Ineffable

So THAT'S how you pissed him off.

Why are you even bothing to respond when he has you on ignore?

And Devious, you are absolutely correct. Holds are perfectly resistable and can be dodged. Your characters are just impossible to hold.

Taunts are also resistable, and with all that fighting, can be hard to hear so therefore miss. Both of which are moot points because your characters are 'logically' smart enough to resist taking the bait of a taunt in the first place.

Now I'm hardly one to speak myself, but I can personally see where Averick is coming from, my stupid crappy antics aside for one moment. What was the situation specifically he was referring to?

Keep on trucking. Nice to see a Dev who is still developing their own characters as opposed to just sticking them on a pedestal. Excelent work.

I myself just use ----- for separations.

Ineffable did not need portals to move instantly from place to place. And he also did not need to resort to physical force to stop his enemies from getting away. The brute materialized the split second Grey had landed, and seeing that the situation was essentially handled, set his sights on the mechanoid. The only apparent remaining threat. The brute reached out with a hand, and clenched it.

The fleeing robot was in the corridor one moment, the next, without any evidence to tell what had just happened, it was back on the bridge not two feet away from Ineffable.

"Tho...What are we thuppothed to do while we thcout uthing thtate-ofth-the-oh-tho-highetht-art dronth to thcout?" Igor asked with an unbelievably stoic face, which didn't tell whether he was being sarcastic or not. "Do we jutht thit around? No thir! If you could direct me to the nearetht material thtorage area, I will be getting to work."

Ineffable merely stood where he was, waiting for somebody to make a decision. He seemed rather distracted, however.

He was looking up, and there was a small, almost undiscernable smirk on his normally barren face.

Just pick an rp and fire away. If you have questions, send a PM to the OP and he/she will provide you with details and current events so you don't have to read through potentially hundreds of pages.

"Oh." Said Igor, almost dissapointed when he learned he wouldn't be using the Rocket Carriage.

He shuffled his feet nervously.

"Am I thill allowed to thcatter dutht and thpiderth about?" He asked hopefully.

He IS all talk damnit.

If I had the option of killing any one actual NPC, it would be Hardcase.

"Is the target aquired?"

"Yes sir."

"Good. If he drops below 30 WPM, put him down."

"Oh calm down." Ineffable said in an annoyed voice. "Slow and steady might not always win the race, but at least it never wound up splattered against the wall. There is a chance, as slim as it seems, that not every last fork we come across is going to be trapped or lead to traps."

He then raised an eyebrow.

"And after tackling a Nemesis Warhorse and a Dark Watcher automaton, do you really think there is any one entity down here that can challange us? Unless you missed them with your scan, Ryat, we should be safe enough for the moment."

He folded his arms and looked at Acid.

"Now pardon my short attention span, but what exactly was our plan when we first got here again?"

"Tho..." Igor began hopefully. "Ith there thome thmall corner you don't need to uthe were I can thet up thop? I'd only need thome thpathe until the carriage arrivth."

((Since there seems to be some confusion over his appearance...

Kuro))

Kuro laughed, it was sincere at first, but it quickly became bitter.

"Don't worry about the Malleus Mundi. It's no use to us. We already have 98.47% of it documented...And going back to why I insisted we have privacy."

Kuro folded his hands behind his back and looked to the exposed sky through the shattered roof.

"Husk Corporation is being...What's the word...Reabsorbed...Reassimilated...AH! Repossessed. In...Let's see...One hour and forty seven minutes, Husk Corporation, me and Poe included, will literally fade away."

Kuro looked blearilly at Power Breaker. It was the first time he had established eye contact so far. (Even though it was still blocked by the glasses.)

"And trust me, I only need your word to get Poe. The trick is getting him to stay STILL for an hour and a half while he slowly vanishes. Believe it or not, Lord Diov will still act if Poe dies, even if he died violating a direct order. Even in the small amount of time remaining to us. I would prefer it if Terra stayed in one piece after we leave."

"Well, you'll be glad to here then that I have a rather simple solution for our problem." Kuro said. "All we need to do is slap a restraining order on him. With an EMPHASIS on 'Restraining.' Currently, both me and Poe are...tied...In favor with our master. Technically though, I outrank him. All I need is a willing being with actual evidence that Poe has had a disagreement with them, and that will be easy. We have ten personel waiting and ready to give testimony. All we need is your word. After that, Poe's time shear will be cut, he won't be able to come back if he dies. That alone should be enough to stop him from pursuing you."

There was a very satisfied tone to his voice

Which promptly ended.

"There's a small...Snag though. It is very possible Poe will go beserk and attack you anyway. If that happens and he dies without being time sheared..."

-----

He was talking to ghosts. Figments of his imagination. So both Noitpeced and Motnahp completely ignored him, embroiled in their own personal, intangible struggle.

((Well, if nobody has flagged him, it is safe to continue. It's a fairly safe bet the Devs don't pay any attention to this board aside from Ex Libris.

*Checks the sky for thunder-heads*

But if even one person has flagged him...Yea, there's a decent chance the thread is going to be hit by a Cruise Missile soon.))

"Look what the cat dragged in." Said the dry english voice as no less than eight Death's Heads walked in, accompanying the two Ink men who had come last time. "I thought that last time we had settled with a ranged business plan?"

"Indeed." The Green Ink man agreed. "I also believe you promised to kill us should we ever come back."

"And I still intend to do so should you not give me a damn good reason as to why you're here."

That took the entire group by surprise. Either he was too ignorant to know about the Death's Heads amongst the Tsoo, or he was suicidally cocky, or he really was strong enough to take them all on.

They didn't let their surprise show, however. They went right along with the plan.

"Grave Stone...It's everything you promised and more. We distributed several dozen cases of it in Terra Volta amongst the Freakshow population." The Yellow Ink man said carefully.

"I thought I had heard a nuclear detonation going off." Said the voice, suddenly smug.

"And who else should barge in to our hideout two days ago..." Continued the Ink Man, ignoring the figure, "But Dreck and a horde of Freaks? He says that this is the best stuff he's even seen since Rage. He was going to grind us all to a pulp and just take everything until we told him that YOU were the supplier."

"And yet I see you here and not him." Said the voice, returning to its normal dry tone.

"We struck a deal with Dreck. We take over Pantheon Studios, take Grave Stone, and we get to sell it to the Freakshow at a nice discount. Not to mention..." The Ink Man waved vaguely at the surroundings. "This place will make an excelent stronghold for the Tsoo."

Each Death's Head drew their dark blades and advanced a step.

"Our assimilation of Pantheon Studios begins with you." The Green Ink man said, and suddenly his was the smug voice.

"There's always that snag..." The figure before them said cheerfully.

-----

Half an Hour Ago

The Yellow Ink man paused. There was this strange feeling about the crate...

Tub Ci raised an eyebrow.

"Well?"

The Ink man pointed to the wooden crate behind him. The shipment had come in at the usual time.

A few minutes later, the crate had been pried open and its contents were revealed.

"Hmmm. I'm not too sure if our benefactor hates us or loves us..."

He pondered over the contents of the crate.

"Take all the Grave Stone and distribute it immediately. Make an index of the rest, check for instructions and details."

He glanced back at the crate.

"And prop the poor fellow against a wall somewhere."

-----

"A pleasure." Said the Tsoo dealer, fading away into the shadows.

"Ooooh yea...So this is the stuff, huh?" The Chief Swiper looked at the Nalgene bottle, which was being helpfully held up to his face by another Freak. (Both his arms had been replaced.) "Le'ts pump up and cause us some pandemonium!"

The was lots of howling and roaring as the caps of the bottles were torn off. Each person in the ten-man group took a single dark grey pill from one of the three bottles, and swallowed.

Not even waiting for the effects to take effect, the Freaks started whooping and hollering and rushed for the nearest entrance to Steel Canyon.

((Era, shut up before I Necropost the Ex Libris thread again. You have been warned. ))

Two Weeks Ago

Two members of the Tsoo entered the dark halls. The building they had entered had used to be a stone emporium, the brass left-overs of the Nemesis Rex age still left over.

The inside of the emporium might as well have been a different world entirely.

"Greetings." Said a dry voice with a hint of an English accent. "Welcome to Pantheon Studios. I believe you are the representatives of the Tsoo...Correct?"

The dark figure was leaning against the nearby wall.

"Indeed." Said the Green Ink Man. "What do you have?"

The figure pulled a battered, old suitcase from seemingly out of thin air, and flipped it open. It was filled with an even dozen nalgene bottles, all of which contained a few fat and round dark grey tablets.

"I present to you the replacement for Rage." Said the dry voice.

The two Ink men wern't impressed. They had seen plenty of cons like this one pulled. Idiots who kept painting aspirin with lead paint.

"And just to get the business started...This first case is on the house." Said the figure. He closed the suitcase, and tossed it at the mens' feet.

They had not been expecting that. Still, they would not show weakness. The Yellow Ink man picked up the case carefully, opened it again, and observed the contents. Each Nalgene Jar had two labels on them. One was decoracted with some sort of emblem. An advertisement, or brand marking perhaps. What stood out were the letters printed in white bold.

TOMB STONE

"What...Should we expect?" The Green Ink man asked.

"There are details included inside the third bottle." Said the dry voice.

The two men glanced at each other.

The Tsoo needed this. Nemesis had hit the gang hard during his reign. The Family had replaced them as the number one dealer of illegal merchandise. If this stuff...Tomb Stone...Was really as potent as it was made out to be...The Tsoo would run Paragon.

It still did not hurt to exercise caution.

"And why for free? What makes you so sure we won't just take this and replicate it? You won't make a penny." The Yellow Ink man snarled.

There was a hollow chuckle.

"Good luck with that. As I said before...This is just to get started. Once you get to know it, you are going to need more to satisfy the mob. And my friends?"

There was a slight pause.

"We are going to be the only purveyor of this. If it were up to ME, I would just let what remains of your sad group rot. But as it is...It ISN'T my decision. The boss says there needs to be a middleman, so here you are."

The dark figure suddenly turned on his heels and began to walk away.

"Now piss off before I kill you. And next time, bring plenty of the gold that folds."

The two Ink men left.

-----

Present Time

The Freak Slicer held the nalgene bottle up to his eyes with his good arm.

"Tomb Stone, eh? Catchy. Alright n00b." (How the Freakshow manage to pronounce l33t speak without going insane will always be beyond this writer's grasp) "Juice up on this."

The chopper looked at his feet. He was only two days in. A nice new green mohawk and lots of leather. No metal yet though.

"I dunno man...Alk is one thing...But I've heard some pretty freaky stuff bout this..."

"So have I, but I've seen this stuff in action first-hand. Spark-Plug set this guy on fire from two hundred meters away. Electroneg started spittin' acid after takin this stuff. I hear Dreck is upgradin to get nothin but this runnin through him 24/7."

The slicer waved the Nalgene bottle in the chopper's face.

"C'mon [censored]. Nothing ventured..."

Half a minute later, the screams began and the lights in the warehouse flickered out, one by one.

Hell yes.

Igor hunched along with the rest of the group.

"With I brought the carriage..." He muttered. "And where am I thuppothed to fthind detheathed bodieth to reanimate HERE?"

Apparently his Gumbo-Head zombies hadn't followed him through the Light Portal.

((Pssst!

Vapor for brains! It's just troll from thw Pwnz forums. ))

Kuro reached slowly for his glasses, and twisted a small knob on the right corner rim.

There was a soft hum, and a barely visible, shimmery and distorted area of space appeared on Breaker and Kuro. Kaega was outside of the field, and Kuro had completely ignored his request. Obviously he was not welcome.

"Prevents us from being overheard." Kuro explained. "Should also prevent mind scans. Going straight to the point, my name is Kuro. I am an employee of Lord Diov, founder and master of Husk Corporation, and I am a fully qualified representative for both. Which is just a fancy way of saying I'm a Husk Lord. Like Poe."

The man didn't seem to be looking at Breaker entirely. As though there was something all around that he found more interesting. His tone was polite and calm.

"As I said before...I believe that we both have a few...Problems...With Poe."

"Before now, only by name." Kuro said in response to Fraenir. "And at that, only as a mere reference."

He shifted the gaze of his red glasses back to Power Breaker.

"Mr. Breaker...I believe we both have a mutual disagreement with one of my business partners. Is it possible I can talk to you in private? I understand such a request seems ludicrous, given the situation, but I would rather what is heard isn't heard by a gathering who might omit what they hear. I would be glad, of course, to speak with you at any location of your choosing."

-----

Meanwhile, an invisible struggle took place high above.

"Patience." Noitpeced said in an even voice.

Motnahp shifted uneasilly in the air.

"Just...WAIT. That's all I'm asking." The Energy Reaper continued.

"Poe pulls rank..." Motnahp muttered.

"But he didn't order you to fight them did he? He asked you to check out Xabu's signal origin. Nothing more. You can carry out any other duties you are obligated to do...Just not NOW. Wait..." Noitpeced said in a high and strained voice.

Motnahp looked down at the gathering below.

".....I suppose....."

K, Khell. His answer is, 'Diov's an idiot so I'm insulting him on general principle.' Can I have my answer now please?

Astounding job.

And although I cannot say that a God might exist, even in the CoX Universe, it is entirely possible for some higher entity-Perhaps a Super Intelligence-to do such things. It would explain why Netherak is vulnerable to such seemingly and otherwise useless attacks.

And I agree with Shadowdeep. The Demon tricking the priest into a rage is classic. The taunts were just the silver lining. I don't know many prayers, not being a religious man myself, but I recognized most of what was said. Simply amazing job.

Doesn't Netherak have wings though? They were missing from his description. Also, why would Netherak even bother with a job like this? Sure, my 'truly evil' characters would also go out of their way to do something like this, (I only have two of them) but why would Netherak bother to attend an entire service, and then just sit there for ten minutes without taking action?

It seems to me, it would have gone over better had he just walked in mid-sermon and delivered a nasty taunt to finish a line spoken before slaughtering everyone in the room.

Mind you, what you've written here is fabulous. I cannot compliment you any more on just how amazing this is. I'm just wondering why you decided to write it in this particular sequence?

Fiesty. It looks slicker and better, and much more optimal for combat situations. Much more...What's the word...Streamlined.