[Day: Saturday, Oct. 27th. Time: Unknown] [Although it seems like forever, it was actually just a few minutes ago that Dante explained everything to you. In summary, everything that had happened was part of his plan to gather the necessary power he needed to travel back in time to when Lucifer was cast down to hell, in order to destroy him at his weakest.] (It is a HORRIBLE plan!) (Indubitably.) (Not only will it destroy space, time, and history as we know it, it won't work!) [You head through a dark, eerie Shadow-London to stop him! Where is he? At Big Ben, obviously; that's where all the big light show is.] [Aight, Session Start!] * Herman is running there! He started running there last session. * Ashley is, probably, running. He does that when everybody else does it, so it is to be assumed. * Ten is totally riding on Lukas arm while he runs. [Togo is, too! He's on autopilot, with plushie-Khalil in his coat. He might turn into a plushie himself if he doesn't show up soon.] * Alys is running and muttering about idiocy. * Lukas is running, letting Ten ride on his arm! He's hoping not to get plushie puppets on his shoulders as well. He's not Washuu. (Are you sure?) [You get to Big Ben! It's, uh, big. I mean bigger than it is in the real world. It's quite an imposing tower, and the rim of the top seems to curve upward in pointy jagged spikes. Two thick double doors with skull-knockers mark the entrence. And standing in front of them is a man you ran into earlier: 30ish, pin-striped suit, nice tie, rainbow-colored hair... Andrealphus.] (No, no I'm not.) * Herman heads right up to the entrance. "Hey, mind letting us in?" Got any more phones? Bananas for sale? [Andrealphus folds his arms. "You're not going to interfere."] * Lukas groans, "I'm living in one of those paintings with melting clocks." * Ashley frowns. "That's not very nonsensical... oh wait, we aren't playing. Darn." * Herman shrugs. "It's the end of the world. I want to see it." ["Not the end. A new beginning."] * Lukas snorts. "Yes, it's the fucking end. Christ, don't sugar coat it, it ain't gonna work." A new beginning of the total annihilation, same difference. Let us through, PLEASE? With sugar on top? * Ashley shakes his hips a little. "Shikka shikka?" [He lifts his head upwards. "Are all mortals so condescending? What makes you think it will not work?"] I don't wanna play world two-point-oh, I like this one! Something about a hideous paradox. What makes you think it *will*? ["I have faith in master Dante. If anyone can defeat Lucifer, it is him."] But what about AFTER that? Jesus, defeating Lucifer is what makes a paradox! * Herman hits him with a pipe. (YES.) (Do I get a roll for that? XP) (YAY) (XD) ( Woooo, roll init. ) (I like this plan!) ( And sure, go ahead. ) (VIOLENCE SOLVES EVERYTHING!) * RowynAway is now known as Khalil 2d8+7 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Lukas (2d8+7) and gets a natural 9 for a result of 16. 2d8+13 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Alys (2d8+13) and gets a natural 11 for a result of 24. 2d8+7 2d8-3 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Ashley (2d8+7) and gets a natural 7 for a result of 14. * Dicesuke throws the bones for Herman (2d8-3) and gets a natural 10 for a result of 7. 2d8+7 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Ten (2d8+7) and gets a natural 10 for a result of 17. 2d8+7 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Herman (2d8+7) and gets a natural 10 for a result of 17. [Meanwhile Khalil suddenly returns to his proper form, directly above Togo. He falls on Togo's head, knocking him out.] 2d8+14 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Khalil (2d8+14) and gets a natural 4 for a result of 18. [Herman hits Andrealphus upside the head, which seems to anger him more than hurt him. Seven glowing lights, each a different color of the rainbow, begin to orbit around him. "You had your chance, mortals. Master Dante did not wish to harm you, but in new age, it is likely you won't exist anyway."] [Order: Alys, Andrealphus, Khalil, Ten, Herman, Lukas, Ashley] [Alys!] * Alys pulls out a ward and flings it at the guy, looking cautious and trying to keep her distance from the crazy. 2d8-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Alys (2d8-2) and gets a natural 12 for a result of 10. [Alys misses! Meanwhile, the red orb breaks rotation to fly at Herman. Gimme a def roll, Herman!] 2d8 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Herman (2d8) and gets a natural 12 for a result of 12. [The light brushes by Herman's side, setting it on fire! Ow ow ow.] [Khalil!] Ow, shit! * Herman tries patting it out, which is probably a bit ineffectual. * Griff_Khalil rubs his head. "I always wake up at the most inopportune times." He dashes forward to grab Andreal's arm. "If I subdue him, someone owes me an explanation as to why I am doing it other than that he is attacking us." 2d8-3 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Griff_Khalil (2d8-3) and gets a natural 4 for a result of 1. [Khalil grabs his arm!] [Ten!] * Ten looks around for something suitably heavy to clock him with, that isn't Herman's pipe. [Ten spots a fire hydrant!] * Ten amends that to things she could probably lift and dithers away her turn. [Herman! You're on fire!] * Herman is on fire! He gives up trying to put it out, though, and starts with the Anglo-Saxon chanting. THIS won't end well. [Lukas!] * Lukas looks right at the guy as he starts to circle around him (and maybe, one day, past!) but holds his 'fire', whatever that would happen to be. He mutters, "Khalil, I can't hit people you're holdin'." [Ashley!] * Ashley waves his hands, and everyone fades from view. [Alys!] 2d8+14 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Togo (2d8+14) and gets a natural 8 for a result of 22. [Meanwhile, Togo wakes up from having been Khalil-clobbered.] * Togo groans. "Christ on a camel..." * Alys unclips her chains and takes a good swing at the bad guy. "Khalil, if I miss and hit you, not my fault!" 2 2d8-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Alys (2 2d8-2) and gets a natural 10 for a result of 2 8. * Griff_Khalil stares at Alys. "Yet through all this, there is still a lack of explanations..." [Alys does get one good hit on him. The blue light darts in front of the other one, and blocks it like a thick wall of ice.] [Togo!] Things! About Lucifer! We can talk later. * Togo pulls himself up to one knee, and tries to get his bearings. "Khalil, would you mind letting go of this guy we're apparently fighting so I could shoot him a few times?" (Hold Action) [Andrealphus does nothing! But purple light turns into a long, spear like shape and thrusts itself at Alys, while the green one extends a tendril towards Khalil's arm. (Melee defense for Alys, Unarmed (grabs) for Khalil.] 2d8-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Alys (2d8-2) and gets a natural 10 for a result of 8. [Alys avoids!] 2d8-4 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Griff_Khalil (2d8-4) and gets a natural 6 for a result of 2. [So does Khalil!] [Khalil's turn!] * Griff_Khalil looks at Alys, then at Togo, then at the guy in his hands. "Right." He hauls the arm around and throws him against the side of !Big Ben as hard as he can. 2d8-3 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Griff_Khalil (2d8-3) and gets a natural 9 for a result of 6. [Andraelphus slams into Big Ben hard enough to push the wall inward.] [Ten!] * Ten flails her arms. "Dante wants to go back in time and kill Lucifer and take his power and souls and it's all bad and it's not gonna work! And! And! And! And SUCK!" ( I'll take my turn after Ten. ) [Togo!] * Griff_Khalil turns slightly after the throw and stares and just blinks at Ten. "That...might do it." * Togo pulls out his assault rifle and fires a burst at the guy from one knee. 2d8-3 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Togo (2d8-3) and gets a natural 12 for a result of 9. [Togo mostly misses, but does manage to graze him once.] [Herman!] ( Was I awake to know why we're fighting this guy? ) * Herman finishes chanting, and a bolt of lighting streaks out of nowhere for rainbow demon guy. Props to Ashley for the invisollusion! ( Yep! ) ( 'Cause Herman bashed him upside the head with a pipe :P ) 2d8-5 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Herman (2d8-5) and gets a natural 9 for a result of 4. (He deserved it!) (He totally deserved it) [He's fried by lightning! Zzzt. Doesn't look so hot now.] [Lukas!] * Lukas takes advantage of invisibility to just try to move right the hell by. It's not like he's in front of the door anymore. Maybe they can buy some time up top! [The door is locked!] [Ashley!] * Ashley is invisible and does nothing! [Alys!] (The Ashley! He does nothing!) * Lukas rattles the door! He smirks and mutters, "Locked door... the joke isn't lost on me." * Alys smacks him with the weights-on-chains again! She looks like she's enjoying herself again. 2 2d8-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Alys (2 2d8-2) and gets a natural 5 for a result of 7 3. [He takes both chains to the head and falls over. The lights vanish.] Yes! We win! * Lukas says back to the group, "Door's locked! Might wanna frisk the ol'boy for the keys." ... ow. Note to self: no storing people in my coat. * Ten flails some more. "See if he's got the key! " * Alys points at the door. "We must go onward and defeat more crazy people!" * Griff_Khalil looks at Togo, and rubs his brow. "These are getting far too frequent to be healthy." * Alys bends down over the guy and looks for keys and/or other shiny things. If we survive this, I'll call in some favors for ya. I know some people who deal with this kinda thing. [There's a loud gust of wind, and suddenly Lix Tetrax, the demon-girl in part of a tuxedo, is there. "Well, this is interesting."] ( * He has a nipple ring. ... eew. ) Waah! Ring event! [Andrealphus does have a key! And a transparent locked box. And what looks like a complicated TV remote.] * Alys hands the key to Lukas, tosses the box to Herman, and keeps the remote. "Wonder what this does..." She presses a random button. [The key is large, and looks like the classic gold O-end, two-prong thing. Like "On" kinda.] ( Hoooooo dear. ) ... there's a Chinese curse about interesting times, I think. * Herman catches the box. * Herman , uh, looks it over! ( Ummm... Herman, Ashley, Ten.... Lukas too, I guess... Alla you gimme soul rolls. ) * Lukas catches the key in both hands and puts it in. "Wow, they go whole hog, even in a fake place..." (....) (Soul luck?) (Or just Soul Soul?) 2d8 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Ten (2d8) and gets a natural 11 for a result of 11. ( Soul + mind shield ) ( Or - mind shield rather. ) 2d8 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Lukas (2d8) and gets a natural 9 for a result of 9. 2d8 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Ashley (2d8) and gets a natural 3 for a result of 3. 2d8 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Herman (2d8) and gets a natural 4 for a result of 4. [The remote feels like it's pulling at you guys! Most of you manage to resist, but something gets sucked out of Lukas and flies into the remote.] * Herman looks up just to see that. "..." * Alys shrieks and nearly drops the remote. That'd better not've just been your soul, man. * Ten looks up at Lukas. "Lukas? Like, you still in there?" Volt! Volt, please say you're okay, or I will never live with this, it would suck, my life will be full of angst and woe and bad poetry! You don't want that, do you!? * Lukas grunts as the something is pulled from him and says, as the key hopefully clicks, "Wha--hell, if it is, I don't feel much different." He smiles weakly at Alys. "I'm not, uh, dead?" * Griff_Khalil stares and mutters an oath. (http://besm.sandwich.net/MC2/art/vp.jpg) You gotta say stuff when you're kay! [Lix Tetrax moves riiiiight up to Lukas. "You sure you wanna do that?"] * Lukas then frowns, "... look, took me a... okay, yeah, something's not right-- " he looks down to Lix. "Where's the choice in this, lady?" "You could walk away." * Togo just facepalms. * Alys looks down at the ground and shoves the remote at Togo. "-You- take it." * Herman looks at her like she's crazy, because THEY ALL ARE. Yeah, I really like not existing. But, like, you gotta save the world! ["You *might* still exist... If you're lucky."] At that point, I do believe the decision does not matter. I do think that risking a life is better than never having had one in the first place. I wholeheartedly agree. * Lukas steps away from her, if he can, towards the control. "I won't remember it if I do. He'll just be a different me. Paradoxes." Beat. "You mind, uh, fixing me, with that remote?" * Togo takes the remote and stows it in his coat. (HEY. I need that!) ( Rhyme unintentional. ) ["Does it?" She gestures upwards, where the above light show seems even more flashier. "The ritual has already begun. If you enter this tower now, even if you stop Dante, you'll be dispersed throughout the timestream." She looks back down, and asks with a curious expression. "Is that what you want?"] Can I go to the future? And still stop him? That'd be awesome! What does timestream dispersion involve, exactly? * Togo takes the remote OUT of his coat and hands it to Ten. "I have no eyes. Fix him?" * Ten takes it with both hands and looks at the buttons. * Lukas frowns at Togo and then looks down at Ten. "Random button pushing is not the name of the game here, kiddo." ["Simply put, you'll end up in a different point in time."] * Griff_Khalil stares. "Um, I am hoping that this means that all of our parts get dispersed together..." Eh. I don't really care about that. Can we go now, or do you have another speech prepped? * Lukas looks back to Lix. "Look, lady. If we don't go, the us us won't exist, right? And if we do go, we get fucked over, right? Options all suck here." So, I could stop myself from being born? Theoretically? [She grins. "My, I guess you don't have anything to live for, then."] Oh, question! Why do you care? If it is not you, then it is Dante who does it, Alys. * Herman looks at the box in his hands again while he waits. "Might not exist. No bloody problems there." Oh, hm. Incoming. At the risk of relapsing into grim badassness, which would be a shame since I'm almost at 18 months without pondering the meaninglessness of existance... there're people with way more to lose in losing the present than I do. * Herman undoes the latch and opens !Pandora's box. * Griff_Khalil turns to Herman. "I think we are being stalled." ["It's interesting." She looks up. "I'm supposed to be against you -- you did kill my father, and all -- but I'd much rather see what happens here."] [Herman opens the box, revealing!.... And open, empty transparent box.] * Herman looks in the box. * Herman turns the box upside down and shakes it. [Nothing comes out!] * Ten is still trying to figure out the buttons on the remote. * Herman shrugs to himself and closes the box. "All right. Let us in?" You should probably give that to Ten if there's nothing weird about it. As a present! [Lix gestures at the door. "Go right ahead." She stops, and taps her chin. "Actually, there *is* a counter ritual that could stop the time stream dispersion..."] * Herman raises an eyebrow. * Ten looks at Alys. "But, like, I can see through it! Where's the fun in that?" What's the price? ( And you can have it... for ONE MILLION PESOS! ) ["What are you offering?"] (And you can have it for Five Hundred and Ninety-nine US dollars.) ...You could put smaller boxes in it? Like those Russian dolls. No idea. Don't normally deal with demons. I know better, most of the time. (29,995 Hel!) (OVER NINE-THOUSAND!) ["All right then.... How about the usual? You give me a soul, and I'll perform the counter ritual."] But, but, I wanna open them! Not put them in the stupid transparent box!! Nah, I'd rather get stuck in the stone age. * Lukas snaps his fingers and says, sharply, "Ten!" (And the soul must have mustard on it.) Remote! Pay attention! * Togo points to the guy on the floor. "Want his?" Right! Totaly on it! ["You just might, you know."] * Alys sticks her tongue out at Ten. Could cast some spells. I'd be a god. It'd be kind of cool, if smelly and full of grunts. * Ten looks at the remote some more! Are there any markings or anything on it? ["Nice try. But demons don't have souls. You should know that."] The only issue with that is changing the future ourselves. [There are no markings on the remote. Just eight buttons. Seriously, Lady Lix, no offense. But we *really* don't have a lot of time here, and I'm not giving you any souls. * Togo shrugs. "Hadta try. Wouldja take a few years off the back end of a lifespan?" Well, present...or... ::rubs his head:: College did not prepare me for this. Maybe you can make a bargain with one of the other guys, but if that's all you want, I'd rather get tossed around. * Ten looks at the buttons, and then tries comp scanning on the thing! * Griff_Khalil looks up suddenly and rubs his chin. [She shakes her head. "Nah. A soul or nothing. Otherwise, I'll be content to watch what happens."] Herman... What? * Herman looks at the griffon. Can we talk? Without listeners, preferably. * Herman shrugs. "Ashley, make it happen?" (Wait, when did Herman become group leader? I thought it was Togo!) * Togo rubs his head. "Do we have to have it on hand? 'cause I know a lady named Rachel I'd be more than happy to fetch on an IOU." (Maybe when he went linkdead you got it?) (Hm, I'd buy that, only I wasn't the second person to join the party.) ["Nope! By all means, take someone from the tower if you like. Even Dante's."] ( Togo's tactical leader. Not necessarily negotiating leader. ) [She snickers. "You just kill them off and I'll take care of the rest."] (Give me a minute) * Togo looks back at the others. "I'd have no problem condemning Dante to eternal damnation. Any objections?" * Griff_Khalil looks a bit startled and looks at Togo, but doesn't say anything. Ain't like the boy's making it through the pearly gates anyway after all this. * Lukas mutters, "You're a cold man, Togo. 'Kaela could take lessons from you." Beat. "C'mon, Ten, anything?" Is he still able to do evil things if he has no soul? ["You'd have to kill him, first. I'd just do the collecting."] Like, I've got the bad half figured out. * Herman looks at Togo like he's insane. Wait. HE IS. Oooh! that's a bridge! Kay! * Ten points at three of the buttons. "You press these to get your powers back!" * Togo shrugs. "Cold, yeah. But we're gonna kill the son of a bitch anyway. He's gonna go to hell when we do. Tactically speaking, it works." E-Either way, we need to figure this quickly. * Lukas bites his lip a moment and says, "I'd pray, but... yeah." He then presses 'em. [Lukas gets his powers back!] (Oh. Wow. Hm.) (Maybe I should spend my CP on a different spell. ... Nah, this works IC.) I'm more'n willing to be scattered in the timestream if need be, but if the only cost is the bastard who's causing all the problems... * Ashley makes whatever Herman asked for happen. [Lix shrugs. "You'd better make up your mind soon, though. The longer you wait, the more likely you'll be thrown further away from the present."] * Herman gives Ashley a thumbs up and then starts talking to Khalil on mute. Gotta go up now! * Togo shrugs. "So there are objections to the 'sacrifice Dante' idea then, I take it?" * Herman waves impatiently for Togo to wait and keeps talking to Khalil. ["There is another soul in there, too. A nice, pure one. I'd love to get my hands on that."] Nuh~uh! Pure? Who else is up there? ["Hmm, well, maybe not pure. Holy, though. It would be fun to corrupt."] * Lukas stretches his fingers and puts the remote away himself. "I don't like it, but I don't like a lot of this shit." [Lix Tetrax grins. "Kind of a no-win situation for you, huh? But it's the opposite for me. That's what makes it so interesting."] * Togo grins at Lukas. "Means ya still got a chance, kid." Yeah, well. Ten thinks she can whack the ritual herself with the magical remote of doom, so who knows. Awesome! If it works, Ten, I'll give you ten opaque boxes with stuff in them. * Herman waves for the illusion to stop, then turns to Lix. "We've got a soul for you, if you want to take it. Khalil?" [Lix shakes her head. "Not likely. Professor Himmel designed that to Dante's specifications. I bet it won't work."] YAAAAAAAY! ( This conversation would be going a lot faster if I had one more big bullet for the Ace. ) [Lix looks over at Herman. "Oh?"] Aww. * Ten sulks. * Griff_Khalil nods slightly and glances at Lix. "Yes." He clears his throat. "Would you accept Balthasar's?" Crazy German guy made it? Cool. ["Balthasar's? .... Is that the one you're sharing a body with? There's only half of one there, though."] (We three kings of Orient are o/~) [Lix nods. "What do you think we kidnapped him for?"] Yes. But they are already dead, so it would be halfway there. (Swap things around so that bit of conversation makes more sense.) ( I figured Dante had a cyborg fetish.) [Lix turns back to Khalil. "I don't know..... half a soul isn't much good. You need the whole thing to be able to use it."] I believe I know where the other half is. ["Oh? Well, if you're offering the whole thing..."] Possible. There is another that holds it. I cannot speak for her. * Ash is now known as Phantasm [Lix shakes her head. "The deal might get reneged then. I'm not dumb enough to take a deal like that."] * Griff_Khalil sighs and takes a deep breath. "Alright then. All of it." ... Khalil, don't. * Griff_Khalil turns to Herman for a second. * Herman looks back. "Just don't. If you're that desperate, Dante's going to hell *anyway*. Guaranteed." Wait, all as in 'the chunk in you and the chunk in your sister', or all as in 'the whole part in you'? ["Sounds good to me! But I'm going to take the half that's here before I do the ritual. Can't have you go back on the deal, after all."] * Griff_Khalil looks at Togo. "I said I was offering Balthasar. Not Khalil." * Herman blinks once, then shakes his head. "Fucking demons and their fucking deals. Right." * Ten flails some more. "Selling souls is a bad plan!" We gotta go kick Dante's head in and go to the future! [Lix shrugs. "If you'd rather hang out in the Roman Empire or wherever you end up instead, that's fine with me."] ... You could end up at a time when there's no power cables. Possibly. But if we wreck the future, we are as guilty as Dante. ... THat'd be BAD! Yes. Yes, it would. Okay, suck the soul and let's move. Oh. Then good plan. * Lukas puts a finger on Ten's shoulder. "It's all a bad plan, Ten." Beat. "Can we get moving, yes? Door's open." Anytime, really. * Griff_Khalil turns back to Lix. "Very well." [Lix shrugs. "You have to kill Dante and stop the ritual he's performing before I can begin the counter ritual anyhow. I'll just collect it then."] ( Two birds with one stone! HA! I MAKE FUNNY! ) * Griff_Khalil takes a deep breath. "Sounds like a better plan. I may need this for Dante anyway." [Lix grins. "Good luck. I'll be watching."] [She vanishes in a WHOOSH! of air.] No writing yet at least. Let us proceed. * Herman goes to try the door. [The door opens! Inside is a large chamber. A spiral staircase seems to go all the way up around the outer wall, surrounding God knows how many gears in the center.] * Togo claps Khalil on the shoulder. "Solves the problem and removes the curse from yourself and your sister. I'm damn impressed." Let us just wait until it actually happens. She may think it more amusing to change her mind at the last second anyway. Also condemns someone to Hell. Maybe one of the three wise men. Man, that'd piss off the pope. ... Whoever it is now. * Herman starts climbing the stairs. * Alys grins. "That's 'cause he rocks hardcore." She heads in and up. * Griff_Khalil shrugs. "Not *my* wisemen." The vice pope has become the new pope. * Ashley heads on up. * Lukas follows up. "I think we shall call him... 'Pope Fuckinstupid the Third.'" They have vice-popes? Followed by the secretary of popitude. * Griff_Khalil heads up as well. The one I can't have babies with, right? From what I've seen, the whole damn Catholic church is either corrupt or incompetant. Don't feel so bad about being lapsed or killing that archbishop. [No sooner does Herman approach the stairs then a blue ray flashes from above, burning a hole in the floor next to his foot.] * Herman looks at the smoking hole. ... Good thing I wasn't standing there. Huh. * Griff_Khalil looks at the whole. "Very good." Yeah, that'd woulda sucked. Uh... right. Faster? Yup. * Herman runs! * Griff_Khalil runs too! * Alys follows! * Lukas schleps it up the stairs. [Up above, wearing kevlar armor, a helmet with special goggles, a greatsword strapped to her back, and carrying a big-freaking-gun, is another familiar figure: Helga. "I thought you'd show eventually. Time to see what this railgun can really do."] [Session End!]