, and getting along with the locals. I'm getting out the Meet-and-Greet stuff; Polly, you play some Lynyrd Skynyrd on the external speakers."

 

The Boomtown Express vibrates with snare hits and bass rifts as Magnum opens up a hatch giving him access to the roof of the vehicle. Climbing up a set of stairs, he comes into full view hoisting a folding chair, a blue cooler and a red ovular object under his arms; each of the devices is then placed onto the roof, still trembling with the gritty vocals of Johnny Van Zant. The red object sprouts a pair of diagonally perpendicular legs that raise it into the air. Magnum removes the top half of the oval to reveal three levels of metal grates above burning embers, each level containing a different kind of meat. Twin slots eject from the sides of the barbecue grill, boasting organized sections of breads and condiments. Magnum bangs his fist on the top of the cooler and it pops open, a treasure chest of various alcoholic delicacies swimming in ice. With this 4th of July setup finalized, Magnum sits in the folding chair, groaning as his old bones sink into the polyester fabric. He waves enthusiastically at everyone standing in the proximity of the Boomtown Express. "Come on, there's enough to go around! Can't break a siege on an empty stomach!"

[ElfCollaborator]

Empi looks incredibly bored and somewhat irritated by all this. She prods Mitsu.

"You bored of this crap? Because I am. How do people do this war thing? It gets so tiring. And messy. And people call me weird for liking sex."

Edited June 30, 2017 by ElfCollaborator

[Powder Miner]

"I do not think Marathi is particularly complicated, but it is true that it is not the most international of languages. It is always a rare pleasure when I am abroad... or off-world, for that matter, to meet anyone who speaks my language at all. Even if I do not quite understand archaeology jokes, ha ha. Ah... but I do need to introduce myself, yes?" Navin bowed, hands together, his usual gesture of greeting. "My name is Navin Mhasalkar, and it is nice to meet you. May I get your name as well?"

 

Upon hearing Magnum's welcome, his music, and smelling his barbecue Navin turned to the man, though not leaving his position near Solomon -- he was talking with the book mage, after all. "Ah... I hope you are not offended by my refusal, but I am a lactovegetarian, thanks to being Hindu, so I am afraid I cannot really join in! I will give you this, though, it does smell good."

 

Edited June 30, 2017 by Powder Miner

[Yours Truly]

Solomon turned to the man offering alcohol and meat in the middle of a courtyard filled with soldiers, and he gave the man a thumbs up before turning back to Navin and offering him a handshake "My name is Solomon, and if you ever want anything to help you feel more at home, I might be able to arrange something if that want is a book somewhere".

Atton did what any other soldier would do when offered free no strings attached food and alcoholic drinks after several long and hard battles, and that is walk up to the man offering all of this and say "I honestly can't find anything to say in response other than 'thank you very much' and 'do you have any bacon'?".

[Chevaleresse]

War Room

 

"The mine is important, but I doubt we will be able to retake it easily. Their primary encampment rests directly atop the place. Furthermore, while it is not completely exhausted, its productivity has been going down for decades. The leylines should be detectable by the mages here already. Tapping them may prove useful, particularly if there are strong ritual casters among your number. As far as turning the war. . . We might have a chance with those Servants dead. Might. It would at least buy us time so we could wait for reinforcements to arrive. Your group has already shown the ability to put dents in their force, at least temporarily; the only reason I was able to lead that sortie was that their force was thinned out by your actions. Did you fight another battle before pressing towards this keep?" Silef glanced to the side at one of her guards. "Let the rest of the group know they're free to move about the keep."

 

Courtyard

 

Dackly accrues more than her fair share of strange looks when she pulls out her pipe. Strange looks that start to look an awful lot like murder when the drop hits her, flooding her with that same paranoid feeling from before - was Gozer, too, plotting against her? Perhaps she should destroy him while she had the chance. . .
 

Rand shook his head at Edmond. "Honestly, you should just visit Lord Belenus's library. I'm sure he has an atlas for you." The man looked distinctly irritable at the withering barrage of questions. "Lord Silef owns the castle, Belenus is a relative and her court mage - or what passes for one. Don't curse the names of the gods; other than that, no one will expect anything of you, particularly because you are a foreigner." He glanced at Solomon - a glance that accidentally became somewhat of a glare. "Ask the man yourself. I'm a sorcerer, not a wizard." 

 

Magnum's display quickly draws a crowd. As it turns out, soldiers love booze and free food even more than college students; a stream of them started to flow out of the barracks despite the time of night and the fact that war still raged just outside the walls (though it seemed these ones were off-duty, as none came down from the walls without being replaced by another man.)

 

Mitsurugi looked at Empi with a slight shift of her head. "War is necessary sometimes. Especially if you are a guardian goddess."

 

Characters may move from this thread into other non-Castle threads, or back into this one. If a character is not in the War Room, please reply in the appropriate thread.

 

[Hal Henderics]

"Do you know what resources they may be drawing from the forest, aside from... you know, Wood?  It might be worth retaking that first, and we can like, Sneak around and capture people for info or something, under the tree cover."

 

Laver says, looking appropriately embarrassed.

[Powder Miner]

"Yes, we did in fact fight another battle at the very moment of our arrival. We had appeared here and immediately were locked in combat with... somewhere in the vicinity of 300 or 400 skeletons, arriving in waves. We took down around the first half of the enemy army on our own, at which point we were attacked by who we now know to be Assassin. We learned a couple things about her: that she is summoning the skeletons, that she has some sort of skeletal dragon but that she won't have more than one (if her various boasting is reliable, at least), and that she utilizes pink mist which I believe induces mental stress. My advice is to kill her as soon as possible, but we unless she shows herself again, we may need to kill other Servants to get a grasp on where to fight her, plus there is that skeletal dragon to worry about."

[DragonRage]

"She did seem the sort to hide behind her creations rather than leading them from the front," Lexiel contributes, "But I discovered that her summons all share a potentially devastating weakness.  They are draconic in nature.  I don't know how; they're obviously not dragons, but they responded to magic that specifically affects dragons.  If you have any bane weapons or similar spells and equipment, that could allow you to much more easily destroy the skeletons."

[Sutoratosu]

So... that's the... odd sensation I've been feeling... 

 

Perhaps I've finally found a way...

 

Of course you'd think that. But no, I think I have an idea that's a bit more productive. And you already razed one world when you were at your full glory, I'm not about to potentially give you the opportunity to do it over again.

 

A Pity, and here I thought our trust was worth more than this.

 

It is. Just not when matters of great energies or potential gains are involved. I know you. I know how All of you lot are... you made it hard for us to ever forget, afterall. Even if this idea proves to work, you won't be touching a single drop of the output.

 

Staying silent as the others continued their discussion, ghost finally felt it was time to ask the one thing yet lingering in the air "Forgive me, but could you elaborate a bit more on these Leylines? As you say, I do feel something here. If you can share what exactly they are and how they work, I think I may have a Potential idea...."

[Chevaleresse]

War Room

 

"There's nothing to be drawn from that forest except the obvious. And if the proposal is to strike at their supply lines, you may as well try to find a route to the caravans bringing in food - if they have any. The bastards could just be conjuring it on massive scales for all I know." She nodded at LOTUS and Lexiel's comments. "There might be bane weapons in the armory. You'll need my presence to gain access; it's sealed, and keyed to the Asterlux bloodline." Finally, she turned to Ghost. "A magic user that doesn't know how leylines function? They're lines of raw power that mages can tap into. This fortress was built atop a confluence of them."

 

Seeing Silef finish, Nobunaga piped up. "I can help you find the exact locations of the other Servants. Normally, this would be with the exception of Assassin, but trying to use her Presence Concealment while summoning this many minions is pointless, and she knows that as well as I do. I don't believe her rank in it is particularly high, either. I can't get you their exact locations, but once we're close I can track them down easily. Being a Servant is incredibly convenient sometimes, you know?"

[Sutoratosu]

Well, that answer told me about fuck all...my dear, I more or less already guessed they had to be some type of massive energy surge- oh whatever... If you want information sometimes you have to get it yourself, I suppose. Working for him all those years taught me that much, at least.

 

Trying to glean a Resonance in a foreign world, are we? An interesting endeavor, let's see how well it goes...

 

There was no problem earlier, when we were fighting off that volley of spells. I don't why one would arise now... now if they could just finish and actually come up with a battle plan, I can get to work...

 

You could, you know... say something...

 

Why? The being, the one claiming to be an officer of overwatch or some such, and that magic talking slab probably already have something drummed up, I'd likely be wasting my breath. So let's just hear what they have first...

 

And so the Caller stayed silent for now, waiting for the other two to inevitably respond with their own judgement on the situation. She had to admit, she truly was more the type to actually do rather than discuss, and she was seeing that simple truth more and more here. Perhaps it simply came with being a lapdog most of one's life, or perhaps she'd gotten too used to being given an objective and improvising her own way to ensuring the mission was done.