The Last Oddetsey

[alex_holt]

As you enter the room you notice that watching from the ceiling are a number of smaller statues who appear to be other prophets, although apparently they don't have quite the same status as Vengeance for whatever reason, they consist of:
An Elven looking woman with scarred arms appearing to cast some sort of spell
A stereotypical australian, complete with cork hat, a boomerang in one hand and a skewer of shrimps in the other
A Vampire who gives the impression of thinking he was very cool with bleached hair, shade and a katana
A human man with lightning coming to one hand and extracting a fish from his pocket with another
A huge samurai troll who looks even more muscled than usual for his species
A despairing looking zombie
A strange catfish like creature who looks far more intelligent than a catfish like creature has a right to
A dagger wielding hispanic woman
A slightly older version of the man with the pockets from earlier
A cybernetic assassin looking man
A Metapenguin

The Cucumberoo on closer inspection is wearing something akin to a waistcoat and bow tie that you could see Vengeance wearing - albeit way more gaudy even than that - the Cucumberoo seems to be some kind of Priest and seems to lighten up massively at the prospect of people to tell things to about its great and profound religion. Its fingers are practically itching to start handing over leaflets.

"Oh my! New visitors to our Church! What an auspicious day this is oh yes! Please ask me anything you want to know about the Great Prophet!"

_____________________________________

AURELIA:
The expressionless beings, signal more of the symbols above their heads, and seeing them feels like fire in Aurelias mind, yet she persists.

"You are a Fallen One. Interesting. The Last of the Multiversal Arteries were said to be sealed. This mountain was not a prison, but a reservoir. To prevent the Fallen landing wherever this place and others like it were built to funnel Fallers like yourself to where they could be processed rather than allowed to run amuk. That you are here suggests potential for outcomes unforseen. We must complete out task now. Seek out the Old Worlds Club. They might yet have a use for you."

Before Aurelia can ask any more questions, the strange faces rotate away from her and towards the fallen giant. Suddenly the armoured features of its face peel pack, and even Aurelia, with her mind used to direct encounters with deities, finds herself almost obliterated to nothingness from the sheer infinity that blasts out from beyond - inside that face is an entire universe - an old one with the stars flickering out. Even as she hangs in the air, only just managing to will herself together, the strange beings step into that infinity, and burn up into cinders in the wind, and the stars in that infinity subtly begin to rekindle, yet even as this happens she looks up and sees stars in the night sky flicker out and vanish. Equal in number to the strange beings whose deaths she has just witnessed...

There is a slight pause and the prospect of diving into that infinity herself seems almost overwhelming for a second, but then the armoured features slam shut and the colossus rises, shakily. Then... after catching its bearing for a moment, begins to pour energy into the shield again.

[kodster]

(TAREIN!!! *squees* ...sorry. Habit. :P)

[majinb]

"... hello... mr giant?"

[alex_holt]

The Void Archon makes no further signs of acknowledging your presence or even existence.

[steven_mcg]

"Vengy?" he asked. If the Professor was as clever as he boasted, and as powerful as this church proclaimed, surely he'd be able to figure out Twitch meant him. "Where's the Grand Cathedral, what's the relic you're reclaiming, why is it there, and how will that end the multiverse?"

If I knew any of that, my winged compadre, I wouldn't be here. I'm not exactly keen to see the entirety of creation go up in smoke myself. It's hard to conquer people when there are no people left to conquer, you know?

"All right, I've had enough of this," said Eudial. She was still pale, but her mind was set. "You're holding a great deal back, and now that my own world is in jeopardy, I demand answers. Who exactly are you, and what do you have to do with this? And I mean ANYTHING to do with this. I've misjudged you up until now. Tell me everything!"

Heyheyheyheyheyhey! Cool your jets, Little Red Riding Hood! As I've said about a hundred times by now, I'm just as in the dark as you lot about all this! Hell, if I knew I had an entire organised religion devoted to me and my past glories, I'd have been singing it to you from the rooftops from the moment we first met - and I'm not exactly a holy man at the best of times!

I mean, just look at these statues!

Look at these statues...

Look at the...

Oh GOD. ><

"Oh my! New visitors to our Church! What an auspicious day this is oh yes! Please ask me anything you want to know about the Great Prophet!"

(OK, Reggie. Time to get some answers at last. Don't blow your chance by blowing your top. Play it cool, play it calm. Be the sweet, charming, loveable old rogue everyone loves you for.)

Good evening. I am the Great Prophet Vengeance. Speak anything louder than a whisper for the next two minutes and my feline friend there will nibble your legs off. OK? OK.

I awoke a few hours ago to find myself in the middle of this interdimensional dumping ground with an entire world religion devoted to myself and those other loonies I used to get dragged into world-hopping with.

#1: Why is this and how did it get started?
#2: What is this place? The city, I mean. The country. The world. The...everything.
#3: What is this nonsense about me, the "Great Cathedral", some relic and the end of the multiverse?
#4: Who is your tailor? That waistcoat really is spiffing.
#5: How do I sign up to your newsletter? Even the Great Prophet needs to keep up with the news, eh, what?

You have two minutes to answer everything I just asked or you'll be hopping to mass on a pogo stick till the End Times really do come. Aaaaaand go.

[playzooki]

Playzooki takes greater notice of the cumberoo, as he wants to know more about this.

[alex_holt]

"Sir, if you don't mind me saying that much as you look the part the prophet turning up on my doorstep seems too incredible to believe, so I really hope you will permit me some scepticism, but of course I will answer any questions any of you might have... err starting with the ones you have just asked me!

It's been going since not long after the King Industries affair a few hundred years ago, some of the scholars studying that found some parallels between that event and two other previously, and the two previous ones matched very closely a prophecy on an ancient ipad unearthed on the far side of the city. The thing is the tablet was older than either of those events, and both shared in common Professor Vengeance. The tablet also spoke of a third coming...err you see the translated version on the wall at the far end of the room.

This is Earth Zero, of Multiverse Zero and this is the Metropolitan area of New Melded, biggest city on the planet.

As for the other stuff, its all from the prophecy, but I guess you've noticed the giant shield outside... it looks an awful like the end of something.... all I know is somewhere went wrong during that black hole problem two years back and then the powers of the multiverse started gathering here to try to stop whatever it was

Errr my tailor goes by the name of Goldenrod, he's one of those Moon-Dwarves who lives a few streets away, he's made a business of growing living metals into clothes, and the church is very keen on them!

I'll put you all on the newsletter right not.... what format would you like it in...we do written paper copies, psychic broadcasts and super deluxe mail, although we do need large donations for eligibility for the latter, and its very slow..."

[kodster]

"As for the other stuff, its all from the prophecy, but I guess you've noticed the giant shield outside... it looks an awful like the end of something.... all I know is somewhere went wrong during that black hole problem two years back and then the powers of the multiverse started gathering here to try to stop whatever it was"

"Huh? Black hole problem?" said Eudial, nonplussed. "I don't quite understand... what happened two years ago?"

[alex_holt]

"Are you guys Fress....I mean Fallen? Errr... two years ago there was a black hole heading towards Earth Zero.... the great Lord left seclusion to go stop it, but then something happened... no one is willing to say what.... and well.... *he walks a few steps out of the church*.... well that...

He points out the tiny black speck Leland Gaunt had noticed earlier.

[kodster]

Eudial glared up at the speck. Great... was this all Vengeance's doing, and he was merely playing along? Or was he honestly being... well, honest?

"Who is this great Lord? He seems quite the messiah..." Eudial said, after a moment's pause.

[alex_holt]

"Well, no one is entirely sure, he's been around for much of the entire length of the world as far as we can tell, he has used several aliases, but the ancient texts mostly refer to him as Lord Doomforall... As to whether he is a messiah... it seems to vary with account, the oldest references are to that of a unifying conqueror, but in my own lifetime he has only been seen a few times to avert apparently seemingly unstoppable disasters, and has otherwise remained in solitude."

[Max]

Spod is slightly taken back by the weird spider creature's question, after a moment he realises he still has the expensive ball gown;

"Sprondinkles, all I have of value is this rather expensive looking ball gown, what have you of use that you will trade for it? A way to return home? Or perhaps information?"

[alex_holt]

"That item does have some value yes, and Sprondinkles is happy to provide customers with information for free, Sprondinkles hopes that such generosity will encourage them to make good trades with him. So, where is your home and what information may Sprondinkle help you with?"

[kodster]

"You say no one is willing to tell us what happened two years ago... is that true? Is there no one around here that will give us a further insight on it? Or is it truly forgotten?" said Eudial. She was rather skeptical that no one in this strange city would remember something like that, but kept such skepticism out of her voice.

[shadowflare]

"Oh, oh, I'll take one of them newsletter things!" said Marisa, "If I had some money I'd get the big one but... well unless you accept off-mushrooms that won't work, would it? A normal papery one is good for me." If nothing else, having spare paper is useful, for starting fires and probably other things too. Maybe she could grow holy mushrooms on it or something. Marisa thought that may be a good experiment, if nothing else.

She looked out at the speck in the sky, having a very bad feeling about it.

"You say no one is willing to tell us what happened two years ago... is that true? Is there no one around here that will give us a further insight on it? Or is it truly forgotten?" said Eudial.

"Maybe there is a libary nearby with history books or something... If people don't wanna talk about it, it's bound to be written down somewhere, right?