Endgame

Gabriel puts his helmet back on as he sees combat approaching, people rushing into him and nearly bowling him over as he tries to aim his handcannon. "I normally do assassination jobs. I don't know what the hell you've seen, Karie, but as far as I'm concerned, all hell has broken loose..." "...Jinnipher. I agree, we have to save Faust. But you're in denial if you think Vorpalis isn't the one telling the true story."

I believe the term for what is happening in 138 is "sh*t hitting the fan."

"Melody and Bulk are two of my most trusted bounty hunters. Although not responsible for catching Faust, they have een invaluable to this past month's several executions. These two people, however, are not Melody and Bulk." Vorpalis's tail suddenly whips across the stage, sweeping Jinnipher and Skrall off of their feet and flinging them off the stage. Vorpalis snarls, the crowd parting as the ogre and the elf are knocked off balance onto the ground. "That was a low blow, admittedly, calling you on stage just to get a cheap shot in like that. But I want to make my point - that Faust and anyone who stays loyal to him will be dealt with and humiliated as neccasary. And they were decent disguises, all things considered... Your Melody impersonation fooled Aeolus, and he slept with the poor girl. But it's going to take more than a new hairstyle and a hammer to fool a dragon - a breed of beast with the keenest senses and the clearest memory, not to mention connections to the spirit pools. Now, as for that confession... Little trick of the trade for all of you would-be-conquerors out there: Torture the person before you have to publicly out them as a fraud. Now, Faust!" Vorpalis jerks Faust's trembling form in front of his face, black fog leaking from the dragon's maw with every word. The king's eyes open wide with terror, the fog warping his mind, transforming the already frightening Vorpalis into something far more terrifying. Years of fear that Vorpalis would come back to usurp his throne come flooding back into the guilty king's mind, nearly breaking him. His body ached and burned as he was being crushed in the dragon's grasp, yearning for release of any kind. Finally, he can take no more... "It's true! IT'S TRUE!" Faust shrieks. "It's true... t-the scars on your wrists, they are from the restraints I used to trap you in that catacomb... Two hundred men died that day, I spent two hundred soldiers, just to subdue you, just to, just to... We finally exhausted you, put you to sleep with a spell, bound your ankles and wrists, blew up the catacombs to seal you in, and I, I left you to die... And then I fled to Moone and claimed my throne... Just don't hurt me anymore, please, please don't hurt me, no more, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts!" "I've heard enough." Vorpalis roughly drops the gibbering, disgraced Faust to the ground. "Aeolus! Stick this man in the guillotine and feel free to do the deed yourself. I am done with him - and I have some rebels to crush." "Y-yes, my liege!" sputters Aeolus, looking at Jinnipher with disgust as he realizes she killed and replaced his lover. Aeolus grabs the screaming Faust, now simply muttering unintelligibly, and drags him towards the guillotine for his execution... "Now then... Guards. Draw your weapons and aid me." Vorpalis steps off the stage approaching the two heroes he flung off. "I can only guess that the four people you were standing next to are also rebels. You're the group I met at the Cathedral, no?" At that moment, the chaotic crowd shoves the other four heroes towards Skrall and Jinnipher, putting them all within Vorpalis' and the Guard's range. "It would seem like the crowd would agreed with me on that. Now then... Faust's rule is over, heroes. That much is certain. His thousand year empire of lies is crumbling around him, and Aeolus will be dropping the national razor on him before long. Now, rebels. Stand up and draw your blades. No running from me this time!" On one side, a confused, hectic crowd. On the other, Vorpalis and the Mermont Guards. And beyond them, Aeolus, dragging Faust to his doom. The heroes had a great task in front of them... Stop Aeolus, and cause enough carnage to force Vorpalis to move their inevitable duel outside of Mermont. Would the party prepare for this pivotal battle?

QM Note: Just need JimBee to post before we move along.

Not quite. It was actually really well strcutured, and not really that satirical at all. http://www.eurobrick...showtopic=79985

"Someone killed his younger brother - also a guardian of Mercution - and he tried to bury him here, as per his brother's wishes. Faust untruthfully declared that his brother, Lethauros, conspired with Vorpalis in the destruction of Mercution. Vorpalis couldn't stand having his brother's legacy spit on like that, and decided enough was enough..."

"He's wordier than usual today. He's a lot more... terse with other executions."

We should totally do the Heroica Awards/Henrys thing again, by the way.

As Skrall and Jinnipher ascend to the stage, the fanatic speaks to the rest of the party. "Isn't he just so, so... persuasive?! And, well, right?!"

You're never obligated to min-max y'know. I did it for my character, like, once. As for amazing stuff from 138, let's say Lethauros and Vorpalis have very similar boss drops, conceptually.

"Well, it's nearly sundown. You best get moving." "Come back safe! And I don't just mean Jinnipher. I mean all of you." "Best of luck." The slightly inebriated party somberly exits the safehouse and struts out of the inn, the innkeeper looking at them nervously as they exit. The streets of Mermont were bustling, all of them flocking towards the city center. They meet the familiar fanatic who was preaching to a crow a couple hours earlier. "It's here! He's here! It's time! C'mon, don't look like that! Look alive, follow me! It's time for the execution!" The party had never seen someone grin so widely about an execution. The fanatic runs as fast as her billowy dress allows into the flow of traffic, the heroes staying careful to remain as a unit as they walk through the foggy streets of Mermont. Careful not to get lost in the shuffle, the party arrives at the city square... Where Vorpalis - and the captive Faust - were there. Aeolus stands between Vorpalis and the guillotine, while Faust struggles in the dark behemoth's grip. A line of guardsmen keep a group of both excited and spiteful citizens at bay, as if the massive dragon and his intimidating aura weren't more than enough. "People of Moone!" booms the Elder Dragon. "For as long as most of you can remember, Faust has ruled this country. Indeed, for as long as anyone can remember, he has ruled Moone - for he has been the only king in this beautiful country's millennium long history. But what allowed this man's thousand-year rule, his iron grip on this country for ten long centuries? A lie. Moone is a remnant of a far larger kingdom and country, Mercution. And one day many moons ago, all hell broke loose in that kingdom - quite literally. Demons poured out, the King's advisers facilitating the anarchy. On the side of justice was merely myself, the people, and the army - the king's council had been consumed by madness, corrupted by demons. And soon, the public fell victim to the same fate, the demons rampaging across the land slaughtering their family and stealing their bodies and souls. Leaving only myself and the army, two forces that were virtually one and the same. Before the great calamity of Mercution, I led them into battle, leading a successful conquest of nearly the entire continent. Together, I hoped, we could drive back the demon hordes and reclaim Mercution. But it seems that even in these desperate times the army of Mercution's spirits wavered. Not all of them, mind you, but simply one - Commander Faust. Envious of my success, he deceived me, using huge amounts of the army he led not to drive back the demons but to betray and imprison me in a catacomb deep beneath Mercution. The tides could've changed had we worked together as we were. We could've reclaimed Mercution. And Faust threw it all away. For what? To simply seize power of the remnants of the kingdom. While I was incapacitated, Faust fled to the North, and declared that land Moone. Meanwhile, the warrior priests of Ennon used their magic to sink the midsection of Mercution into the seas, nearly sinking me with it. I bear those priests no ill will. Because of Faust's recklessness, the act became a necessary evil. I just barely escaped, and went to exact vengeance upon Faust - the despicable man who doomed your ancestor's homeland for his own greed and lust for power. At the time, he vowed to send the people I had once sworn to protect against me. Not wanting to hurt them, I agreed to leave. But a mere month ago, he went too far with his lies and deceit. And I decided that he must pay at long, long last. I can see by the looks on your faces the emotions you are feeling. Some are enthused, counting away the seconds until Faust meets his rightful end. Others are skeptical, denying the words I have spoken. This event is largely for you, my friends. I cannot blame you for your skepticism. Which is why Faust will confess on stage, to the world, his sins." Faust is visibly terrified, shaking in the dragon's clutches, looking panicked and exhausted. "But first..." Vorpalis scans the crowd, and spots "Melody" and "Bulk". "I would like to welcome my two bounty hunters, Melody and bulk, onto the stage for this occasion!" The crowd parts so that the ogre and moon elf may take to the stage.

There's a missing sister? I think? And you guys haven't found her yet, and the other sisters seemingly don't care, despite the fact its been days and days of time in-game.

Just going through it, 130 is one of those quests where I love each individual setpiece, but I have no clue what the main plot is anymore.

"I already told you my hallucination, like I was trapped in a cage. And I just walked through the bars. And when the jail warden pulled a blade on me, I let him impale me. And for a few seconds, it hurt. It hurt like hell. But they're incorporeal. They don't even exist." Gabriel shrugs. "Maybe I'm wrong. The bars could fall down at any second, and I could become more of wreck. But they can't actually harm you. They can threaten you all they like, but they can't fulfill those threats."

Merlay rolls er eyes, marches upstairs, and gets Lind a bucket and glass of water. "Whatever the hell you just gulped down, drink some water and vomit it back up before the execution starts." "You try going thirty one years without feeling a damn thing, wake up one morning in a hotel room in a devastated town in a devastated country, and realize for the first time in your life that you don't want the people around you to die." Gabriel puts down the drink anway, looking at Lind slur. "...I sound like a sentimental idiot. But, just... don't call me Sandman anymore. Gabriel is fine. And yes, it is all in my head. That's the point." "...You're right. But I think we need more than patience tonight. Someone will kill Vorpalis eventually, no doubt about that. May take years, decades, though. It's our job to make sure he dies tonight." Sandman stand sup with a slight stagger, and heaves up his handcannon. "We should probably set out very, very soon."

Even with his immunity shattered, it seemed Gabriel's alcohol tolerance was still unnaturally high, because Lind instantly knew just how strong of a beverage it was as soon as he gulped it down. Before long it would go straight to his head... After a few minutes, he already began to feel drowsy, and it would only get worse from there. "If you glue on another hat, I'm not tearing it off."

"The fog only seems to be getting worse as we get closer to the palace... I've been hallucinating too, but I think I actually managed to beat it. Maybe that's just the alcohol finally taking effect though... Do you ever get tired of having to be the "straight man" of the group, Skrall, when the rest of us are losing our minds - or in some cases, lost them already? I don't think I've might anyone that has handled a crisis situation better than this besides, well, me. And that was before the fog was doing... Whatever it is doing to my head." QM Note: A few more hours of RP and we'll move along

I respectfully take a small bow. "I'm... sorry for my absence, Althior, but it's important to me. Any work the Cathedral needs done, Carlos? It's the least I can do."

"This is a safehouse, so there's no need to be so hairtrigger. Plus, no one else heard anything."

"I would imagine not..."

"...Algon doesn't have hot springs. Do you mean Yukumo?" At that moment, looking rather distressed, Karie hops into the air, landing with a loud thud. "...Karie, what was that?" says Gabriel, looking as confused as his brain would allow.

The steam fills the room and dissipates. "Is that the fog repellant?"

Gabriel speaks, slightly slurring after a mere two drinks. He was clearly somewhat intoxicated. "...Now that I've outed my name, past, and pedigree - and potentially sunk my career - how is everyone else holding up? Anyone else seeing weird stuff in the fog?"

Best non-banned artifacts are EXP multipliers. And by best I mean worst.

"...I see." is the only reply Gabriel has for that.