The Last Oddetsey

[GF93]

"Soldiers! Mammoth! Dwarf! Leprechaun! Squirrel! Android! Witch! Playzooki! Look overhead! The parrot has fulfilled his task, and therefor so have we! The spaceship is ours to command, the universe ours to save! I am sad to observe that the spaceship does not provide enough room for all of us, for I would have loved to exercise the art of a cappella singing on your sides just a little bit longer whilst travelling to the outskirts of the universe, but it seems to me that the ship does provide room to those who are the bravest of the brave, the boldest of the bold, so join me, my armymen, to the stars, and beyond!"

Aurelia flew up to the spaceship, Twitch opened the door for her.

"Ahoy parrot! Allow me to read some quotes on birds in general from The Book of Penguin Philosophy!"

Epsilon looked blankly up at Aurelia as she entered the spaceship, still talking about penguin philosophy.
"This could be harder than I'd initially thought.", the white-clad android thought to itself as it activated its boosters and leapt up to the spaceship, before leaping up again onto the roof, where it proceeded to magnetically anchor itself onto.
Considering its immense durability and non-requirement of oxygen compared to its organic allies, it seemed like the most reasonable option for it- it wouldn't have to put up with the singing, and it'd give space to someone who needed it more.

With that, Epsilon looked down at the rest of the team on the ground, and waited for them to board as well.

[alex_holt]

KHLOE

Not sure what is going on, or why Khloe had been sitting in the same spot for 24 hours, the Cucumberoo approaches her "Is everything alright? I thought you were just basking in glory of our Lord Vengeance but if you'd like some cocoa and biscuits perhaps that would help? If you are looking for your friends the news was just saying that Doomforall's Castle has reappaeared, they might have something to do with that?"

VENGEANCE

George has is beginning to optimize his own interactions with the castle and begins to recalibrate the shields, he even manages to unlock some internal data on Doomforall's power and integrates it into the energy matrix to provide better protection.

"There is no real advice we can give you, nothing like this has ever happened before in this Universe and... according to our friends here..." Spodra gestures at the Catalyst, in none of their incarnations did anyone like the group of you appear.

"Once he discovered my existence we spoke at length, making detailed notes, I can only assume that he was trying to learn of some way around this, and the fact that a group of rift-resistant people stand before us would suggest he discovered at least something, though the fact his body floats above us ready to end another universe suggests it was not a perfect plan. From what I understand, the void will not obliterate your matter like it would with anyone else, but that doesn't mean that it can't be used to slash, pierce and bludgeon - be wary." The Catalyst adds.

"Make sure not to die! Look out for any interesting seeds!"
The Botanist adds helpfully.

The boughs of the Night Pine creak and though you don't know what was said, it feels like a very apt and wise thing to say in this situation.

AURELIA and EPSILON

Boarding the ship, Aurelia and Epsilon quickly locates the bridge and finds a second and third control panel forming for her own usage - in Epsilons case it's just a seat with a cable to connect directly to Epsilon's own systens. Both quickly themselves able to fly the ship, operate the teleporters and activate the shields and weapons.

The Bubble Mammoth carried the Dwarf, Squirrel and Leprechaun up behind Aurelia and quickly settled into support roles aboard the ship - The Leprechaun woman takes charge of maintenance of the ships external weapons, the Bubble Mammoth settles into the galley and starts cooking up some meals and the squirrel heads down to engineering to make sure things are running properly. The dwarf just just seems to be along for the ride, and possessing no obvious skills beyond fighting and a world class expert on the subject of gold.

[NFX]

"No..." Twitch told Aurelia, "I'd rather you didn't tell me about penguins..." Jeez, what was it with everybody and penguins? Why would he want to know about a bird that couldn't even fly? Birds did not belong in the ocean. Nuts and fruit were much better to eat than fish as well. What good was it if your food was constantly escaping? A penguin was an abomination, and that was the end of it. "And I'm a macaw, technically." he added scornfully.

It was then he noticed the robot boarding the ship alongside Aurelia, and he shifted backwards a little bit. There was just something about it that told him he was going to be killed by it. Although he had thought exactly the same thing while going through the compound, and here he was, still in one piece, still with all his plumage, and currently there was no sweet chilli sauce on his person. He decided to give the android the benefit of the doubt for now, and set about trying to get the spaceship moving in the general direction of where they needed to go. "So," he asked the angel, placing his bag of iteming to one side of the control panel in front of him, "who else did you bring on board?"

[playzooki]

Attempting to get onto the spaceship, playzooki levitates himself up to the spaceship

[shadowflare]

Marisa hops onto her broom and also heads up to the spaceship. She saw it before the rest of the group, and she'll be damned if she doesn't get a ride on it too.

[NWOWWE]

Physical combat. This was taking a rather unwelcome turn for Gaunt. Eudial looked ready to go to town on the leeches with fire and Gaunt looked down somewhat lamely at his collapsible harpoon. Perhaps he could at least soften them up. They probably wouldn't like being carved into much. Gaunt separated himself from the flames and then went in.

[alex_holt]

OOC: Andy has until tonight to post some tactics or I'll just make them up.

PLAYZOOKI AND MARISA

As they arrive aboard the ship the initial crew is complete, and the bridge forms some interfaces for them to use too, although they are currently inactive - it would seem only 3 interfaces can be operational at a time, and those are currently taken up by Epsilon, Twitch and Aurelia. As a compensation, the two manage to pick out the best living quarters, which, as with the rest of the ship adapts into the perfect room for them, to the point where it's actually kind of a little creepy.

As of this point however, the ship is ready to travel to Doomforall as soon as one of the pilots initiates travel.

[kodster]

Eudial stared at the now one giant leech, but wasn't intimidated now. "Well, that's just great. Whatever, let's just kill this thing."

----

(Eudial's Explosion Inducement power will be largely useless here, but she can manipulate fire rather well. I think I will try and form a tornado of fire about the leech, hurting it and confusing it as to our whereabouts [due to both sight and the noise given off by the flames :P]. I suggest Cleo aid me in helping me distract it. Then I can close the tornado in about it and fry it alive. If we keep moving I don't think it could track us easily)

[alex_holt]

CLEO, EUDIAL and LELAND

Although it certainly appears as a leech, a few seconds into combat their opponent proves to have some decidedly un-leech like abilities. It's tail seems to be still connected to the nervous system of the Sucker, and suddenly an agonising psychic wave washes over the five present, the illusion of a young woman of the brain of Kull dissolves leaving a glowing hovering brain it it's place, and Vortigon drops one of his spoons. Cleo, Eudial and Leland however are staggered to the floor so they can barely move.

However, even as inky black tendrils worm their way forth towards the four, Vortigon and the Brain of Kull manage to regain control enough to black out the psychic attacks channelled from the Sucker leaving the other three to take down the parasitic worm.

Eudial is most dramatically on the offensive - a vortex of fire appears around the leech and begins to burn it heavily, however it quickly becomes evident that this much fire in an enclosed room is likely to kill the party before it kills the leech. As a compromise, Eudial has to shrink the Vortex down to pillars forming a cage - enough to contain the main leech even if it can still send its tendrils through to attack the others.

Psionic blasts from Cleo manage to dissolve some of the tendrils but Leland is much less suited to defending himself - a few of the tentacles are dispatched with his harpoon but the one manages to grab his leg and lift him out over the water. The demon manages to fend off any other tentacles for now but knows that cutting off the one holding him would plunge him into the water at the leeches mercy.

However, the Leech also seems to realise that the most damaging party here is Eudial and the tendrils manage to make it through even as she incinerates more of them and knock her flying across the room against the rear wall, knocking her out cold. Leland flails with the harpoon but now freed of the fire cage the tendrils are even more dangerous and fending them off becomes more and more difficult. Even with her feline agility Cleo is struggling to dodge attacks. One misplaced jump and a tentacle catches her and drags her into the water, pulling her under.

She can't breath, and inhales the water during her struggles. Suddenly the world changes. The water doesn't taste quite like water should. The fluid she had placed in the water. Some sort of chemical synthesised from the worlds most powerful psionic. Her powers blossom. Neurons fizzle into life and she feels a greater precision of mental abilities than she has ever felt in her life, where once she had had a hammer, now it is a scalpel. She focuses this energy on the worm and lets loose.

....

A few minutes later, as Eudial wakes up and Leland helps the bedraggled cat out of the pool, the voice of the Sucker echoes in their minds, thanking them for freeing it. But more concerning is how everyone's thoughts are suddenly sharper and more aware. Even Vortigon looks confused as if he is seeing something for the first time.

The Sucker speaks. "I am older than you can comprehend and it is long past time for me to ascend to the next plane, but before I go ask of me whatever you need to know. I will tell you that though Doomforall is the primary source of the Void, there are at least is another, a lesser powers to be sure, but they will have to be stopped too to close this issue once and for all"

EVERYONE

Suddenly a great weight lifts from the minds of everyone. The singers and the people on the base suddenly look round in terror and fear. Apparently the Sucker had been suppressing the Danger from the minds of the whole world. Shouting and screaming echoes across the entire city.

Something has to be done. Soon.

[kodster]

Eudial woke up. Owww... Great, what had happened? How could I let that thing sucker-punch me like that... this is a disgrace...

Eudial staggered up, cursing. Then she saw the others. And then heard a great booming voice.

The Sucker speaks. "I am older than you can comprehend and it is long past time for me to ascend to the next plane, but before I go ask of me whatever you need to know. I will tell you that though Doomforall is the primary source of the Void, there are at least is another, a lesser powers to be sure, but they will have to be stopped too to close this issue once and for all"

...Doomforall? Why the hell is that name familiar? The headache Eudial had was giving her an even harder time trying to remember this guy and who he was... and then...

Suddenly a great weight lifts from the minds of everyone. Apparently the Sucker had been suppressing the Danger from the minds of the whole world.

Her pupils dilated. Was this for real? Eudial looked around. Even the Alakazam was perturbed. Eudial fidgeted a little, then drew out that weird candy she found earlier, unwrapped it and popped it in her mouth. Maybe it was reckless, snacking on something foreign, but she needed SOMETHING to ease her mind...

[alex_holt]

EUDIAL

After consuming the rare candy, Eudial feels very strange. Then vomits. Then vomits again. Rare Candy tastes a lot like fermented grass it turns out. However, even as she vomits for the third time she feels more powerful, a slight boost to her skills, and the knowledge of how to efficiently scuff sand or grit in the eyes of an enemy, almost like some kind of "sand attack" forms in her mind, to the point where she could do it reflexively.

[NWOWWE]

After Gaunt pulled the cat from the pool he tried cleaning some residual gunk off of himself. Revolting. Suddenly the voice of the Sucker boomed through his head.

The Sucker speaks. "I am older than you can comprehend and it is long past time for me to ascend to the next plane, but before I go ask of me whatever you need to know. I will tell you that though Doomforall is the primary source of the Void, there are at least is another, a lesser powers to be sure, but they will have to be stopped too to close this issue once and for all"

Gaunt staggered for a moment before his mind cleared. He swallowed hard. He turned to look at Eudial, but she was eating a small candy. Unexpectedly she vomited rather violently several times before finally getting back under control.

"What the blue hell was that about? What did you eat?"

[kodster]

EUDIAL

After consuming the rare candy, Eudial feels very strange. Then vomits. Then vomits again. Rare Candy tastes a lot like fermented grass it turns out. However, even as she vomits for the third time she feels more powerful, a slight boost to her skills, and the knowledge of how to efficiently scuff sand or grit in the eyes of an enemy, almost like some kind of "sand attack" forms in her mind, to the point where she could do it reflexively.

What the HELL did I just eat?!?

That thought just pounded through Eudial's mind, she could hear Gaunt's voice but had no idea what he saying. She was consumed with sickness, and cursed her own stupidity.

Wait.

An image of a sweeping rush of sand came to her, out of absolutely nowhere, along with newfound knowledge on how to do that. What in the seven spiral galaxies was that about?!

Still feeling rather ill, she turned back to the others. "Well, I guess we won this battle," said Eudial faintly, using care to emphasize that word. "But we now have another problem..."

[steven_mcg]

George has is beginning to optimize his own interactions with the castle and begins to recalibrate the shields, he even manages to unlock some internal data on Doomforall's power and integrates it into the energy matrix to provide better protection.

"There is no real advice we can give you, nothing like this has ever happened before in this Universe and... according to our friends here..." Spodra gestures at the Catalyst, in none of their incarnations did anyone like the group of you appear.

"Once he discovered my existence we spoke at length, making detailed notes, I can only assume that he was trying to learn of some way around this, and the fact that a group of rift-resistant people stand before us would suggest he discovered at least something, though the fact his body floats above us ready to end another universe suggests it was not a perfect plan. From what I understand, the void will not obliterate your matter like it would with anyone else, but that doesn't mean that it can't be used to slash, pierce and bludgeon - be wary." The Catalyst adds.

"Make sure not to die! Look out for any interesting seeds!"
The Botanist adds helpfully.

The boughs of the Night Pine creak and though you don't know what was said, it feels like a very apt and wise thing to say in this situation.

Well. That was...something, I suppose.

George, have you managed to locate any of those other weirdoes yet? I tell you I'm not having a go at Cthulu's big brother until I get some back-up. Besides, if those dolts can provide me enough cover while they rescue Doomsy from his eternal embarrassment, I can almost certainly use our new toys to extract a sample from our reality-scoffing foe and figure out a way to cause it more permanent harm. With my tools and the tech in this place combined, a complete and thorough analysis should be a cakewalk!

Rule one of the art of war: "Know thy enemy".

And rule two is "Don't keep the boss waiting!" Found our casual acquaintances now, George?

[alex_holt]

VENGEANCE

George quickly locates all of the others, and gains teleporter locks - including the ability to teleport the newly aquirred spaceship directly into the hangar built into the side of the mountain. As an option, he also has a communication lock with the ship too if he merely wanted to co-ordinate rather than kidnap.