Cave Slickers: The Legend of Holly-Eyes Gold [FINISHED!]

[Chronos]

Ensichrys grew somewhat wary of the apparently deserted temple entrance, but proceeded to land on it anyway. He looked over at the basket. "I think it's best that you stay in here." Ensichrys picked up the basket and wrapped it in his cloak to hide the glow. He then put it behind the passenger seat. "Just in case anyone sneaks on the jet, you should be safe if you just stay quiet back there."

Ensichrys opened the cockpit and leaped out onto the mandible of the dragonic creature that was the Temple of Nothing. Ensichrys, still armed with his charms, strode with confidence toward the beast's throat.

[3kul]

((Sorry for taking so long to reply everyone, my computer has recently broken down which means that I'm now stuck using my ipod and the computers at the local library to access the internet.

Unfortunately (and perhaps more importantly) I've also lost the big word document that I was keeping notes on this thread in. I remember the major plot points of course but there were so many little things that I'm certain I'll either forget those completely or end up doing most of them wrong, so if I contradict something that I've said earlier or you feel that something's just not right please let me know.

One of these things is that damn beetle's accent. I expect to screw this up royally, so apologies in advance.))

"Damn it all..." The beetle cursed, finally giving up hope. He was firmly trapped in Evil Swix's dark grip and it was clear that he wouldn't get free unless he was willing to give up all his secrets or lose all of his legs.

"Th' cat'll kill me for tellin' you this... But you'll kill me right now if I don't." He sighed. "Alrigh', you've twisted my antenner your way, so listen up." That was probably some kind of beetle expression, because his antennae were currently free of your shadowy fingers. "Th' tunnel leads straight to the lair. Ain't many safe places that deep into the Cave, an' we don' wanna go upsetting the other monsters down there with what we're doin'."

"'Course, when I say 'we' I mean Hollereyes and the rest o' them spirits. They're all workin' on somethin' big. Bigger than a lowly summoned beetle like me is allowed to know... Sure has my boss anxious though." His feelers twitched and the beetle clicked to itself. "Not sure why. He's one of the oldest spirits around, I can't imagine somethin' that'd make him nervous."

"Well, that aside, nothin' I tell you really matters. You ain't fittin' your big self down that there tunnel any time soon, an' even if you do you'd never get out alive. Hollereyes has a hunnerd spirits at his beck and call, since he's the mastermind they're all answerin' to him now. You don' get in unless he wants you to get in."

Well, you'd found out where the tunnel leads, but it seems that this information by itself isn't terribly helpful. Unfortunately it looks like your captive is simply too low in rank to be of any real use to you.

As you look around, you notice that the library has gone oddly quiet. Whatever was tearing the library apart before has stopped now, and all that remains is the havoc that it's wreaked - fallen bookshelves, literature scattered all about, and not really that much else... Save for a squishy black thing that seems to be bouncing down one of the aisles.

----------------------------------------------------

The corridor that Fade slunk into was still quite chaotic, grunts alive and dead clashing with each other in a seemingly endless conflict. A steady stream of back-up continued to trickle through to replace the living grunts who'd been killed, and those who were killed quickly stood back up to take the places of the dead who'd fallen to pieces.

Nobody here seemed to have the faintest clue as to what was going on, other than that they were under attack from somebody. From the distance you can hear a more commanding voice issuing orders, most likely from a higher ranked grunt. The tone of her voice suggests that she's managing to keep things together, but every now and then it wavers just a little - she's dealing with the situation far better than the grunts beneath her are, but there's only so much a standard EC grunt can deal with before snapping. Morale was being crippled by the complete lack of knowledge as to who was behind this attack, and the enemy had quickly gone from a bunch of musty old skeletons to freshly dead grunts. Being forced to tear former comrades was bad enough, but it was becoming difficult to tell who was friend and who was foe...

Your assistance could turn this situation around completely, as the presence of a higher-ranking EC member would surely bolster the grunts' confidence, and your own heightened senses make it very easy for you to distinguish between the living and the dead, but if you allowed yourself to get held up here you could be playing right into the hands of the person or persons controlling these corpses.

----------------------------------------------------

"The rotting ones are easy to kill, sir!" A grunt shouted in reply to Furnace's question. "But any of our forces that get killed jump right back up and turn against us! We don't know who the enemy is or how they're doing it... I've read about necromancy before but I've never heard of anything like th-ARGHBLBLBL!"

Before he could finish his sentence the grunt had his throat slashed out by another grunt. The other grunt had a gaping wound in his chest, as though his heart had been torn out, but that didn't stop him from continuing to attack his former allies in the most ruthless manner possible. As the grunt had attempted to warn you, the enemy was becoming harder and harder to spot. The skeletons were all smashed, but in their place stood fresher dead, with stronger bones, muscles and the very same uniforms and weaponry wielded by the EC's forces.

The person or people controlling the corpses was being very clever in how they did so, even to the point of ensuring that none of them attacked you. Not only did this mean that you could not easily distinguish who to kill and who not to kill, it also instilled a strong feeling of distrust towards you in the remaining grunts. Why was the enemy leaving you unharmed and yet tearing them to pieces? Several of them were glaring at you with accusing eyes, but they were too busy fighting for their lives to interrogate you.

Simply attacking every grunt here would obviously be the best way of clearing a path for yourself and putting a stop to this conflict, but you'd risk being labeled as the enemy if you did so. Traveling through here without attacking anybody was also a possible option as the enemy did not want to make themselves obvious by trying to stop you, but doing this also ran you an equally high chance of being considered a traitor...

As you contemplate your few and mostly unfavourable options a mechanical mess of a creature stumbles into this part of the Cave. It seemed like it was either poorly made or badly damaged as it was sending small jolts of electricity out all over the place in a fairly dangerous manner, and it's many various parts seem poorly matched and held together by almost nothing at all. It's difficult to say whether this is a machine built by Council hands or a machine sent by an enemy or something else entirely - if you'll look closely you'll see that it's got a few bits of crushed grunt stuck to some of it's pointier parts, but considering that the enemy here are grunts that doesn't tell you much about the machine's allegiances.

----------------------------------------------------

What remained of Naine's mechanical exobody made short work of the grunts that had tried to stop it, crushing them as it lumbered onwards into a more open part of the Cave.

Here not many Council folk paid you any great deal of attention, but only because they had bigger problems to concern themselves with. At a casual glance this probably looked more like an uprising, and without any knowledge of what's going on here at the moment that's probably the only conclusion you'll be able to come up with.

A massive dragon dominates the room, and it seems to have spotted you. It doesn't seem to have made up it's mind as to exactly what you are right now, but if it's in cahoots with the Council the odds of you escaping this encounter unscathed are rather bad. If you can it might be worth explaining your situation to him, but if it's not possible then running is almost certainly your best option.

----------------------------------------------------

Oddly enough, Goldie finds no more Cornelius corpses wandering the library. The few that you have killed remain lying in the messy state that you left them in, and as you search the library for your own missing pieces you spot a couple more. For whatever reason, they have dropped dead once again.

Your parts are thankfully not spread out too far about the library, but after the ruckus you and the animated corpses caused they certainly aren't easy to find. Worse still, you can see a rather large piece of your former frame stuck firmly beneath a fallen bookshelf - if you can't find a way to get the shelf off of it then you'll have to either ask for help or leave it behind.

As you continue to collect the many parts of your shell, you spot a rather sinister individual standing in the corner of the library. Her hand is unnaturally black, and in it is a large beetle that's surrounded by more darkness. You don't know who this person but she seems to have spotted you too, so hopefully she's too busy doing whatever it is that she's doing to bother you.

----------------------------------------------------

The guard jumped as CAM-501 spoke his native tongue, but he was very quick to remember his training: if a prisoner does anything strange, violence is always the appropriate response.

Fortunately for you he managed to hear most of what you had to say before he could unholster his gun. Thinking for a moment, he slowly relaxed, though his hand remained cautiously close to his firearm.

"Lotta prisoners promise big money, but I ain't stupid. Rich folk pay their way out, it's the poor ones who are left here to rot." He rubbed his many scaly chins with his pudgy reptilian hands, for though he'd said otherwise he was still intrigued by your offer. "But the warden thinks you're here because a few of the prisoners have been talking about organizing a break-out. Word is they have friends on the outside, friends who paid big money to hire a mercenary to help them out..." So your sudden and violent entrance into the prison had come about at a time when some prisoners had been talking about getting an outsider to help them escape... No wonder the warden didn't trust you at all.

"So... who do you work for, machine man?" The guard asked, his greedy eyes narrowing. "You offer me a job on any planet I want with a fat paycheck you must be working for somebody big..." It's hard to tell if he's interested in taking you up on your offer or if he's attempting to interrogate you, so you'd be wise to tread carefully until you know for sure just who's side the guard is on.

----------------------------------------------------

The ghostly grunt screamed as Lucifer tore his arm off, only to find it reappear on his body moments later as though nothing had happened at all. "I don't... I don't understand..." The ghost stammered, curling itself into a fetal position. "What's happening... I don't know... don't know at all..." He murmurs, rocking back and forth.

His mind appears to have snapped, and whether this is temporary or not you can't say. Perhaps for future reference it would be worth noting that inducing massive mental shock on ghosts who don't yet realize that they're dead yields disasterous results.

"Watch your back, dammit!" Another ghost shouts, though his voice is unheard by the grunt who's now being stabbed to death. "Gods!" The ghost exclaims as the grunt falls to the ground, his killer, another grunt, moving on to it's next target. "Am I going crazy? First we're fighting zombies and now we're fighting ourselves, just what the hell is going on here?! Mills, reload that gun! Mills!" The grunt referred to as Mills didn't realize that he was out of ammo and, unable to hear the warnings of his deceased superior officer, quickly fell prey to the knife-weilding grunt as his gun clicked uselessly. "AND WHY IS NOBODY LISTENING TO ME?!?!"

----------------------------------------------------

"Good afternoon, Councilman." A masked figure greeted Ensichrys, holding out a single hand in a gesture that either meant 'hello' or 'stop', or perhaps both. Given his tall stature, the mask covering his face, the thick coat of fur and the spider-like legs dangling at his side it was obvious that this was Buggane, one of the worshippers here at the Temple of Nothing.

"I have allowed it to be treated otherwise in the past when the Divine One willed it but as she is not present then I must stop you. This place is a Temple, erected as tribute to The God Of Nothing. It is a holy building that is sacred to us, His humble worshippers, and at the moment no others are permitted entry." He waited a moment, then cocked his head to one side. "Well, that said, considering who you are Councilman I suspect that you are here to see the Divine One? If this is indeed the case then I will save you the trouble of asking: she is not here... As a matter of fact, she has not been here for quite some time, but I was under the impression that you might know of this? She did tell us that she intended to visit the Council when she last left."

Buggane did not seem like the type to lie, though unfortunately he does seem fairly clueless as to what's going on down in the Dojo and the Corrupted Cave. He clearly doesn't mind talking to you, so you may ask him any more questions that you might have, but entering the Temple of Nothing without forcing your way in doesn't seem very likely at the moment.

[Swix]

"HollowEyes!" Evil Swix nearly shouted "is here?!" Of course he was, that fiery cat the beetle was so scared of must be Caton, who else could it be? But, why? The beetle had not that much information but enough to both scupper the evil womans hopes and intrigue her curiousity. Evil Swix narrowed her hazel eyes at the five legged insect "That was barely worth the effort" then she smiled again, that humourless, disturbing expression "don't think I'll be letting you go" The dark woman opened her bag, putting her unnaturally coloured hand inside it intending to keep the beetle captive indefinitely. Going inside a bag wouldn't seem all that bad until you saw the inside of the bag was as unnatural as the tendrils. There was nothing in there, just blackness... A living, seething, menacing blackness.

There was another living blackness that had caught her eye, and it was this that she turned her attention to as she closed the bag and the darkness melted back into her hands. There was a gap between her grip loosening and the bag closing that the beetle may have been able to use to escape, but Evil Swix wasn't really paying attention to it anymore anyway. "Are you what's been making all that racket?" Evil Sxix spat at the thing, that was oddly reminiscent of what had just come out of her hand. Just to seem a little more menacing, she allowed the darkness to envelop her outer form, covering her in unnatural night that undulated alarmingly.
----------------
Fade paused for a moment, though standing still was pretty impossible when you were invisible and wanted to avoid detection, you had to move so no-one touched you. This could quite easily be a diversion tactic but who was doing it? Of course Fade had heard of Catons necromantic ability, but nothing this big. Then again, only someone of the Council would have access to so many areas of the Cave... Of course there was the famous/infamous Au'Marui/Dau'Pay but he wouldn't need a dead army. The main question here was why? That would all have to wait til later, the assassin made her way over to the high ranking female grunt, giving an invisible hand to those whose hearts were still beating as she went, mainly by exposing the dead for what they were through slashes to the throat. Saving what she could now may well be an asset later.
----------------
Furnace snorted, the scent of dead and living softskins mingling with blood and the rotted corpses, dust, heated metal and the unmistakable scent of wallslime. Furnace growled low, that was no help, the scents were too mixed up to be of any use. The Dark Fire Dragons attention was interrupted by a mass of metal oozing thrnugh one of the corridors.
"If you're not in league with the undead" Furnace directed at the pile of junk "speak before I reduce you to a molten heap"

((Thanks CP))

[Coolpikaaa]

((There you go Swix.

Patched together, and old post deleted.

Have a nice day ))


-coolpikaaa

[3kul]

((

I didn't realize that you'd posted here Swix, sorry that it's taken me so long to respond!

In any case, interest in this RP seems to have plummetted (I've no doubt that this is largely due to my own short hiatus due to broken computer), so I'll need to rework this story a bit in order to jump the plot forward a bit so that it can end with some kind of satisfying conclusion.

I should take a few days to get all the details worked out in my head, so anybody who wants to finish up this RP is welcome to post here to indicate their interest in that time. Those who aren't interested can also let me know if they like, but anybody who doesn't say anything might miss out on the climax of this RP.))

[Cirrial]

((Well, my unexplained absence from these fora is now officially over. As for the reason, well, I did just say unexplained absence. There are reasons but they're pretty dull and I won't waste anyone's time going into them. Still, apologies to all for kind of up and disappearing out of nowhere.

That aside, I have an RP to contribute to!))

Naine's exobody, shattered and in ruins, wrenches itself apart, a large teal capsule sliding out of the wreckage, covered in leaking cracks, before also splitting open slightly from the damage sustained by the powerhouse generator. A semi-viscous clear fluid pours out of the broken capsule.

Inside the split capsule is what seems to be something resembling a dusky dolphin that had a bad experience with a few pounds of tangled wires, squirming in mortal fear and increasing pain.

Covering almost every visible inch of Naine's exposed body are various wires and small tubes, some of which appear to be stretched out to a limit that their designers never anticipated. It is almost as if the wires are not so much attached to Naine as if they have literally become part of his body, external nerves to a now broken machine.

Years of never using his biological eyes means all he can see without his cameras is a stunning, excruciating brightness, and he squeaks and squeals in protest at this unfiltered glimpse into the outside world.

Stuck inside the capsule and tethered by the wires that remain an integral part of him, all he can do is wait for some outside force to either help him or finish him off.

---

Goldie arranges the components of its shell it could find into a tiny pile, and glares at the stuck piece.

Goldie hops over to the bookcase and attempts to lift it, but finds that while it seems to have incredible speed and agility and slicing power without its cumbersome shell, its current squishier state makes attempting heavy lifting entirely impossible.

"Are you what's been making all that racket?"

Goldie spins around to face the source of the voice. "What? Who's there? Are you the librarian?"

Instead, what it sees is a squirming blackness uncannily like itself, though more humanoid in structure. It mumbles to itself. "No, you're not the librarian. You're... what are you?"

Goldie slowly approaches the darkness, its red glowing eye dimmed in curiosity. "...Are we... related?" Please say no please say no please say no

---

501 hesitates. I didn't give this guy enough credit. Damn, why couldn't you be the dumb type of guard who asks no questions and shows no hesitation at simple bribery?!

And now I'm implicated in a break-out. This has been the worst day of my life! ...Well, okay, the thirty-first worst day of my life. Maybe the thirty-second.

"I work for Maratix as a diplomat, representative, and occasional creative problem solver."

501 wisely decides to avoid explaining that, in Maratix parlance, "creative problem solver" was a euphemistic way of saying "someone who does crazy stuff when smart stuff would have worked better".

"At least, those are my current held occupations. I... kind of get shunted around from job to job. ...Wait, why did I just tell you that? Anyway, despite what I just said, I inexplicably continue to hold a position of high authority and influence within Maratix, and as such while the organisation isn't at my beck and call I can get things done with the right word in the right ear. Or antenna. Or other aural sensory organ."

"Also, as to who or what Maratix is, well, it's a trans-universal corporation slash nation with facilities and commerce branches across most of the colonised worlds of the Floating Arm galaxy in my home universe, it's a lovely place, really recommend a visit there sometime."

"...You aren't going to buy any of this, though, so I'm just going to stop there and wait patiently for either the warden to come back or for some kind of miracle to happen to get me out of this mess. Still, thanks for the conversation, it sure has beat just waiting around in silence for an undetermined fate."

He wanders over to the table he was strapped to and sits down on it, idly drumming his metal talons against it.

"Well, it's a shame, anyway, because we could really do with more guards. It's not that hard a job, either, Maratix facilities practically guard themselves, they just need someone to check a few cameras and push a few buttons now and then. Yet we still pay the guys stupid amounts of money just for sitting around doing nothing all day!"

[Swix]

If Furnace wasn't such a large being that rearing his head up in disgust may well have put the entire thing through the ceiling and possibly have caused a cave in, he would have out of disgust. Here in front of him was not only one of many creatures he referred to as soft-skins, but one that had integrated itself with technology and was surround by some sort of viscous liquid that unpleasantly reminded him of water. Furnace contented himself with lips curled, ears flattened and nostrils flared in disgust.
"I always knew you softskins were pathetic" he said spitefully, raising a claw to pick up the loathsome creature "and here you are proving it!... Whatever you are"
----------------
Evil Swix smirked at the black, dim red eyed creature as it asked if they were related. Maybe she ought to walk around like this more often.
"No, I am not that annoying windbag librarian. I don't know if we're related. Maybe we are" she said "I am pain and despair, vengeance and lust, anger and deceit, greed and hatred. I am what beings see when they look in the mirror and shrink away in disgust. I am what every being feels guilt about" she grinned, pleased at her little speech "what are you?"

[3kul]

"Whoops."

Noten's etheral voice contained almost no emotion (save for a hint of amusement that nobody picked up on), and though he had not spoken loudly his voice thundered throughout the silent congregation of spirits. Tension was high and the spirits were nervous, more now than they'd been over the past half a year, for their secretive planning was about to come to fruition. Treason against the Gods and Goddesses that they were meant to serve would be met with a punishment worse than death, and to hear that single word from the one entity meant to protect them sent the entire room into a panic.

"What does he mean 'whoops'?" "Ohgodohgodohgodohgod..." "I knew this was a terrible idea, I knew it!"

"Shut. Up." This single command silenced the entire room, a true testament to the level of control the only mortal here had over the many immortals present. HollowEyes was the brains behind this scheme, and if there was to be any chance for success listening to him and obeying his every order was crucial. "What are you 'whoops'ing about Noten? And don't say 'nothing' because I'm in no mood for jokes... heh heh."

"I slipped." Noten murmured, shrugging (although as nobody present could see him the motion was largely pointless). "Well I guess we can't blame you..." HollowEyes responded, greatly impressing the crowd around him with his confidence and ability to remain calm in this dire situation. "After all, you're only human." "No, I'm not." Noten responded bluntly, a little offended by the suggestion. "Oh good, so we can blame you!" The Parasitian snapped back, now losing his cool. "I've been planning this for months on end, nearly half a god-damned year, recruited over a hundred spirits, threw away my sanity and now we're at the very final stage of the operation and YOU SCREW UP?! YOU'RE A MOTHER F***ING GOD, AND YET SOMEHOW YOU'VE JUST PROVED THAT YOU'RE THE MOST INCAPABLE ONE HERE!!!"

"Oh, it's no big deal. We where just spotted for a second." Noten replied nonchalantly. "You could almost say it's... nothing." "Oh!" HollowEyes exclaimed, then paused for a moment before chuckling away to himself. "Heh, that is actually quite good."

"Who saw us?" "Enough with the banter!" "What now?" Though HollowEyes might be amused by such terrible humour the spirits were not, and now that they knew that the jig was up they were becoming increasingly agitated by their leader's antics. "Hm? Oh, yes, the plan! It's cool, I already have it worked out. Shouldn't take too long really, I can start right now if you like." The many spirits surrounding him breathed a collective sigh of relief, but they still felt uneasy. Many of them still wanted to know who had seen them (if only to gauge whether or not there was still a possibility of escaping in secret), whilst others hoped that things would begin moving along soon so that they could just get this over with. Many spirits had come to HollowEyes fully prepared for death, but to die before even starting what they intended to do would be far worse.

After a few moments of awkward silence HollowEyes got the hint. "Oh, right right now? Sure, why not. Just remember to be suitably impressed, I'll be super-depressed if the greatest creation of my life doesn't earn a resounding applause from the audience... Though of course, you won't really be able to applaud."

HollowEyes climbed atop a pedestal that stood in the centre of the room, and as he took his place numerous ink markings lit up. "Ohmmmmmmm..." HollowEyes hummed, focusing his mind as best as he could. This was a difficult procedure, and one that he had never attempted before. For a brief moment he hesitated, wondering what he might do if things went wrong, but without sanity to hold him back he quickly dismissed such thoughts as nothing to be concerned about and began the first stage of his transformation.

"HOLLOW VORTEX!"

His armblades began to spin, rapidly building up speed until they weren't visible at all. The top part of his head snapped backwards so that his mouth was completely open, and a small black orb formed about it. The orb quickly grew in size and soon had a powerful pull to it, though it could not move the living - only spirits would be drawn into it. The hundred or so that had gathered here along with the spirit of Caton were quickly swept up in the dark hurricane, their energies being consumed by HollowEyes...

His voice echoed throughout the Corrupted Caves as he bellowed the name of this dreadful technique, and it had been heard by all. Grunts and other EC friendly-units throughout the cave began to collapse, their spirits being forcefully taken from their bodies by the immensely powerful hollow vortex, though bizarrely enough a select few individuals would find that they were immune to it's pull.

((Those immune to the pull are any characters whom you wish to remain an active part of this RP.))

The army of undead that has been running amock throughout the Cave instantly collapses, though many of the bodies shatter as they hit the ground. Nobody realized that the Mirror spirit, a known ally to HollowEyes, had been involved with this little bit of trickery as well, but it was now obvious. Caton had never been powerful enough to maintain this many undead at once, and especially not in a way that would allow him to manipulate them all in such complex and varying manners. Any beetles still scurrying throughout the Cave disappear, along with any other spirit creatures originally summoned by HollowEyes.

For a few moments the Cave is silent, but then a voice makes itself known to all of those whom remain unaffected by HollowEyes' spirit-devouring spell. It was a strange voice, one that would seem familiar to all who heard it, and yet impossible to place.

"I have seen a very brief glimpse of HollowEyes' plan... There are many things that I could say about it, but time is of the essence, so for now I shall simply say that he must be stopped at all costs."

At this point those who hear the voice will notice a strange kind of warp portal open up next to them. A stable warp portal is usually round and has peaceful swirling movements, however the warp energies surging from this portal are erratic and the shape is not right at all - it's almost as though somebody has forcibly ripped this passageway open for you.

"I am not the most powerful of allies to have, but in this case I am certainly the most useful. HollowEyes has consumed many spirits, and is under the protection of a powerful and ancient God... I do not know how you can defeat him, but I will protect you as best I can and bring you to where he is. Good luck."

Before you is a very unstable portal, beyond which lies two monstrously powerful enemies hellbent on the destruction of the Gods and Goddesses along with their kingdom. There would be no talking them out of this, all who travel through will have a fierce battle on their hands the likes of which they may not survive. You have no obligation to do as the voice wishes, and it does not seem capable of forcing you to do so, but if nobody steps forward to stop HollowEyes then Blackstar as well as the multiverse as you know it will be irreversibly changed forever...

"Go quickly now, before the warp collapses. I cannot open them for long..."

((A little rushed, I know, but I fear if I try to drag this on any longer it will never finish. The voice is talking to any character who you want to hear it, even those who are no longer in the Cave (who might be a little confused since they don't know about HollowEyes' black hole spell).

Hope you've all saved and stocked up on plenty of potions and phoenix downs, because here comes the final boss battle...))

[Cirrial]

((Hrm, apologies for the somewhat contrived nature of the post that's going to follow, but if we're skipping ahead to the dramatic conclusion then I don't have much thread left to recover the damage I've done to pretty much every character I've involved here. So there's going to be a sudden boost in luck for a few characters just so they can get to where they need to be in a fit state.))

Goldie takes Evil Swix's speech as a good sign that it's in deeper trouble. Trouble it probably wouldn't be a good idea to investigate any further.

Ignoring its shell, Goldie all but flies across the library, moving like a stream of black fluid through the air and out of the library door. Got to find Naine got to find Naine got to get out of here got to get out of here

Time seems to stand still, and space becomes a blur. The sense of freedom felt since its shell collapsed now feels almost oppressive, and Goldie feels a strange fear, entirely vulnerable, scared of dissipating into the air around it like a puff of smoke.

Following the trail of components from the destruction of Shambaro's briefcase, Goldie nimbly dances across the trail, leaping from one smashed appliance to another, until it reaches the shattered capsule of Naine.

"...Naine?!"

Naine, staring near-blindly at what he vaguely perceives to be some variety of large reptile attempting to scoop him out of the capsule, feels increasingly faint and dizzy as the systems wired to his body fail one by one. He discounts Goldie's voice as an optimistic hallucination. "Naine! What happened?!"

Goldie completely ignores everyone and everything as it scrambles across the scattered ruined parts of the exobody. "Naine, I can't fix this! I can't fix this! What can I do? What can I do?! Say something!"

Naine closes his eyes, a faint squeak emerging from him. One of the functioning speakers, pouring out static, translates. "No time. My friend. Too damaged. Leave."

Goldie stands in shocked silence, before finally noticing Furnace and grossly miscalculating the situation. "You did this! You must have done this! Why?! I'll destroy you! I'll hunt you down and every one of your kind!" Goldie's semi-amorphous body, a black shifting mass with one red eye, two antennae and countless black tendrils, becomes increasingly bladed and spiked, before the emotional intensity of the situation is interrupted by a sudden call -

"HOLLOW VORTEX!"

- and a sudden strange sensation, like something fundamental to Goldie's being is being tugged at. Goldie looks to Naine, who abruptly thrashes about with the last of his strength, fighting some unseen force, before collapsing limply, lifeless. "Naine?! What... Is this your doing too, monster?!" Goldie leaps at Furnace, and directly into an unstable portal appearing suddenly in its path.

Landing in a very unfamiliar place, with his dearest friend apparently no more, Goldie screams a blood-curdling scream of rage and hopelessness and despair, carving deep marks into the floor with some of its bladed tendrils. With the universe its enemy, Goldie looks around for anyone or anything to blame and subsequently destroy.

---

(( I'm going to assume for the sake of speed and also a deus-ex-machina-conclusion-but-a-conclusion-nonetheless-to-501's-prison-situation that a portal appeared near 501. Tell me if you want this corrected. ))

501's desire for escape is inexplicably answered when the unstable portal leading to ancient forces of doom suddenly manifests itself.

With the total lack of forethought that has characterised his experiences of the last day or two, he completely ignores the mysterious voice, waves to the guard and leaps through. "Oh well, another time, perhaps when I'm not in a jail cell!"

Wait wait wait, what did that voice say about the guy with no eyes and defeating him? Oh well, I'm sure it's nothing I can't handle in my weakened state without any decent weapons and OH FIVE WHY DID I JUST DO THIS-

Upon emerging on the other side, he spends a few seconds screaming at himself inside his head for leaping through not just one but two highly unstable warp portals in the recent past. As a representative of an organisation largely founded upon portal technology, and secondarily portal safety, it wasn't just dangerous but an embarrassing show of incompetence.

501 snaps out of his personal lecture and activates several subroutines and HUD displays he hasn't touched since his days as a forced conscript. The mere use of them sends shivers down his non-existent spine, biological artefacts still present in the back of his digitised mind. He queues up combat overrides which have so far proved deadly effective, yet highly traumatising.

Finally, he mentally composes a brief note to help explain his apparently suicidal actions for when anyone from back home inevitably comes across his lifeless body, or salvages his mental blackbox.

Dear Maratix. Apparently, the thing that lead to my eventual downfall was a small pebble which I slipped on earlier this morning. My advice to all those following in my footsteps would be to pay attention to where you step. Oh, and, er, never use yourself as a warp conduit, don't talk to strange electrical reptile-birds, and if you find yourself abandoned on a harsh planet, befriending the natives is a good idea but breaking into a prison ship isn't.

Oh, and Ak-tse, whatever smart plans you have or had for Blackstar, trust me, it's a mad, mad, mad-mad world. You can't outsmart madness like this. You have to out-mad it. I think that may be the only reason I've lasted so long here. I mean, I must be mad. I just jumped into a portal to certain death. I hope my replacement is a good deal smarter than that. Sincerely yours, CAM-501.

P.S. This is all your collective faults for not doing more to let me get my stuff back. Work on it, people!


(( And that's all my current characters at the final battle scene, with one apparent casualty before the fight's even begun. It's at this stage I start cursing my lack of items and the fact I forgot to save just before the fight. ))

[Swix]

Evil Swix began to laugh somewhat maniacally as the other creature fled from her, being disturbing was oh so much fun. Still smirking, the evil woman picked up her enigma of a bag and made her way out of the library, stepping over the carnage left both by Goldie and the undead. That sight occupied most of her attention until HollowEyes cry echoed throughout the Cave.
'Hollow Vortex?' she thought, but wasn't given much time to think much else as the other voice interrupted.

Evil Swix shrugged and stepped through the portal, what could possibly be so bad?
-
Fade having got far enough to the higher ranked grunt suddenly heard HollowEyes voice and found that everyone around her began to collapse, grunts and undead, some of whom shattered on impact with the ground and left no doubt as to who's doing this was.

The assassin became visible once more as the other voice made itself, and a clearly unstable Warp Portal opened nearby.

The assassin stepped through without hesitation
-
Furnace opened his maw at Goldie, for once in his life to protest his innocence when the thing jumped through the air, straight into a hole. Snapping it shut, the Dark Fire Dragon slunk through the portal directly ahead of him...
((Sorry it's rushed, not much time))

[3kul]

[Swix]

"Works for me" Evil Swix replied after HollowEyes implication filled, yet less than impressive speech. The still disturbing looking woman began to stroll down the passage that the Parasitian had indicated, taking barely any notice of the others. She glanced back once to call over her shoulder "good luck with your plan" and carried on walking. Treasure was what she had been seeking, after all. If there was any chance of it, she was certainly going to take it.
Furnaces infernal gaze burned into the retreating womans back, before turning back to the S-i-C, then to the bizarre mass of blackness that was Goldie. "I did not hurt your friend" he said normally "but I'd like to meet the one that did". The Dark Fire Dragon then returned his attention to HollowEyes, and despite his former dislike found a grudging respect forming "Deceit to further your own plans, benefit the group, take on the immortals, and now bribery?" the Dark Fire Dragon told the insane Parasitian "I like your style" He then began to follow Evil Swix.
That left Fade, the assassin had her Sapphire Dagger held tightly in her hand. The calculating mutant seemed deep in thought. What HollowEyes was suggesting could possibly rip the fabric of the realities, judging by what happened to Blackstar after DP had died. But from the way he was saying it, it would give the Council unprecedented power, and he was still the S-i-C despite his erratic manner. Nor did she have any reason to protect even her own dimension, there was nothing advantageous to her to protect it."I do not get upset" Fade replied "as you well know. I only came through here so I would know why. Now that you have cleared that up, I have no intention of stopping you as the voice instructed" Fades grip on the dagger relaxed marginally "I will watch" The assassin did not attack the other two, though she did keep two watchful watery grey eyes on them to see what they would do.

((EDIT for missing words))

[drlupinmario]

((Man, I forgot about this RP topic. I thought it died. Erm, It seems quite too much ahs happend... Expect me to edit this post tonight to do ... stuff))

Lucifer taps his foot on the ground, Whistling a show tune. Indeed, For whatever reason, his mind became blank after chatting with the trooper. He then decides to look around and head left, wherever left may be.

[Cirrial]

501 stares blankly at HollowEyes, trying to make sense of the sheer madness going on around him. "...I'm pretty sure, by all rights, I shouldn't be here. I have no idea who you are, you have no idea who I am, and to be honest I'm getting rather tired of ending up in situations like this. I'm beginning to feel like some kind of universal toy for the- wait what did you say immortals made mortal hang on hang on a second here-"

He freezes up in the physical world, and inside the sweeping electronic world his subsystems form inside his head he hastily rummages through every item of communication sent to him from a Maratix source in the past three days.

"You must find HollowEyes or an associate as soon as possible. If Station Zero's intelligence is to be believed, he has the powers we're searching for..."

He slowly pieces together the few, tiny scraps bit of evidence he has come across before his unexpected diversion to the Parasitian homeworld. He arrives at a wildly incorrect conclusion.

Ak-tse must have been referring to this cannon! This guy must be the Hollow Eyes guy! Which means... I'm supposed to take the cannon back home? ...Five. Why me?!

Returning to life in the world around him, he swings his head around as he tries to locate the mysterious cannon HollowEyes had mentioned. "Hollow Eyes guy! The cannon! We need it more than you can ever possibly imagine! I'll give you anything in my power to give if I can get access to that cannon for a month! Anything! A world! Worlds! A system! One of the spiral arms of my home galaxy! My undying servitude! My life!"

Far from intending to stop it, 501 himself almost enters a delirious state of desire for the cannon. With the supposed power of the cannon, his home universe would no longer have to be subject to the cruel whims of the immortal, powerful entities known as Agents. What few close encounters he had experienced with said entities had only thoroughly convinced him that his home universe would be a far better place if every single Agent was destroyed outright.

For once in his artificially prolonged life, this laughably impossible and optimistic goal seems not just possible but certain.

---

Goldie sits quietly as Furnace explains himself. Goldie nods quietly, a motion almost like a ripple, figuring the Dark Fire Dragon couldn't have caused the trail of appliance related damage. Most of the events happening around it go by in a blur, but it hears a disturbingly familiar voice begging for access to a cannon.

It looks up, only to see one of the figureheads of Maratix offering all and sundry for the cannon HollowEyes had merely mentioned. Recognising 501 as one of many former employers of both itself and Naine, it suddenly remembers the whole reason Naine even went to the Cave was due to its own dumb plan to get quick money to pay off a debt to Maratix.

Choosing to focus more on the "debt to Maratix" part than the "own dumb plan" part, Goldie makes the slightly unhinged judgement that Maratix is responsible for Naine's apparent death, and rather then attack 501 directly, it decides to attack HollowEyes in order to spite 501, and by extension all of Maratix.

It leaps and bounds towards HollowEyes, its liquid blackness resolving into a whirl of sharp edges and blades, singing through the room as its surfaces part the air quickly and forcefully.

(( Okay, status check: Party of three, one down, one defecting, one crazy. Yes, I'm going to win this confrontation! ...for a vastly altered definition of the word "win". ))

[3kul]

((Oh wow, for a second there I was worried that nobody would be opposing me ))

Evil Swix and Furnace wandered down the tunnel that HollowEyes had pointed them to. It was quite dark and not well-lit at all (unlike the larger cavern that HollowEyes was in, that had a kind of mystical light to it), but it was just big enough for Furnace to fit through, and the two wandered on until they reached the end.

The tunnel ended abruptly, with a sheer cliff drop that lead to a much larger part of the Cave. Here in this deep part of the Corrupted Cave lay the ruins of what appeared to be some kind of city, littered with the corpses of those who had once inhabited it. The corpses were more arachnid than human, but they had clothing and armour on them, suggesting that they were indeed the inhabitants of the city. Many of the bodies seemed quite recently dead, and almost all of them have the tattered remains of one or more of HollowEyes' paper charms.

There were plenty of live inhabitants as well, many of them moving the dead bodies, but they quickly drop their cargo and flee as soon as they notice you. It seems that HollowEyes had brought an entire underground civilization to it's knees to 'find' what he described as 'a bunch of cool stuff', something that he would never have done if he'd still had his sanity (although neither Evil Swix nor Furnace knew that he'd lost it, something like this would seem undeniably out of character for HollowEyes to the both of them).

The city, though completely ruined, was quite beautiful, if one had an eye for architecture. The 'buildings' were all hollowed out stalagmites and stalactites, most of which were massive, and carved into the sides of buildings were incredibly detailed motifs, depicting the civilization's history and religion as well as various amusing anecdotes about the differences between stalactite dwellers and stalagmite dwellers.

However, neither Evil Swix nor Furnace were particularly interested in such things, save for maybe the condition of the corpses as well as the fear in the eyes of the arachnid people, and they would both find their attention naturally drawn to the largest stalagmite in the city. It was where the trail of bodies seemed to lead to, which meant that HollowEyes had almost certainly been there, and it was also the only building that had a door massive enough for Furnace to actually fit through. The crown carved above the entrance to this truly massive stalagmite as well as the many jewels studding it suggested that it was some kind of royal chambers or palace, and by this logic was most likely the place where all the best loot could be found.

As you enter the palace you find yourselves in some kind of amphitheater, where the king of these spiderian cave-dwellers may have addressed his people... Although apparently he wasn't in the habit of doing this too much anymore, as he was nailed to the floor just in front of his unusual-looking throne. A bizarre symbol shaped a bit like a smiling eye was painted on the throne, in blood apparently, that seemed almost runic in design.

"Greetings to you, fellow Council members..." The dead king addressed Evil Swix and Furnace in HollowEyes' voice, his mandibles clicking and clacking away even though the owner of the body was long dead. "You may pass this point. The spiderfolk's treasure has all been relocated to the room immediately behind this throne, all for you. I've placed a powerful curse on this king's corpse, so I doubt they've managed to get past it just yet..."

The voice emphasized on the 'all for you' part with an almost sickening glee, as though HollowEyes had taken immense pleasure in preparing this 'gift' for his fellow Council members. HollowEyes had always felt a deep sense of indebtedness and gratitude towards the Council for taking him in several years back when he'd fled his homeworld as an exile, but without his sanity to keep him in check these emotions had gone completely out of control. He no longer cared for whatever might exist outside of the Council, and would do anything within his power for those who were a part of it, regardless of whether or not they actually asked him to do so or not.

There are several spiderfolk lingering in the throne room, watching in fearful curiosity as their deceased king addressed you in the voice of the monster who'd devastated their city. They dared not approach it themselves, knowing quite well the kind of disastrous magic the monster had weilded...

----------------------------------------------------

Lucifer wandered on through the Corrupted Cave, finding nothing but unconscious/dead grunts to obstruct his path (some it was a little difficult to tell exactly which they were, but whatever).

Before long he finds himself at the entrance to the Corrupted Cave. There is nobody here, save for an unconscious grunt, though a spatter of blood and broken glass left on the floor near him suggests that something odd transpired here.

----------------------------------------------------

"I do not get upset ... as you well know. I only came through here so I would know why. Now that you have cleared that up, I have no intention of stopping you as the voice instructed... I will watch"

~The voice? What voice?~ HollowEyes said to Evil Swix, the slightest hint of fear in his thoughts. He would have probed her further, but with all that spirit energy he'd taken in his transformation was imminent - his body was not suited to be a vessel for such immense power, and if he didn't do something with all of that energy soon it'd try to escape one way or another. ~... No matter. By all means, please watch on! This is all for the Council, after all.~

"...I'm pretty sure, by all rights, I shouldn't be here. I have no idea who you are, you have no idea who I am, and to be honest I'm getting rather tired of ending up in situations like this. I'm beginning to feel like some kind of universal toy for the- wait what did you say immortals made mortal hang on hang on a second here-"

"Hollow Eyes guy! The cannon! We need it more than you can ever possibly imagine! I'll give you anything in my power to give if I can get access to that cannon for a month! Anything! A world! Worlds! A system! One of the spiral arms of my home galaxy! My undying servitude! My life!"

~Ah! So you recognize it's value!~ HollowEyes thought to 501, quite pleased to meet somebody who could understand the impact of what he was about to do. ~You are not affiliated with the Council, but I do like somebody who knows how to appreciate a good weapon....~

His thoughts became strange and difficult to make out as his transformation began, and HollowEyes began to look less and less like himself. His legs extended and fused together, widening out to form what appeared to be a large pillar. ~Your offers are tempting, very tempting indeed (the Council could use it's own corner of the galaxy, you know)... But unfortunately, whilst you may need it more than the Council, this is my gift to the Council. If you are not a member of the Council... Hrm, but I suppose that you could always join u-HUARGH!~

It was at this point that Goldie had chosen to lunge towards HollowEyes, raking his black blades across the base of the structure that the Parasitian's legs had become. The cut sliced the fused leg open, but instead of blood pouring out a sort of glowing energy was released.

~FOOL! Do not tamper with this extremely delicate process!~ HollowEyes mentally screamed, looking down to see the damage. ~My precious spiritual energy! No!~ Whirling his now awkwardly large armblades with expert quickness and accuracy, HollowEyes managed to flick a few charms down to patch up the damage that was done, turning the large wound to stone, and dropped about a dozen others, turning several other portions of his leg to stone. ~Urgh... Energy lost if I do nothing and energy lost if I defend myself... Accursed creature! Do you not understand what you are doing? Who sent you here?!~

Goldie hadn't displayed much in the way of intelligence so HollowEyes felt that it was best not to place all his bets on bargaining with the beast. But with Noten too busy keeping him hidden from the very Gods and Goddesses he was attempting to annihilate and most of his fellow Council members off helping themselves to the treasures he'd collected he didn't have many people to choose from...

~Fade! Fade, my dear friend... I feel terrible for asking this of you, especially when you have indicated your preference to watch and not act, but would you mind helping me out here?~

What remains of HollowEyes' face is a beggar's smile - it's clear now that he cannot possibly defend himself in this state, and he's desperate to complete his metamorphosis unharmed. If Fade will not help him then he will be forced to cut a deal with the other stranger here, though if the stranger did not like being rejected then perhaps he'd have to make a deal anyway... Damn it all, why (and more importantly, how) had these people shown up at such a critical time in his plan?

((Cirrial, you're meant to do nothing during the final boss' transformation sequence, not attack him D: ))