Volkanenborg

As we play, occasionally we'll close a thread and open a new one to keep the size of threads (and relative complexity) down to a dull roar. Here's where we store the closed posts from the history of Errant Road.
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Graybeard
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Re: Volkanenborg

Post by Graybeard »

"Hey," Ace smiled as Layla and Zachary entered the workshop. "Nice to see they didn't find another damn fool errand to send you off on. Can you help me with this sealant?"

"Glad to." Layla was amused, and more than a little flattered, to see that Ace had improvised a playpen-like setup for Zachary, complete with bright fabric balls that would stand in as toys; had she been expected? She busied herself with the repair kit for a while, then gathered up her nerve ... haven't felt this skittish since my first date back in high school ... "Mom says you're invited to dinner tonight, if you're free. She wants to talk about what's going on up in the mountains. Of course it won't all be work ... She's a really good cook, although I'll kill you if you tell her I said that."

Was Ace blushing? "Wow. I'd like that very much. I'm honored. And from a pure business perspective, I'd like to know more about what's happening up there too. I'll bring wine." And roses. "Now do you know how to run a leak tester?"

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You know, I could REALLY get used to this, Elke thought again, after another ... episode ... with Mr. Stagpoole. But there's work to do. She left the man in bed snoring and got up, wrapping herself in a bath robe as she stepped into the suite's small sitting room and extracted her crystal-ball phone.

"Annabelle," the woman at the other end answered, then grew wide-eyed at the way she was dressed. "Elke, are you..."

"Don't ask," she said. "I have to make this quick. Is the tracking system still keeping tabs on Jamie? I'm getting worried about her."

Back at the warehouse, Elke's right-hand woman said, "Let me check, this will just take a minute ... Yeah, she's still visible. Looks like she's somewhere in the mountains south of you. Why?"

"Just a feeling," Elke lied. "I set her a little job to do for us up here, and I'm getting concerned that she may be over her head. I'm not in a position to help her myself, but we may need to get her a little muscle. Can you see if Hymie and the crew at the ag center can get ready to move? And maybe take that rent-a-mage we picked up along. This feels like something where a spellcaster can help, even a green one."

"Sherry, you mean? I hope you won't mind, but I've got a confession to make. I put the same kind of tracer on her that we have on Jamie. She's new to the Eisenfaust and I don't entirely trust her. Let me see where she is..."

Elke was puzzled at the tracer, but she didn't have time to form a good response to Annabelle's revelation before the woman was back on the line. "Uh, oh. Problem. Judging from the tracer, Sherry is only about a hundred yards from where Jamie is -- and if I read this thing correctly, she's dead."

Now that was interesting...
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Sareth
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Re: Volkanenborg

Post by Sareth »

[OOC: Okay... Since no one else is doing anything...]

This was getting old. Neverniral was still grinning like he was in complete control of the situation, the figure behind him was still... being a figure, and Marcus and Lucas were still behind me debating what to do. The longer they did, the more likely Neverniral was going to get an idea of what to do about my rifle. And I just got the rifle, so I was SO not going to let that happen.

I had conclusively proven to myself that I was not going to get anywhere shooting Neverniral. In fact, I needed to slow down on that. I'd already gone through half the rounds in my rifle doing so, and while it had been good for laughs, it was a waste of ammo. I needed to find some way to put him down, and keep him there.

Still keeping the rifle on Neverniral, I did a quick sweep of the cave looking for options, and that's when I found one. I smiled, and lifted the rifle barrel...

*BLAM!*

One of the problems with caves... while they tend to be pretty stable (because if they weren't they'd collapse) there were exceptions. Water seeping through the ground could sometimes erode things until large chunks were barely hanging in there. Normally, one wouldn't expect much success with dislodging such with only a bullet, but every so often you get lucky.

I got lucky.

The round impacted right where I could see a crack on a jutting overhang of rock above Neverniral. As the rock groaned, I could see a look of surprise form on his face. The figure behind him was less expressive (something about wearing a mask does that) but was certainly quick on his feet. He lept back, clearing the rockfall. Neverniral wasn't so lucky. The roof came down in a cloud of dust right atop him, and obscuring both figures from view.

"Time to go!" I yelled. That rock fall might have killed Neverniral, but I doubted it. As such, I was not sticking around to find out. I turned and put action to my words, immediately attempting to climb up the hole Lucas had dropped in through.

The way was blocked by a pair of blue feet. "OUT OF THE WAY, AYIEE!" Using the rifle I poked and prodded at Ayiee's backside (something I'd have preferred to do under far better circumstances) until the gollum reversed her direction of travel and ascended back up the hole using a conveniently placed rope. We both popped out right next to the troll and flopped to the ground. I rolled on my belly and stuck my head in the hole. "GRAB THE ROPE AND GET MOVING! I'M NOT WAITING FOR YOU!"

Grinning, I rolled on my back to take in the clear blue sky, only to realize I'd managed to roll under the troll, and what I was seeing wasn't sky.

Maybe it would be better to be back down in the cave.
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AdamZero
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Re: Volkanenborg

Post by AdamZero »

I didn't hesitate to follow Jamie up the rope, admiring the craftsmenship of the blue construct as I climbed my way, through a narrow gap to a more accomidating opening, out into the setting sun.

That's when I saw the troll.

Now in my travels, as a necromancer, I'm still pretty wet behind the ears, very wet to be sure, but that's not my fault, people don't usually 'dry up' until their first century, that's when we traded in our pulse and naughty bits for long life and bigger spells, if we didn't read the fine print and find better ways of getting it.

That was a long way off for me, hopefully, but regardless I was still a bit of a geek when it came to dead relics. The 'Coat of the Many-Fathers' was one such relic. It was basically what necromancer aspired to do, in a jacket of flesh. It was knowledge, wisdom, emotion, memory, everything of meaning about a being contained in their flesh, and given to the wearer.

My eyes were rather bright, albeit a bit sunken from torture and lack of sunlight, but they shimmered all the same as is I observed a piece that seemed a bit more alive and aligned than the rest. It was fairly recent, and troll-skin, and female... odd. I blinked once and looked up at the trolls face (how else do you look at a troll, unless they're knelling or on their backs?) I smiled and bowed my head quickly as I said a word of thanks, before helping Lucas up, by dragging him up by his hair, and looking to the assembled group.

"Okay folks, let's get the f*** outta here." I declared, jabbing a fist into the air.

I heard a gunshot not to far from where I was, and my heart sank a bit.
"Now he's gone too far. NOONE ATTACKS AMERICA'S FOOD COURTS!" -Deadpool.
"Don't be so naive. I've got ulterior motives. MANY. Two, maybe three. Probably Four. I am one BIG ulterior motive." The Great Teacher, Onizuka Eikichi.
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Sareth
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Re: Volkanenborg

Post by Sareth »

The shot made me duck as a reflex action, which is a really interesting thing to do when already prone on the ground.

"Right..." I rolled over on my belly (still between the troll's feet, and began looking for the source of the shot. As I did so, I quickly reloaded the rifle, as I didn't want to be any shorter on ammo than I had to be. "Alright, I think it came from that cluster of bushes over there. So here's what we're gonna do. "You're gonna haul ass on out of here while I cover you."

I took aim at the bushes, pumping a few rounds into it.
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AdamZero
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Re: Volkanenborg

Post by AdamZero »

(ooc: considering the dig time and all I'm gonna have the strike team show up, m'kay?)

I was already running before Jamie'd finished her sentence. While in most circumstances I favored myself a gentleman, I was tired, in old grubby clothes, filthy, and in ectasy at the thought that I was free from the tortures of a loony elf. Also there was the delusional glee of said elf's messy, if not painful, death.

I kept running till I ran out into a road where several individuals were opening fire onto a cave mouth where several more individuals were returning fire with boths sides showing no indication that they had detected my presence. It helped that all of this individuals were heavily armed and deeply focused on eradicating the opposing force, so allowing themselves to be distracted by young men dressed in miner uniforms could be regarding as something fatal. Sure enough, one of the men shooting from the cave mouth seemed to notice me, and focus on me, and following that moment had his brains relocated to the rock wall behind him.

I laughed and started running down the road, looking all the more like a loony. Loony.

BORIS!

I skidded to a stop and looked around, Lucas was a ways of, talking to the troll.

I racked my brain for a spell that could get the skull of Boris to me, it wouldn't be too difficult as I had the rest of his body. The real tricky part was if he was locked up in a metal box, possible, or if he was in contact with stone, or better yet, dirt. If he was hanging up in the air, well that was just classless on Neverinal's part but I sighed as I sat in the middle of the dirt road, a stray bullet hitting a tree ten feet to my left as I reached around the dirt for a good grey line.

I found it, and it wasn't long before Boris's head was traveling to me, but sadly my delusions of Neverinal's demise were dashed. He was there, present, and very much alive. I guess that was a good thing, if he just died and there wasn't anyone of power to keep him down, he'd just get worse. REALLY worse. I yanked the skull up from the ground and looked Boris in the sockets.

"Are we having fun yet?" I asked, a little tired.

(ooc: if anyone had any plans to hijack boris, PM me and I'll edit it around)
"Now he's gone too far. NOONE ATTACKS AMERICA'S FOOD COURTS!" -Deadpool.
"Don't be so naive. I've got ulterior motives. MANY. Two, maybe three. Probably Four. I am one BIG ulterior motive." The Great Teacher, Onizuka Eikichi.
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Graybeard
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Re: Volkanenborg

Post by Graybeard »

These Small Ones must be crazy, Grope thought. Why do they crawl around looking at my nether regions? And have they never seen an elf before?

Whatever they thought they were doing, one thing was clear: something was very odd in the way they were dealing with the Red One. Elves weren't indestructible -- tough, yes, and well armored with magic, but they could be killed with bullets, or swords, or the other things that did harm to mortal flesh. So what was going on down below? He didn't know, and didn't really want to find out.

He did notice that in their haste, the Small Ones had committed a fairly basic tactical oversight that he could help with. He went to the hole that he had dug ... and pulled up the rope.

"Now, friends of Lucas," he rumbled (perhaps a bit louder than necessary, even given that they were dispersed over a widening area), "tell me what is going on here."
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Re: Volkanenborg

Post by Viking-Sensei »

"Well, Grope, that elf wasn't any ordinary elf." Lucas said, walking past Grope and over and put on his coat where he'd left it... and for some odd reason, the words The Red One floated past his brain for just a second. "He wasn't dying from being shot, even when that first bullet made it through his magic shield, so we collapsed the tunnel on him. Somehow, I doubt that's actually stopped him... it's probably just made him mad... so we should probably clear the area, or at least secure some sort of tactical advantage over him for when he does show back up."

The sound of gunfire rung through the cave, a result of the ongoing battle outside.

"So... who wants to tell me who's shooting at us now?"

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Neverinal's personal shield bubble had managed to keep the larger and heavier rocks off of he and his employer, and the resulting avalanche of debris had not crushed him but instead thrown them backwards, further into the cave system (towards the entrance Jamie used to get in).

"Well... hell." Neverinal said bluntly, sitting there amidst a pile of smaller stones and fractured wood. "I'm starting to think this job may not have been worth it. If it wasn't for my personal interest in torturing the boy and the unreasonably large amount of money you've offered me, I'd probably tell you to take your job and shove it."

The black figure shrugged.

"Ok, let's look at our goals. I managed to polarize all of the resistance against you, drawing both Wraith and Eisenfaust agents who were hungrily eyeing Volkanenborg as a potential expansion market and forming them into a single large off-the-record group... then drew them out here to the woods with the kidnapping... and exterminated them. Well, the would-be rescuers did some of the work... and it's a pitty about Sherry, I was going to talk to you about her. Delightful girl. I felt her die... it was exquisite."

The white mask on the black figure slowly turned towards Neverinal... and, if possible, emoted a little in the realm of 'concern for your sanity'.

"So now, Volkanenborg should be safe. Anybody in either of the major groups who hadn't gotten the message that messing with the town is a really bad plan is now either dead or will hopefully learn from what happened here today and not think such terminal thoughts any further. I guess... there's only one matter to still clear up... and that's your rescue, Ms. Saiko."

The black robes and white mask magically pulled back into a large broach on her wrist, revealing Saiko Mesuinu in all her glory. "Sank you, darlink. You've done a vonderful job. Now, I vill go out of da cave and pretend that my cell vas jarred open during the cave-in. You do very good vork, Neverinal." She started to walk away.

"What about my payment?" He asked, hand trailing after her as she swaggered towards the exit. "When should I expect it?"

She smiled... the cold calculating smile of a person who's evil is possibly even further along than Neverinal's. "Oh, any zecond now."

The ground rumbled... Neverinal's eyes widened in horror, because he knew what this was. After all, he invented it... invented it as a spell specifically to use against elves and other creatures that didn't die, but that you needed to get rid of. Red tendrils started breaking through the ground all around him, latching on to every part of his body. "Why?!? You bitch! I'll get you!"

She turned around and watched as the tendrils yanked him upright from his sititng position, hundreds of fine red snakes flowing over his wrists and waist and ankles, securing him in place as they began feeding him under the earth. "I'm sure you vill... eventually. But vor now, if vord got out that I had orchestrated dis whole affair, neither zhe Eizenfaust nor zhe Wraith vould ever look at sveet innocent Saiko Mesuinu the same vay again. And, zince you did zuch a good yob of disposing ov everyvone else who might have known, you are... ze veekest link. Bye bye."

As she turned and left, the only accompany to Neverinal's fading and soon muffled screams were the tap-tap-tap of her high heels across the stone floor... and like his screams, soon they faded from the scene, leaving only horrible, horrible silence.
How could a plan this awesome possibly fail?
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AdamZero
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Re: Volkanenborg

Post by AdamZero »

(ooc: well shit, and here I was feeling sympathetic for her, and now it turns out the bitch was behind the whole thing? well played V-sensei, well played.)

Boris groggily came back to life, or awareness to be sure, as I walked back up the path where the rest of the 'party' had gathered. Lucas, Jamie, Myself, the troll and the construct whose designation eluded me. The sounds of gun battle were far enough away that crouching low was sufficient for most of us, and using a boulder that had fallen there ages ago satisfactory cover for the troll.

"Right then, folks." I said to the group smiling. "We're alive, and out of the stank pit. I have Boris back, which means what money I normally have," waning as my stockpile was. "so if nobody has any objects, I say we make for the nearest town, and put this whole sodding mess behind us."
"Now he's gone too far. NOONE ATTACKS AMERICA'S FOOD COURTS!" -Deadpool.
"Don't be so naive. I've got ulterior motives. MANY. Two, maybe three. Probably Four. I am one BIG ulterior motive." The Great Teacher, Onizuka Eikichi.
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Sareth
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Re: Volkanenborg

Post by Sareth »

[OOC: Indeed! Nicely played! Jamie is totally clueless. Which is actually a bit unfortunate for her...]

Ordinarily, I would agree with Marcus. I'd survived a situation that seemed a bit much for me to make it out of, I'd freed one of my marks, and I was in the clear, that's the perfect opportunity to get the hell out of dodge. Unfortunately, there was one loose end.

"You guys go ahead, get out of here. I'll catch up. Somebody is still shooting at somebody, and that Mesuinu chick is probably why. I was offered a pretty good reward if I get her back, so I'm headed for the sound of the shooting." I shot Marcus a look. "And in case you're thinking about doing something stupid, I recommend you don't follow me. You've already gotten caught once, and I don't get paid to rescue you. You go and die on me, I'll never get my steak dinner."
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Re: Volkanenborg

Post by AdamZero »

I smiled at laughed. "Dinners, remember? I may as well buy us a chef, at this point." I laughed a bit before, on a whim, reached around Jamie and hugged her close. "Thank you... I'll be at the Ebon Duck Inn" I mumbled into her ear, before letting her go and turning to walk down the mountain. I didn't really care if she wasn't there for me, I didn't really care if she had a job in mind. She'd dropped into that pit of hell and helped me out, that's what was important. Getting the hell outta dodge and into a nice warm bath was now firmly fixed at the top of my to-do list, and I'd be damned if I got caught up in anything worse before I'd rested and recharged.

I bowed in a respectful, but not submissive, way toward the troll before bounding down the hill with all the grace of a scared-as-Hell elk, which is something to see. I saw more people moving through the forest, but my lack of armaments, youthful appearance, and general void of professionalism that would be expected of a kidnapping group member made me less of a target than the dwindling loonies up at the cave mouth.
"Now he's gone too far. NOONE ATTACKS AMERICA'S FOOD COURTS!" -Deadpool.
"Don't be so naive. I've got ulterior motives. MANY. Two, maybe three. Probably Four. I am one BIG ulterior motive." The Great Teacher, Onizuka Eikichi.
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