Forse

((TEASER)) ((INGAME PLOT - NOT FORUM RP))

Joseph Zephyr’s office was typical of the grandeur expected of someone in a ministerial position. Much of the space was occupied with bookshelves full of tomes never used, mostly for show, and dotted with ornamental pieces and relics. Across from the doorway his large oak desk dominated the far end, flanked either side by curtained windows. It was deliberately arranged so that anyone entering the room saw Joseph lit primarily from behind and thus that much more difficult to see his exact features. Joseph sat working at the desk quietly, an unsettling air of calm rested on him.

After a few minutes of writing, Joseph sat back with a soft smile and picked up a cup from the desk. “Chimera, must you forever sit there in total silence?” he said, motioning to the chair facing him. Chimera opened his eyes and glared at Joseph for a moment, before speaking with refined arrogance, “Meditation is good for the mind. I have what you require.”

“Excellent.”

“You’re aware of what the Stonegaze is I presume. With its ability to trace the area around Grace and pick up locations of magical activity we would be totally unable to approach him head on.”

“I’m aware of it now…” Joseph hesitated with a frown, “And your recommendation?”

“Already in progress my good man. We’ve released a number of products into the Paragon markets via our puppet company. They are totally mundane beauty creams, but have enough Artifact Stone dust in them as some exfoliating nonsense…”

“Aha, so the civilians will give false positives,” Joseph interrupted, giving Chimera a broad smile and taking a sip from his drink. “Excellent. What about the locations?”

“The dust-bomb was a successful test. As you’re aware from the late Mister Ross’s reports,” Chimera brushed a stray hair from his face and tucked it back into his ponytail. “It will allow us to make a quick getaway if need be. Meanwhile we’re also looking into releasing paints and cleaning products from a subsidiary of Aria Chem to cover false locations.”

“It would seem you have everything in hand.” Joseph shuffled some of the papers on his desk and took a moment to look into the eyes of his ally. Chimera wore white contacts to give him only dotted black eyes, an unsettling presence that left even the usually confident Joseph reluctant to maintain eye-contact with the man for any length of time. “The late Mister Ross’ left only his emergency portstone behind in Zephyr. I’m still amused that Stone itself isn’t dissolved away, but the researchers have demonstrated it’s just a quirk of the enchantments.”

“The portstones are being mass produced by Aria Chem as we speak. Pretty soon the entire strike forces will be able to operate, and get home without the interference of Zig-tagging under most circumstances. It takes some time however, the process is complicated and… expensive.”

“You’ll be well reimbursed Chimera.”

“I expect to be.”


((OOC NOTE - Advertisements for beauty products and so on, from Aria Chem, will start appearing in newspapers and posters. As the advertising works, it will move on to TV adverts and larger billboards. Contact me privately Unionversers if you need further information or investigation materials.

This thread will be used for the ongoing plot, but there is little action right now.))

Interesting story.

The affects of the drug seemed to be similiar to Tam's/Mar's Rushes, even down to the internal thought process description. So that might be nice for Tam to discuss with her if she ever discusses it without gutting someone.

Interesting plot twist.

That's not a bad idea Shadowe. Available characters my end are:

The Crooked Wand Team

Tam Krannock (Smash and Defend)
Toppa Grace (Elemental Magic and Research)
Issa Rose (Tactile Psychic and Logistics)
Theo Dray (Covert and Combat)
Mar Krannock (Weapons and Elemental Magic)
Alexia Monroe (Elemental Magic and ...nagging people?)

Independants

Forse (Total coward, but sidekick material)
Relapze (Total nutjob, but keen-eyed and suspiciously prone to brilliance)

Able to be dragged out for use

Grey Forecast (Coward, but strong Weather related powers - Boundless Skies alligence)
Averment (Conspiracy Theorist and Technopath/Gadgeteer)
Adducement (Averment's assistant and robot!)

...and there's a couple of slots free. And there's some characters I never RP with (or haven't more than once).

I agree, I'd be up for something like that. Either through my Wand characters (for Plane/Dimension hopping goodness) or the others.

Might need some rules agreed in advance. Like the participants agreeing that events are lasting, or if perma-death/mortality can be used, etc etc.

But otherwise I'm all up for that. I love community plots. It suits my style more as a lot of my plots are character-specific and therefore background. It's their interaction with other plots that makes up the majority of their active roleplaying.

Note that a good Beta organising team would explain why to the testers after they've done it (or before if it's not urgent). Especially if people voice concerns of it being a "us vs them" action.

The *last* thing they want is to split their Beta testers and upset them. Upset volunteers don't volunteer for things.

Aha! But Theoember is the 1,978th month!

Ahem, I'll correct that...

Well it worked for Tam's page to make him 28 today, but Theo's page insists he's 31. But he was born 11 March 1978, making him 32. Or is my math bad at 00:30am?

Theo cautiously glanced around and opened the cabinet. Balancing his prize carefully in one hand he silently lifted and removed it from the holdall, and slowly shut the doors. He breathed a sigh of relief and moved over to the sofa, where he opened out the stone slab and sat with it on his lap.

Nothing.

There must be a on switch somewhere. Toppa usually waved his hands over it like... this? Nothing. Maybe you need to press something on the side, and then... it was hopeless. Theo lifted up the stone slab and turned it over twice, trying to work out how to work it.

"That's a very expensive Artifact."

Theo jumped out of his skin and fumbled around with the Stonegaze, trying not to drop it. "How friggin' long have you been there?", Theo cast a dagger-like stare at Toppa and held up Stonegaze. "Make it work. Need to track down a magic user."

"Stonegaze does not work in that fashion." Toppa crept over to the sofa and took the device off Theo, shifting his gaze around the room, "And keep your voice down Theo, you'll wake everyone up." He started waving his hands over the slab, his eyes glowing softly white with magical energy. Slowly the slab became criss-crossed with white lines of energy, a map of the local area slowly coming into view.

"Stonegaze allows for a birds-eye view of the local, or city wide area. It will pinpoint locations of magical usage. Unfortunately it doesn't work underground due to the Circle's city. Nor will it work with any accuracy on the city wide scale."

"I need it to track down Shanna."

"Shanna's magical signature would not be much different to others. I haven't calibrated it to detect certain people. Only Artifact Stone and other sources. All those blue dots are magic users native to Paragon's plane. The red ones are us and the Artifact stones. Yellow is unknown, and there are none right now."

"I need it to help track down a friend, how can I do that."

"You cannot, not with Stonegaze just yet. I mean, we could scour every magical source in the area that is unknown sourced, but that could take days. To get a proper reading you'd have to walk every area of the city with this, a citywide scan would be far too obscure to give a positive result..."

"Okay, so, I look for little yellow lights and..."

"You could start in the most likely areas. Talos Island- well, the whole island would take a day or so at least by itself, around the fire station and the surrounding city blocks, the campus in Steel and Salamanca... oh, but Salamanca would be mostly yellow. You'll be trying to find a yellow needle in a yellow hay stack..."

"Enough Toppa, just... give me that. How long before the batteries run out?"

Toppa laughed softly and handed over the slab. "It doesn't RUN on batteries. You can use it in three hour slots at a time before it gets hazy. I've set it to local scanning and I'll show you how to activate it. You should take Tam..."

"I'm not taking the friggin' ogre."

"Theo please, don't call Tam that."


((OOC - Theo will be attempting to scan areas of the city that are unlikely to turn up results. He also can't find a particular person, but he can find nearby sources of magic. The Stonegaze has been used before with plots like this, like when finding the lost Amulet that drained Shanna, but this time it's more complicated so I doubt it'll work by itself. It is however there if anyone wants to use it or encorporate it into investigations, just drop me a PM if there's something specific that has to happen. But please remember it has a lot of limitations to how specific results are, and can't just pick her up wherever she is. It's more a tool, it's not the answer to the problem. Otherwise, by sunday Theo will turn up empty)).

"Ok, everyone, the meeting today has been called a little ahead of schedule due to the newspaper upset..." Toppa threw a paper onto the dining table, a tabloid that had taken one of the most sensationalist interpretations of events. Around the table the full team had gathered, minus Theo - not that any room was left for him to sit. "As of today we're scaling back all operation in the city for the Wand. Tam... Theo and yourself should still operate as normal, but you can't use Gorn. Please, for now."

"And the rest of us?" Alexia picked up the newspaper and scanned the first few pages, "Magic is magic, but I hardly think we've anything to be involved with here."

"For now we scale back. No overt casting in public, nothing to arouse suspicion or trouble people. We'll go back to our initial options for laying low if need be at a future date if this doesn't blow over. I'm sorry Alexia, but we cannot get too involved in the situation, and if people realised extra-planar magic could be an option, we'd have a mob outside here as well." Toppa cast his eyes over the table, and gave each person in turn a stern look. Issa glanced down at her hands and shrugged slightly. "Do ah 'ave te still go te schule?" Mar piped up hopefully, reaching for the newspaper as Alexia moved it away. "Martin, you're going to school still." His mother gave him a stern look and relented with the paper, handing it over to him, "You shouldn't be casting anyway without one of us present..."

"Ah didnun do nuthin'!" Mar protested instinctively. Tam smiled at him and laid a hand on his shoulder, "Your Momma's not saying that Mar, she means..."

"Ah know Unka, Ah know." Mar slammed down the paper and excused himself from the table, "No castin'. Gut it, No troubl' from me." Mar wandered off to Theo's room and slammed the door behind him. A moment of silence around the table before the familiar startup sound of a certain videogame console crept under the door.

Toppa adjusted his glasses and cleared his throat, "Anyway, I know this is going to be hard for some of us, but it's necessary. I've removed all work I can from the campus in Salamanca without attracting too much attention. I don't think they minded since I was only borrowing an office in the library anyway. I'll have to commute and slip in the back way... It's easy enough to get there with my contacts." Toppa glanced down at his hands and removed his ring, placing it on the table before him, "As a show of good faith perhaps we should avoid all Artifact Stone usage for the time..." Theo burst into the apartment with a grunt and threw his keys across the kitchen counter. "THEODUN!" Alexia screeched and turned to face him, "What's this I hear about raves and Martin?"

"Not friggin' now." Theo strolled over to Issa and gave her a kiss on the forehead, Issa frowning slightly in response and nudging him away, "I'm trying hon, to read the newspaper." She smiled and looked up at him, "News?"

"Last night, at the little friendship gang gathering." Theo emptied his pockets on the table, coins, cigarette butt, key, key again, bullet casing... lint. "I did write something down but I can't find the blasted thing." He sucked on his lip for a moment and looked around helplessly searching, "Maybe other jacket?"

"WHAT was it Theodun?" Alexia snapped him out of his daydream. "Yeah, whatever Lexi. There's some demonid... daemon... demon. Whatever the crap they call it here. Anyway, looks like it's either Bone or Sorcery. Manifested corpses out of nothing was one rumour. And Annette... or was it Lucy...Shanna!... one of them anyway mentioned something about spells being woven into the articles themselves in the newspaper..." He glanced over at Alexia and motioned for it, "give me the newspaper." She reluctantly handed it over, and it soared over into the wastepaper basket in the kitchen.

"Very well," said Toppa, with a sigh of relief, "Theo, you and Tam should investigate what you can, when you can. The rest of us would be ill-advised to do any hero work for the time being. Until further notice no newspapers are to enter either apartment, and we are not to read any newspapers. Is everyone in agreement?" The group gave varying degrees of nods and subtle grunts of agreement, "Then motion passed, someone better inform Mar too. Now, on to business back home..."

And from there, the topic shifted.


((OOC - Because I've been ill I've not been able to get much involved in this plot. I'll help/investigate where I can at this late stage now, but as the IC stuff notes, the majority of my magical characters have decided to step back from fear of reprisals.))

I've created Theo Dray's page and updated Tam Krannock's ready for the character development/revelations that are about to happen for Theo.

Woooo.

Hey Pious, you against merging Tam's high school with Skyway City High (since it's wiki entry notes it as the sole Highschool in Skyway).

The only things Tam's mentioned as fact in the school is that the Paragon Under 16's Rugby Mini-league operates on their Football field/facilities, and is run by Coach Rainer (A retired superhero once called Thunder Knight) and he's the assistant coach. Oh, and that they have a problem with Trolls trying to invade the pitch every so often.

Their youth rugby team is called the Skyway Squires, although Tam did mention an American Football team at the school (Skyway Knights), he only mentioned it once, might be fair enough to say that their name was actually the Skyway City Vikings - or has changed since then since the open RP for Skyway City High is date-less pretty much.

Yay or nay?

Tam is an assistant coach at a high school in Skyway. I think one mention of the name as yet, and I've yet to be able to remember a second time. I think it was something Memorial High. It's a comfortable stone's throw from Unity Tower, being ambiguously somewhere either in southern Astral District or Northwest Gruff.

Mar (Sully) also recently enrolled in a high school in Kings Row (which he considers a real dump - and it mostly is). He wants to transfer to Tam's school. I know I said eariler he was at Middle school, but I got the age brackets confused. Mar is 14 - fresher at High School in America.


But yeah, we mostly make them up as we go.

Tam was hoisted further into the air by the chain, and he could feel his shoulders dislocating as the links dug deeper into his wrists. The pain was torturous, but he continued to stay focused on trying helplessly to struggle free by swinging back and forth. Chimera turned back to Toppa, “The Troll will die and I will have my army completed. Give over what I want, and you will get more time to prepare with him, otherwise I shall take it now.”

“Forget it Chimera,” Toppa looked over to Theo, who was helping Issa up on the far side of the room, “The best laid plans and all that...” Theo nodded in response, and Tam stopped struggling. “Toppa! No! Fight Toppa!”

“You have failed Grace. My operations are already moved elsewhere, and now I have my trophy as well,” Chimera smirked and turned back to Tam, “Gestahl is waiting for you. You will –“

A bolt of lightning hit Chimera between the shoulder blades, catapulting him to land head first. Tam continued his struggling, and cheered to Toppa, “That’s my Toppa! Go, take the shot now!”

“The best laid plans...” repeated Toppa deflated, and fished a wrapped ball from his pocket. “TAKE THE SHOT!” screamed Tam, as he neared the ceiling. Blood was now oozing down his arms, and he felt light-headed. Toppa bellowed “All on TAM!” and blasted himself upwards in a gale of wind, unwrapping the covering from the Scornfall Artifact and hurling it to Tam.

Chimera stood back up and clicked his neck, looking up at the soaring Toppa. “What is that Grace...” he was cut off as the Scornfall touched Tam’s hand and surged into a brilliant white flash. Theo leapt up the wall with Issa on his back, and pounced into the explosion of light. Everything in the blast was gone, even the chain cut off with surgical precision.

“Oh, now I understand,” said Chimera with a smirk, and bellowed after them, “I know where you are hiding Grace, I will come for you. GESTAHL! Change of plans, we move on and continue work on the gate, it will be needed after all it seems.” He threw the hanging chain aside, and stormed out of the doors. The lights flickered off again, and in the darkness: a cracking noise.

-----

Toppa caught himself and Tam in an up-draught to cushion their fall, Theo landed face down in the mud of Perez Park. They had managed to teleport with the Scornfall straight to the lakeside in Perez, the abandoned boathouse looming nearby. Straightening himself back up Theo shrugged at the scenery and turned to Toppa, “There was nothing you could do mate. No win, he’d already moved on and was just toying with us.”

“You should have taken the fecking shot Toppa” retorted Tam angrily. “You should have finished that scum.”

“There will be other chances to stop Chimera. He is not as powerful as he likes to think he is. Don’t worry Tam; you’re too important to give away to him like that.” Tam was unimpressed by Toppa’s reassurances, and slowly unbound his wrists. “Darling,” Issa swung down from a nearby tree, “Honey, you need to remember we’re a team. We weren’t about to trade you away. With us out of action Christopher didn’t stand a chance alone.” But Tam just murmured something ugly under his breath in response.

“You’re bleeding Tam, badly,” Toppa said, taking Tam’s hands and turning them over, “They’re deep, we need to get you looked over.”

“It’ll heal in a couple days, just bandage it.” Tam knelt and washed his forearms in the water of Perez Lake, “I don’t have to worry about infections, and it’s just a flesh wound. Troll-tough, remember?”, and he laughed. “Let’s head home...”

Tam and Toppa headed back towards King’s Row, Tam finally giving in and leaning on Toppa for support as they walked. Theo turned to Issa and shot her a grin, “So, movie? I bet we haven’t missed the morning showing.”

“Sure darling, it’s a date” smiled Issa.


----Fin----

((Okay, Fin for now anyway. The characters will be back at Union GG from tomorrow onwards. This was just mostly filler and background whilst I explored other character options. The cast will be expanding as well in the future, and Theo and Issa will be getting some much needed character development. I also really need to get around to putting the rest of the team on the Wiki, along with the list of artifacts and creatures/species the Crooked Wand team fight.))

Lights flickered on across the warehouse. It was mostly bare, with doors leading off to other darkened rooms in the background, and chains hanging here and there where once stood machinery and workstations.

“Do you like what I have done with the place...?” Chimera appeared on a balcony on the fair side, “I am thinking of heading to a small island somewhere, perhaps Atlantic way.”

“I don’t know what you...” Toppa started.

“GESTAHL! Release the clones. I hope you enjoy them Grace, they are almost complete.”

Tam was faced with his worst nightmare bursting through the doorways flanking them. He had so far been shielded from facing these copies of himself. For a moment he saw his face staring back, all rage and foam. Their bodies were misshapen, the process unfinished, and bones jutted out at odd angles, their shoulders hunched and their skin hanging on decaying limbs. They were savage and chaotic, erupting over one another in a vicious assault upon the team. Any resemblance to Tam ended at their physical form.

“TAM! Snap out of it!” Toppa roared as he sent one hurtling backwards with a lightning bolt. “You HAVE to fight. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, but FIGHT!”

Theo leapt into action and bounced between three of the undead trolls, picking at elbows, eyes and joints; wherever he could to weaken them with his dual Sais. Issa meanwhile had back flipped over onto a column, and pounced onto the shoulders of an approaching troll. “Darling, you’re mine now”, she purred, placing her hands across its forehead. It slumped forwards and she straddled its head to sit on the broad shoulders. Standing back up, with her fingers firmly planted upon key nerve bundles, it was a puppet at her command. She immediately grabbed a hanging chain and swung for more of them, tripping one against the concrete.

Tam snapped out of it finally, and caught one with an uppercut. He immediately swung his hammer around behind himself, catching another in the ribs with a crunch. Together with Toppa, he managed to incapacitate another two, bound in chain with enough damage to keep them down. A burst of energy soared over and sent Toppa flying back against the doorway, leaving a hefty dent. Tam's rage began to boil over as he turned to hear Chimera...

“Grace, you are holding back. You could have turned this whole room to charcoal by now. Are we hoping to fight me? I am ready for you...” Chimera dropped down from the balcony and slumped onto the floor, before standing upright with unearthly grace and strolling towards the fight.

“You’re ready alright,” roared Tam as he dived towards Chimera with his hammer raised, “GRRRRAAAA...”

Chimera immediately parried his swing, catching the hammer and swinging Tam into nearby chains. They wrapped around his wrists and Tam got hoisted upwards by some unseen operator.

“Aa..ggg.?” murmured Tam, deflated.

“I am no longer interested in you, Trollkin. Now stay put.”

Issa smashed the remaining clone in the face with a foot, before releasing her hold on her puppet. It slumped to the ground defeated. Theo joined her, ready to pounce on Chimera. Toppa held out his hand to stop them, and stood back up. His forehead began to crack under the increase in magic use, and his eyes surged with blue light. He raised his hands quickly, and ice formed over the defeated clones.

“You want me, then, I take it. To add the energy of the Graces to your own. How cliché Chimera.” Toppa realigned his glasses, and dusted down his coat.

“Think about this Toppa. I will kill the Trollkin if you do not give yourself over to me immediately. The ring will do for now, a starter if you will. I will add the power to my own uniqueness. It will serve my new world well, as will you, eventually.”

“With my family’s power as the main course, I think not.” Toppa sent a stream of lightning at the distracted Chimera, but he simply absorbed the energy.

“I will have it, or I will take it by force. Your team is a pathetic excuse for a battle, already so tired after just a quick battle with a handful of my troops. There are more Grace, many more. All of them are willing to serve my new order, and see the death of anything in my way. We will march across this world and blot out the many diplomats, the many cliques, the many groups that seek to conform to the status quo.” Chimera was met by a plume of flames from Toppa, and quickly somersaulted back to safety.

“Oh Grace, look at that, you have me ranting again. GESTAHL! Take the Trollkin away; we have much work to complete.”

Tam’s eyes widened with surprise, and Toppa motioned for Issa and Theo to flank Chimera.

“You said you weren’t...” snarled Tam.

“I LIED!” roared Chimera to interrupt him, spinning on his heels and blasting both Issa and Theo backwards with bursts of energy. They struck the far walls and both slumped down.

“I will take both.”

Note: The below is the first part of the explanation of where the Crooked Wand team have been, and what they've been up to this last week and a half. There'll be two further parts, hopefully, that'll full explain the point they're at when they return to Paragon. Done my best to keep Theo and Tam's banters PG13 - though it's an unclear boundary, so I've played it safe.

Toppa’s Preparation

The office was in disarray. Toppa had turned out every drawer, filing cabinet and cupboard in the building, scavenging what artifacts he could lay his hands on. Most of them were meaningless junk. A Seeing Eye stone that looked into a slab of concrete, a fizzler wrapped in a hanky, nothing useful. But then was his Gracecoil ring, and the Scornfall, safely tucked away in his satchel. It had reactivated since being bought to its home dimension. Too dangerous to use as a weapon however, as Paragon would be inflicted with whomever he used it on.

“Mr Grace, there’s someone to see you, shall I send him in, or amuse him with the fish tank more?” A voice from the intercom interrupted him.

“Alexia, you really done need to ask, send Martin in. He’s free to come and go as he pleases you realise.”

“Sure Toppa, just don’t tell him off if he goes through your stuff. The place is a mess right now with your insistence on...”

“Yes yes, I promised not to say a word about it to Martin; you have my word on it.”

The door swung open, and Toppa was bear-hugged by the stout looking Trollkin child. His mother was in the doorway still, surveying the office with a stern look on her face. Toppa looked down into the blond mop of hair that was staring up at him and did his best to avoid meeting Alexia’s gaze.

“Bring your child to work day then?” Smiled Toppa, “And how’s my favourite honorary nephew?”


Issa’s Preparation

Issa sucked on her teeth and drifted her fingers across the keyboard. The start was always the hardest part to write, everything else would come easily enough after that. Did she start by explaining Chimera’s trap, or the other dimension? It was all tantalisingly juicy gossip, and the column would lap it up. She might even write a book, a real book this time, she’d mean to finish it.

“Getting back was only the...” she erased it and started again. “There are some things...” she got out the phone from her bag and glanced through the contact list. Bingo.

“Malcolm? Hey darling, how you doing? Yeah, just got back, listen, I’ve got a new story to write and I need a starting line. Honey you’re my muse always, what do you think?”

Malcolm was all she needed. She started afresh an hour later, content she had entirely caught up with her little covenant of friends and people in high places. Glancing over at the bin she spotted Theo’s laptop sitting on top, battery dead. She wasn’t tidying it up this time, screw him, time to head out for coffee. Work well done and she deserved a break.


Tam’s Preparation

A steady beat of grunts and clashing metal echoed down the corridor to the gym. Tam shunted an extra twenty pounds on the bar and lay back on the bench. He had already gone on far too long, but insisted on spending every waking moment either sparring, eating, sleeping or working out.

“You’re totally over doing it”, grinned Theo, posed ready to help if the bar slipped, “at this rate we go up against Chimera and you go sleep in the corner to rest.”

“No”, grunted Tam, “You get knocked for six, Seven, and I do all the hard work.”

“That was eight, not seven, and shut your trap”

“Aww... Nine... have I offended your delicate feel... Ten... ings?”

“Keep it up, Tam and I’ll...”

“Eleven!” Tam blurted out over Theo’s talking.

“...all over the gym you bloody smelly ogre.” Theo gave him an indignant stare and folded his arms.

“Twelve.” He pushed the bar back onto the rack and sat up. After rubbing his hands a few times to clear the sweat he turned round and matched the glare. “Try me; sparring’ll be cake against you. Stupid lizard.”


Theo’s Preparation

The first thing Theo did upon returning was check his email. The entire packed spam mail was dumped instantly into the waste bin, along with the laptop. Issa would fish it out later, it wasn’t important right now.

Over the course of a couple of days, Theo’s training amounted to all of thirty minutes blade training, four nights worth of drinking, and three brawls. One of them wasn’t his fault however:

The club surged with music and people, all limbs and sweat pulsing to a singular beat. The bar itself was a shouting match, all types vying for the attention of the bar staff, and the alcohol flowing freely. Theo had perched himself centre stage for the duration of the evening, and guarded his stool with silent glares. He was already quite drunk, and conversations were inevitable. It was going well with his current drinking buddy, some guy in his mid-twenties with a goatee and green T-shirt. Theo hardly paid attention to further details.

“So, yours one of those guys then?” slurred the buddy, “A lizzy.”

“Yeah and... a wha’?”

“You know what I mean right, like one of those guys. I’d never met one before and then I saw you and said...”

“I really enjoyed talking to you.”

“Hu-.” He went down like a sack of potatoes. Mostly due to how drunk he was in reality, but Theo enjoyed the sudden rush from decking the guy.

“Do I LOOK like a lizard to you?” He glared down at the lump, and prodded him with his foot. “HUH?”

Two bouncers crossed over at this point, and the fun began for Theo. Twenty minutes later he was removed from the club by force. He had smashed a pool cue over his knee and threatened one of the bouncers, then smashed another in the face with his tail as he leapt onto the back of the first. A brilliant show of acrobatics, however sore he now felt after the beating they gave him. It was time to head home and take it out on Tam.


Go time:

Issa’s convertible screeched to a halt at the gates of the dock district. The rest of the way was on foot at Toppa’s insistence. Hours drawing up plans and going over maps made clear there was no easy way into Chimera’s stronghold, and any attempt to bust their way in would lead to unnecessary risks too early into the mission.

A few good strikes from Gorn, and Tam’s hammer bust through the locks on the doors, catapulting them a good few feet into the room. Theo eagerly swung the doors open on busted hinges and surveyed the darkened warehouse.

“If I knew you were going to walk straight in the front door, I would not have gone to the trouble of all the cameras, traps and security systems”, a voice rang out across the warehouse, “I could have put out a welcome mat, or would your pets have wrecked that too Grace?”

I already understood what you're saying Rottenluck.

The issue is that that's not how the EU servers forum RP traditionally worked.

We are now sharing a combined location where our two RP facets used to have their own extra sideline of RP, with two different sets of rules and traditions associated with them.

We are going to end up butting heads on some issues. That is to be expected. But rather then stating the differences between our two sides, and how incompatible they will be, and claiming one way is better than the other, or one way works better for (the collective)you...

...Let's just work on making it as comfortable and workable for everyone, ok?


---

I wouldn't like to see anyone left out, or felt barred from entering an RP Session. However people will have to recognise that there will be times that no amount of fudging the story will allow CharacterX to join StoryY because of the EU/NA server divide. That isn't people freezing others out, it's a logistical problem and it will happen from time to time. What we have to do is decide on how to best soften that blow, and ensure there are opportunities and traditions in place that allow us to move beyond it without falling into a civil war over the issue.

I think the NA players are misunderstanding what Redefette means.

A lot of the EU forum based RP ties directly into events happening within the Union Server based RP.

Either as backstory, or the chance to play out events that simply aren't possible on the server.

The shorter stories lend themselves to advancing time to keep up with ingame time (though we've been known to fudge ingame timespans too...).

---

From what I see, US forum based RP is played in the exact opposite way. And that's fine. BUT...

If you go into a EU forum based RP thread and start posting, people will be under the impression that you're within the Union-universe, and can be addressed and contacted as such.

Which means even more work for the other forum and server RPers (really, we're the same group in general, we do both) when trying to fudge why Mr Grandstate the Hero is in a big battle... which the group won... but doesn't turn up when the all survivors come and celebrate (for example).

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And for that reason, I support noting that forum RP threads come in one of three flavours:

1. NA-Centred - These threads are about events that take place on the American servers, people can take part, but should bear in mind that EU members won't appear for ingame events.

2. EU-Centred - These threads are about events that take place on the European servers (usually Union), people can take part, but should bear in mind that NA members won't appear for ingame events.

3. Free-for-all - These threads are about events that take place in the Forums universe, and everyone can take part without having to worry about events happening on a server.


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Now, disagree if you wish, but it would probably be fairer to new RPers if we could at least come to some sort of agreement over it.

Awww, guys and gals, Awww... Come on, group hug.

w00t! Let's crack out the hugs!

And for once, I'm not being snarky, or sarcky, or blunt.

There was a longer post here a moment ago, explaining in detail my opposition to the forum merge (when done without a server merge of the game as well). But that sentence there sums it up better.

And you know what, I was mistaken. This was all in good humour, and I apologise for wildly misinterpreting everyone else's fun. Clearly I have not participated in the forum enough over these last three years to correctly gauge the nuances of what constitutes humour to some people. The jokes were offensive to me, but I have a different understanding of online communities to others here - and I have worked on the other side of the fence myself as well for community management; seeing such a mistake happen here makes me cringe, and seeing it taken so frivilously whilst the warning signals blare out is my tipping point.

I apologise for any misconduct on my part. Let's just leave it there and start again.

Oh, we're all mad here.

Oh my yes.

/professorvoice

I approve of this thread, since it puts it better than I ever could.

That's the merge part, not the booze part.

I'd rather this forum never existed, but now it does. And I don't have a suggestion for what to do with it.

The whole "EU Only Issues" thing is probably only going to ever amount to a couple of threads. I see the attraction, but I think it'll leave this place a ghost town.

Careful now, that way madness lies.

And Paranoia.

Stormshard
Ampierce
Shocksite
Ohm
Spearbot

Hmm... a tough one.