RocketLord

GM "The bog wife!" the first Elven guard exclaimed. "The bog wife!" the other agreed. They looked at each, then at the Hero of Heartache again. Spears slowly withdrawn, but not quite, they at least no longer pressed into Lament's throat. The music stopped. A voice called out from the hall. "Bring the mortal to me!" It was a deeper voice. If the bog wife had sounded old, this, decidedly male, voice sounded ancient. It echoed in the hall, finally bringing the music to a stop. Invoking the bog wife's name had done something, at least. It clearly came from the throne in the middle of the hall, just around a bend into a smaller cave, where Lament could not see its occupant. Withdrawing a bit, but with their spears still pointed at him, the Elven guards motioned for Lament to move. "You heard the King! Forward, mortal!"

"Look at you guys, already getting along." Robin couldn't help herself. Despite their protests, it was almost adorable the way these two were talking in synchronization. Looking between Kidd and the Wall, she smiled behind her mask. It might just work, getting these two to talk together. They knew more about what was going on than Robin did, so they would have to come up with the specifics, but just having them agreeing to hear her out was a start, at least. "Right, first of all, how about we all agree to put away our guns, whether they're the kind that shoots or, y'know, your arms." She motioned towards the Wall. "Like, maybe back up a little bit, just so we're out of reach? Easier to talk nicely to each other if we're not about to shoot each other. Right?"

They had come here looking for a better life. Illegally, sure, but still, they had pretty much been tricked into something like this by Blowfish, and now he was pressuring all his workers into doing just this. But, an idea was starting to form. Robin wasn't sure if it would work at all, but it might. Even if Kidd didn't like these people, they all hated Blowfish, and putting him away for a looong time would be better than having the building blown up or people getting killed. She ignored Kidd's protests for now. "You might take out Blowfish with that, and then what? You'll bring the whole place down, so you'll have nowhere to live. The people protesting on the street are going to, rightly, assume that you're to blame, and they'll rip you and your families apart." The Wall couldn't see the look on Robin's face behind her mask, which was probably a good thing. Full face masks made talking to people easier, for some reason. "And even if you get out of that, then what? They'll look into you, and you'll probably be deported." Robin paused for a moment. She was well aware that she was still holding the Justice Buster towards the Wall, but she kept silent. "So. I got an idea. You guys hate Blowfish. Detective Kidd over there hates Blowfish. You might not like each other, at all, and that's how it is, but how about we work together to get Blowfish out of the way? Something big and in public, so he can't run away?" It was yet another long shot, but better than no shot at all.

"Thank you, Veronica!" Pan looked in wonder at his classmate and friend. She knew so much about this! And they would get to go so fast! Faster than he had ever traveled before! He followed Col. Austin as he led them up to the ship, still marveling at every single sight along the way. Moving around the room as he colonel told them about the Porpoise and Eagle, and what they had told them, Pan gave pause for a moment. If Blackstar was that powerful, then staying out the way would probably be for the best, yes, but he also kind of wanted to see him. And besides, they were quite formidable in their own right, were they not? But, stealth could be the smarter play, and if Col. Austin believed to be the case, then he would follow that rule, for now. After all, he got to go to space! He did a mock salute when Col. Austin responded to his question of souvenirs. "I shall bring back whatever seems interesting that I can find!" The Nightstone, then? Oh, that could be interesting to borrow. Would probably annoy this Blackstar fellow greatly, too.

Unless you try something else, can I get some initiative rolls?

GM A frenzy of four sharks had approached, though not undiscovered. They began slowly circling around the group, though not making any overly aggressive moves. One of them, slightly larger than the others, seemed to stop and stiffen for a fraction of a second when Sgt. Shark called out to them. Then it continued swimming. "You have few teeth. We have many." Its reply was short, as one would perhaps expect from a shark. "Guard the strange squid. Keep danger away. Keep you away. Eat you." The circle began to close in. Words would probably not persuade the sharks.

GM The two Elven guards looked between each other. Did they marvel at the wits of the Monarch of Mourning? Did they ponder on the meaning of the words, or were they simply confused by what he was saying? "The lights of the mist? But..." one began, before the other waved him off with his hand. "No, brother. He cannot have!" "But he must have!" "But he cannot! It is the law! And only she would have broken the law!" The two Elves turned to Lament again. Their eyes narrowed, the spears pressing closer. He could feel the bronze tip from one pressing into his neck, yet without drawing blood. "Just who showed you the path to the lights, traveller?" The music was still playing, as merry as ever.

Right. And then everything went pearshaped again. Of course they were just resisting Blowfish and what he was doing here. And there were already immigrants in here. And Detective Kidd made sure that Robin knew exactly the kind of justice he believed in. But no, she wasn't gonna have it. Her threat might just have been a bluff, but Kidd would probably follow through, if he made his way. So, more conflicting opinions. And she had to sort through all of them. "So..." she looked between Kidd and the Wall. "You don't like Blowfish. And you don't like Blowfish. And I'm pretty sure he's a bad guy. Kidd's a cop, and what you guys are doing is a terrorist act, even if you're doing it to harm Blowfish, so he's right about that, no matter the reasons. So, you" Robin motioned towards the Wall with the Justice Buster, "What's your deal? Why are you even coming here and working for Blowfish if you know this is going to happen?"

GM The song played on, as the Arbiter of Anguish continued his trek through the tunnel. It led him on, it grew slowly louder, until finally, he found himself standing at the end of the tunnel, at the entrance of a great hall. The hall was lit by torches that adorned the walls. A large number of great tables filled the hall, and yet, they were all empty, but the source of the music was made clear: An orchestra, three Elven maid, almost identical to the one that Lament had encountered earlier. One played a violin, another a flute, and the third was beating the tune on a great big drum that he sat on. But the Cheerleader of Cherlessness had little time to take in the hall, or see what else awaited him inside. A pair of spears were lowered from either side of the entrance, each held by an Elven man clad in a light tunic. They were white, they were beautiful. Their eyes were like daggers, however. "Halt! Who dares enter this hall univited?" The first one asked. "Who has shown you the path?" the second one followed.

Ugh, Robin might have said a bit too much here. The thing that gave the Wall pause was, of all things, that she would bring the place down. And then he mentioned all the people here. What people? Weren't it only the Wall's gang that were in here? Did they have someone else here that they hadn't seen? Hostages? "What people?" Robin raised the Justice Buster further, aiming it directly at the Wall's chest. One wrong move, she would go for him. "As far as I've seen, there's just you and the rest of your wannabe terrorists, fixing to take out a refugee center with dynamite. What would that help you, anyway?" Maybe he would start talking if prodded a bit. Even if he wasn't the brains here, he did seem to be the leader.

If Lament is being sneaky in going down the tunnel, I'd like a Stealth check. If not, no need to roll.

GM What awaited the Giver of Gloom, but the sound of music! Flutes were played masterfully, accompanied by some string instrument, possibly a violin. A percussion instrument, some kind of drum, held the beat of a lively dance. There were no words, no other sounds. The music was alone, and yet, Lament could not help but feel that it was missing the lyrics. He was met with a long, dark tunnel. Torches were held to the walls in seemingly random locations, with no rhyme or reason to their placement. The music clearly came from the other end of the tunnel. As he followed it, he would see the branches from the mighty tree stretch through the darkness, sometimes breaking through the walls of the tunnel itself. It was a marvelous work, stretching on and on, going further and further, going lower and lower below the ground. At the end of the tunnel he would see light, the music now louder than ever.

Bluff: 1d20+8 = 19

GM The troll cursed and yelled as it struggled in the deep dark bubbling void that filled its lungs. A horrible feeling, for any thing. It seemed to pure lose its will to pursue the Sultan of Sorrow, as it struggled to just breathe, and to quell the feeling of the foreign object that now invaded its very lungs. To meet something much worse than itself in this night, where it had tried to follow the faerie lights. The lights closed in behind Lament, soon leaving the troll behind in the fog. The Thane of Tears continued to run, following the lights, until he found their destination. A great big tree, in the middle of a forest. It seemed quite different from the ones that surrounded it. While they reached above Lament, standing at least 10 meters tall or more, they were relatively thin, being roughly 30 cm in diameter, maybe half a meter at most. The majestic tree that stood above Lament stretched into the sky. He was not sure how high. It stretched into, and beyond the fog. It was wide. At least 3 meters in diameter, wholly unlike the other trees that surrounded him. The lights ended at the root of the tree, at what appeared to be a great big hole that led under it. Would the Master of Melancholy dare to enter?

Con check: 1d20+6 = 10, for previous round where it should have been rolled (misread that rule), so just making that And Con check this round: 1d20+6 = 26, so its still standing, but purely academic, as the troll falls behind in the fog.

Really? Kidd had to go and make jokes like that now? Really ruining Robin's dramatic entrance and everything like that. And his threats sounded somewhat desperate to her. Was he just all talk and bravado, after all? "My pea shooter got a bigger boom than you're guessing, big guy." Oh god, now she was doing it too. "There's plenty of backup just waiting for our signal. We'll bring the entire place down if we have to." She eyed the dynamite. The blast cap needed to lit to make them actually explode, so the contents wouldn't easily explode. A kinetic blast from the Justice Buster shouldn't do that, so it was a possibility, if any of them tried anything. Still, the weapons were dropped, and only the wall seemed threatening at the moment. "Detective Kidd, would you mind cuffing these guys?" The Wall could probably tear through cuffs in a moment. Was he just big or strong, or did he have powers?

With those extra senses, Sgt. Shark makes the roll too.

The Wall's a priority target.

Alright. Now or never, then. What should Robin do? Stand up and shoot? It felt wrong to not at least give them a chance, but they were handling dynamite. They might set it off. But shooting someone in the back, without giving him a chance to give up... that felt wrong too. But they were basically terrorists, they wanted to blow a lot of people up... so what was she going to do? Even taking out one of them before things escalated might be smart. She was sure she knew what Kidd would do, and right now, he seemed almost reasonable. Almost. Ugh. Fine then. Justice Buster held in both hands, she stood straight up. Full hero costume, red and gold. She was aiming straight at the Wall and his cohorts. "Freeze! Drop your weapons and hands where I can see them!" That's what they said on the cop shows, right?

The moment any of the men turn a weapon on them, Justice will take a shot at them as a prepared action. Rolling prepared attack roll for that now, just in case, and to make posting smoother: 1d20+9 = 23 DC20 Toughness if shot is made, and it hits.

The fun and dance and changing of reality itself came almost to an abrupt end, when a voice called out. Pan continued dancing, even as he looked over at them. He had never met or even heard of these two before. Were they fellow students, or something else? They sounded like trouble, at the very least. Big, strong, dressed in ridiculous clothes. "Anyone you know?" he asked Zenith. He knew little of the fashion of this world, but he at least thought that the pair looked ridiculous. He had moved closer to Zenith once more before he had asked. Pan did not try to hide his annoyance at the interruption, either from Zenith or from the two muscular men.

"Would you just shut up!?" No more word play, no more yapping with people that wanted to spread addictive drugs that turned people crazy and "opened" their mind through the cosmos, and doing it by using the Magic Mesa. The magic energy slammed into him. Once, it might have killed him on the spot, but Cassidy was the Dust Devil now, and he was made of sterner stuff. Everyone kept calling him out about what he knew and didn't know about the Magic Mesa, and sure, there were much he didn't know yet, but he was still the Dust Devil, and he was finally starting to understand the weight that came with that title. He flew forward, the sand that made up his body combining into a rock solid body. If Venomax had to get a chance at making any of his poison work against Setho, then he needed to get up close and keep the Lemurian sorcerer busy. He threw a quick punch, aimed directly for Setho's face. That should hopefully keep him distracted.

Putting Walking Desert Array in Solid Rock Form, putting Magic Mesa Guardian array at Guardian's Strength. The Sandstorm should keep raging, just to annoy Setho. Flying straight for Setho with a punch: 1d20+10 = 21 DC 25 toughness if it hits.

GM Barney the penguin was quite displeased, even as he was let go and the world returned to its proper place. He squawked, hurrying over to the man. "But master! This ruffian forced his entry! He was not allowed in!" The man smiled, looking down at Barney. "Did he now? Curious." The man's voice was calming. He looked at Oswald through his glasses, a little smile playing over his lips. "Yes, quite a mage, I suppose. I have never been much for such labels, or to overstate my proficiency in the arts." He walked closer, extending a hand. "Charles Charlemagne. What brings you to my door, my good man?" "But, master!" Barney the penguin squawked again, frantically flapping his flippers.

GM Roar and scream as it might did, the troll was a living, breathing creature. It needed air, and the oily blackness that filled the air around quickly caught the beast in its grasp. Its roars quickly became inaudible, naught but a whimper, as it struggled in the cloud. It slowed down, falling to the ground and slowly starting to crawl forward, as it struggled to breathe. The Duke of Despair continued, as the Void held the beast back.