Re: Grand Battle S3G1! (Round Three: Caelo Ruinam)
05-09-2012, 11:11 PM
Originally posted on MSPA by Pinary.
Huebert liked the skeletons, zombies, and rats. They didn't question his intelligence, belittle him, or act like he was some sort of second-class subspecies. They treated him like any other intruder and just tried to kill him, straight up, with no insinuations or subtext.
He was a bit confused by the dock, though. He'd just been wandering the Ruinam's halls, and after a few minutes of walking and monster-beating, he'd come to a cavern that opened down into nothing. If there'd been a pond in the middle, then maybe a little dock leading out into it might've made at least some sense, but as it was, the wooden structure just hung out over open space, looking down onto clouds and slowly-moving landscape far below. It just didn't make any sense to him.
Of course, that didn't stop him from throwing a giant rat off of it, sending the creature sailing down and away. Nothing else he'd seen so far led him to expect much sense to be made by things, so he just focused on some nice, relaxing monster-fighting. Unfortunately, there weren't many more enemies in the little cavern, so once he'd exhausted the monster supply, he moved on. The path he'd been making his way along continued on through the fortress, and the sounds of scurrying and shuffling encouraged him to keep going ahead.
-
Alex, meanwhile, was pacing around what amounted to her quarters on the little island-ship. It wasn't much more than a bed, an end table, and few square feet of floor space, but it was all she had to work with at the moment. She could only do two steps or so before having to turn around, but she was technically pacing, so she made do.
Back home, she'd had plenty of space to pace around in. There were the halls of the manor, the pastures outside, the paths through the graveyard... Space and gravel enough to pace for years and not even leave a mark.
It was hard to believe it had only been about half a day since she'd left all that behind; it seemed like a lifetime ago, really, like someone else's life, only tangentially related to her own. She'd gone out... what was it for, to find O'Keele and bring him back to the town?
From there, of course, everything had gone to hell. The road home had been blocked by a rockslide once she got to the next town over, and she and O'Keele had had to help the local miners deal with some marauders before they were willing to help clear the road. Things had just continued from there, one thing leading to another, until somehow, beyond all sense of reason, the task of stopping Midday's plan to polish the world (or whatever it was she'd wanted to do) had fallen to a teenager from some nowhere village and a group of allies she'd somehow managed to gather around herself.
She sighed. Going on about how absurd it was that she, she, was supposed to lead the charge against an absolutely insane woman and her plethora of troops wasn't going to do her any good. They were going to be arriving at the madwoman's hijacked flying fortress soon, and there wasn't time to worry about things like absurdity. All there was time for was preparation.
-
"She's just in here," Baghim said, walking a little past the door so that Tor could actually get to it. The hall, much like the rest of the little building, was cramped enough that the cleric had to slouch a bit to walk around.
Tor, fortunately, wasn't at his tallest, so he didn't have to worry about that. It was for the best, really; the kalamritul was making it a bit difficult to focus on more than one thing, and carrying on a conversation and keeping from hitting his head might've proven too much for the Telpori-Hal just at that moment.
There was a pause for a few moments while Baghim waited for Tor to knock and Tor waited for Baghim to do... something, probably.
Eventually, the cleric took the initiative and actually knocked on the door. Something banged into something else inside the tiny room and a voice practically shouted, "Just a minute!"
Baghim wasn't exactly known among the little group for being perceptive, and Tor's perceptions were busy perceiving that Baghim really was tall, wasn't he. Neither person really gave what Alex could be doing much thought.
She did open the door after a minute, and when she saw Tor outside, she managed to use her forceful will to not roll her eyes. She didn't exactly invite him in; she just stuck with a curt "What do you want?"
"You're the leader of this group of people, yes?"
Well done, Tor thought to himself, so far so good.
"That's how things have turned out, yes."
"I was wondering if we could have a chat, then, captain to captain." That's good, that's good.
Alex still didn't move to let him in, but she shifted her body a bit, standing a bit more casually. "Alright. Go ahead, what did you have in mind?"
"Well, I just thought..." Just thought what? Where was this going, again? Come on, what was it... "Given that we might have common interests..." Train of thought, train of thought... The fortress? The battle? "I thought we should consider discussing, ah..." The Fool? Tengeri? Scoff- Yes! "Scofflaw, that's it!"
Alex stared at him. "Scofflaw?"
"Yes, Scofflaw!" Tor was quite glad he'd worked out what it was he'd meant to talk about. "Scofflaw, you should look out for him."
"Look out for him? Who even is he?"
Right, right. Get it together. "Right, yes. He's, ah... He's a squattish sort of guy, human, likes to change up his outfit. He schemes, he plots, he... He doesn't do anything good, is my point."
-
By the time Skybound Isle was ready to arrive, Tor had managed to explain things to Alex and make his proposal. Alex and her party had a general idea of the layout of Caelo Ruinam and thanks to a crude map they'd picked up in their travels, so Tor would travel with them and help them out when he could. In exchange, when they dealt with Midday, they'd take care of Scofflaw. (It was a win-win, assuming Tor proved himself to be actually useful; the party's leader still had her doubts about him.)
All that was left was the actual act of getting there.
"What do you mean, we can't get above them?"
The group was standing around on the roof of the island's building. They were close enough to the bottom of the Ruinam that they'd had to turn off the fog machine, but by now, they were close enough that the station's detectors shouldn't have been able to see them. Rock outcroppings and bits of extended metal or equipment drifted past as they talked, close enough that a piloting error might take someone's head off.
Kernitt shrugged, the wheel jerking a bit under his hands as he did. "Tersaches wodinnumactic unnartressed."
"There are problems with aerodynamics and our thrust," Baghim provided, translating for the old man.
"Problems?! How are we supposed to board them if we can't get above them?!" Alex didn't need this. They'd come this far, but now they suddenly couldn't even get on top of the fortress?
"Darny, jasnitter fannwaenandersud."
"Don't worry, we just need to find a way in on the underside."
O'Keele spoke up. "What, like a little hole about the size of this shack, maybe with a dock?"
Alex rolled her eyes. "Fine, that's a nice idea, but a flying death-fortress isn't just going to have a convenient little dock and a welcoming party."
Crossing his arms, the archer leaned back against the low railing that surrounded the shack's roof. "Whatever you say."
"Wadarneeawlcam-"
"She knows, Kernitt. She was being sarcastic."
"Adjeslamnohti wamdo."
"We will." The cleric turned to his leader. "Well? What do you want him to do?"
Alex sighed. "I guess we keep a lookout for any sort of access down here. Kernitt, can you start circling us around the underside of the Ruinam? We'll just have to cover the thing systematically until we find something we can use."
"What," O'Keele repeated, "like a little hole about the size of this shack, maybe with a dock?"
"Yes," Alex replied, "just like-"
"Because we passed one of those a little while back, but you weren't listening."
Alex didn't so much say something to O'Keele as sputter, half-say a few different words, then just wave an arm and stalk over to the stairs.
-
"...Even now, he ees likely telling Midday of your exploits!"
Dorukomets and his entourage were doing what they did best: wandering the halls and dispatching minor monsters. At the moment, things were quiet; the only monsters around were thoroughly defeated already.
"Well, if she has any sense, she'll hear one word and simply give up. Even the she must must know she stands no chance against the likes of SIR DORU-"
The end of the warrior's boasting was cut short by a resounding thud, a noise that echoed down the hall and shook the floor.
"What was that, what was that?! Did you-"
"Silence!", Dorukomets snapped, eyes narrowing as he glared down the hall ahead of them. "I hear voices."
-
Tor and Tock were just tying off the ropes to keep Skybound Isle thoroughly attached to the dock when the six-armed figure appeared in the door.
"So," the person shouted, "you've come to try and stop me, SIR DORUKOMETS, once again!"
Alex gasped and whirled to face the newcomer. "You! How did you get up here?"
Dorukomets laughed, putting his whole body into it. "You really think I would tell you something like that? You're even more foolish than I'd thought! No, I've only one thing to say to you."
The adventurers' leader took a rebellious pose, raising her chin at the warrior. "And what's that?"
Dorukomets took a pose of his own. "Prepare to face defeat at the hands of me, SIR DORUKOMETS!"
Huebert liked the skeletons, zombies, and rats. They didn't question his intelligence, belittle him, or act like he was some sort of second-class subspecies. They treated him like any other intruder and just tried to kill him, straight up, with no insinuations or subtext.
He was a bit confused by the dock, though. He'd just been wandering the Ruinam's halls, and after a few minutes of walking and monster-beating, he'd come to a cavern that opened down into nothing. If there'd been a pond in the middle, then maybe a little dock leading out into it might've made at least some sense, but as it was, the wooden structure just hung out over open space, looking down onto clouds and slowly-moving landscape far below. It just didn't make any sense to him.
Of course, that didn't stop him from throwing a giant rat off of it, sending the creature sailing down and away. Nothing else he'd seen so far led him to expect much sense to be made by things, so he just focused on some nice, relaxing monster-fighting. Unfortunately, there weren't many more enemies in the little cavern, so once he'd exhausted the monster supply, he moved on. The path he'd been making his way along continued on through the fortress, and the sounds of scurrying and shuffling encouraged him to keep going ahead.
-
Alex, meanwhile, was pacing around what amounted to her quarters on the little island-ship. It wasn't much more than a bed, an end table, and few square feet of floor space, but it was all she had to work with at the moment. She could only do two steps or so before having to turn around, but she was technically pacing, so she made do.
Back home, she'd had plenty of space to pace around in. There were the halls of the manor, the pastures outside, the paths through the graveyard... Space and gravel enough to pace for years and not even leave a mark.
It was hard to believe it had only been about half a day since she'd left all that behind; it seemed like a lifetime ago, really, like someone else's life, only tangentially related to her own. She'd gone out... what was it for, to find O'Keele and bring him back to the town?
From there, of course, everything had gone to hell. The road home had been blocked by a rockslide once she got to the next town over, and she and O'Keele had had to help the local miners deal with some marauders before they were willing to help clear the road. Things had just continued from there, one thing leading to another, until somehow, beyond all sense of reason, the task of stopping Midday's plan to polish the world (or whatever it was she'd wanted to do) had fallen to a teenager from some nowhere village and a group of allies she'd somehow managed to gather around herself.
She sighed. Going on about how absurd it was that she, she, was supposed to lead the charge against an absolutely insane woman and her plethora of troops wasn't going to do her any good. They were going to be arriving at the madwoman's hijacked flying fortress soon, and there wasn't time to worry about things like absurdity. All there was time for was preparation.
-
"She's just in here," Baghim said, walking a little past the door so that Tor could actually get to it. The hall, much like the rest of the little building, was cramped enough that the cleric had to slouch a bit to walk around.
Tor, fortunately, wasn't at his tallest, so he didn't have to worry about that. It was for the best, really; the kalamritul was making it a bit difficult to focus on more than one thing, and carrying on a conversation and keeping from hitting his head might've proven too much for the Telpori-Hal just at that moment.
There was a pause for a few moments while Baghim waited for Tor to knock and Tor waited for Baghim to do... something, probably.
Eventually, the cleric took the initiative and actually knocked on the door. Something banged into something else inside the tiny room and a voice practically shouted, "Just a minute!"
Baghim wasn't exactly known among the little group for being perceptive, and Tor's perceptions were busy perceiving that Baghim really was tall, wasn't he. Neither person really gave what Alex could be doing much thought.
She did open the door after a minute, and when she saw Tor outside, she managed to use her forceful will to not roll her eyes. She didn't exactly invite him in; she just stuck with a curt "What do you want?"
"You're the leader of this group of people, yes?"
Well done, Tor thought to himself, so far so good.
"That's how things have turned out, yes."
"I was wondering if we could have a chat, then, captain to captain." That's good, that's good.
Alex still didn't move to let him in, but she shifted her body a bit, standing a bit more casually. "Alright. Go ahead, what did you have in mind?"
"Well, I just thought..." Just thought what? Where was this going, again? Come on, what was it... "Given that we might have common interests..." Train of thought, train of thought... The fortress? The battle? "I thought we should consider discussing, ah..." The Fool? Tengeri? Scoff- Yes! "Scofflaw, that's it!"
Alex stared at him. "Scofflaw?"
"Yes, Scofflaw!" Tor was quite glad he'd worked out what it was he'd meant to talk about. "Scofflaw, you should look out for him."
"Look out for him? Who even is he?"
Right, right. Get it together. "Right, yes. He's, ah... He's a squattish sort of guy, human, likes to change up his outfit. He schemes, he plots, he... He doesn't do anything good, is my point."
-
By the time Skybound Isle was ready to arrive, Tor had managed to explain things to Alex and make his proposal. Alex and her party had a general idea of the layout of Caelo Ruinam and thanks to a crude map they'd picked up in their travels, so Tor would travel with them and help them out when he could. In exchange, when they dealt with Midday, they'd take care of Scofflaw. (It was a win-win, assuming Tor proved himself to be actually useful; the party's leader still had her doubts about him.)
All that was left was the actual act of getting there.
"What do you mean, we can't get above them?"
The group was standing around on the roof of the island's building. They were close enough to the bottom of the Ruinam that they'd had to turn off the fog machine, but by now, they were close enough that the station's detectors shouldn't have been able to see them. Rock outcroppings and bits of extended metal or equipment drifted past as they talked, close enough that a piloting error might take someone's head off.
Kernitt shrugged, the wheel jerking a bit under his hands as he did. "Tersaches wodinnumactic unnartressed."
"There are problems with aerodynamics and our thrust," Baghim provided, translating for the old man.
"Problems?! How are we supposed to board them if we can't get above them?!" Alex didn't need this. They'd come this far, but now they suddenly couldn't even get on top of the fortress?
"Darny, jasnitter fannwaenandersud."
"Don't worry, we just need to find a way in on the underside."
O'Keele spoke up. "What, like a little hole about the size of this shack, maybe with a dock?"
Alex rolled her eyes. "Fine, that's a nice idea, but a flying death-fortress isn't just going to have a convenient little dock and a welcoming party."
Crossing his arms, the archer leaned back against the low railing that surrounded the shack's roof. "Whatever you say."
"Wadarneeawlcam-"
"She knows, Kernitt. She was being sarcastic."
"Adjeslamnohti wamdo."
"We will." The cleric turned to his leader. "Well? What do you want him to do?"
Alex sighed. "I guess we keep a lookout for any sort of access down here. Kernitt, can you start circling us around the underside of the Ruinam? We'll just have to cover the thing systematically until we find something we can use."
"What," O'Keele repeated, "like a little hole about the size of this shack, maybe with a dock?"
"Yes," Alex replied, "just like-"
"Because we passed one of those a little while back, but you weren't listening."
Alex didn't so much say something to O'Keele as sputter, half-say a few different words, then just wave an arm and stalk over to the stairs.
-
"...Even now, he ees likely telling Midday of your exploits!"
Dorukomets and his entourage were doing what they did best: wandering the halls and dispatching minor monsters. At the moment, things were quiet; the only monsters around were thoroughly defeated already.
"Well, if she has any sense, she'll hear one word and simply give up. Even the she must must know she stands no chance against the likes of SIR DORU-"
The end of the warrior's boasting was cut short by a resounding thud, a noise that echoed down the hall and shook the floor.
"What was that, what was that?! Did you-"
"Silence!", Dorukomets snapped, eyes narrowing as he glared down the hall ahead of them. "I hear voices."
-
Tor and Tock were just tying off the ropes to keep Skybound Isle thoroughly attached to the dock when the six-armed figure appeared in the door.
"So," the person shouted, "you've come to try and stop me, SIR DORUKOMETS, once again!"
Alex gasped and whirled to face the newcomer. "You! How did you get up here?"
Dorukomets laughed, putting his whole body into it. "You really think I would tell you something like that? You're even more foolish than I'd thought! No, I've only one thing to say to you."
The adventurers' leader took a rebellious pose, raising her chin at the warrior. "And what's that?"
Dorukomets took a pose of his own. "Prepare to face defeat at the hands of me, SIR DORUKOMETS!"