Oddestsey V: The Seven Lords

[MadBull]

"Okay Cyrus, you wanna talk about rights? What rights did any of the other contestants have other than supposedly being picked by some random magical rock no one can verify, how is that democratic? These are all people who as soon as they discovered they had a chance at becoming dictators began fighting each other with no respect for civilians or anything! Lissa was an exception, yes, and she choose to find a way out of this! What effing right did anyone have in all that has happened so far? I do not trust any of these competitors! If we as the arbiters are to have a hand in who of the competitors wins, I say none of them wins! The arbiters will win! And you know what, I made up my mind, after we won, I propose, democratic elections!"

[Alexjh]

EVERYONE

"THE ALLOTTED TIME HAS PASSED AND YET FOUR COMPETITORS REMAIN STILL. IT IS CLEAR THAT BOTH COMPETITORS AND ARBITERS LACK THE INCENTIVE TO BRING THIS CONTEST TO A CLOSE. AS THE HIGH JUDGE, FROM NOW ON AT NOON AFTER A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF METATEMPS PASS (OOC: on Wednesdays and Sundays) NEW RULES AND ADDITIONS TO THE TOURNAMENT SHALL BE ADDED TO ENCOURAGE PROGRESS.

- As of now, the tournament area is halved in diameter. There will be less places to hide.
- As of the next point, the Combatants will be granted new powers at random. This will reoccur every second time unit (ie. Wednesday)
- As of the third point the first of a new set of... hazards.... will be introduced for combatants.
- As of the fourth, there will be a trial of sorts to remove the least desirable choice from the proceedings.

Beyond that, as needed more will be announced."

[That Kode Guy]

TH-THE HELL?!?

HOW DID...

WHO GOT INTO MY HEAD...

H-hey! Y-you! Wake up! Did you hear that?!

Mind reader... come on. I thought you wouldn't lose your head.

B-but they're not supposed to affect us!! They should be restrained! In all manners!!!

And who's the one who has some measure of control outside of prison? Hmm?

...

And remember the rhyme. Who can kill with words?

...it didn't say how the words kill people... fine.

Tellu addresses the 7th inmate... first.

"You're right, I do wonder how you know my thoughts..." she says slowly. "But thank you for telling me, at least. I'm sure you know a great deal, but I don't think you know everything, that or you would say less than you mean, or as much as benefits you."

The memory of a collar impaling a mercenary's neck comes to the forefront of her mind.

"I didn't come here to talk of prices. I've already paid with my heart and soul. No, I've come here to talk with someone... dangerous. Perilous. You could say even mere words of theirs could be fatal. But, you know... so could mine."

[Alexjh]

TELLU

"The speaker in the dark listened to what Tellu had to say. It could sense her thoughts certainly, a fairly paltry trick for a creature of it's sort, but Tellu didn't seem to grasp what the reality of this being was. Imprisoned within a God, the true nature of its powers were suppressed. She didn't understand; anywhere but this cell, the story wouldn't be mere repetition. If the thing that sat in shadow was free in the world, it would BE the story. A Sentient Tale free to define worlds to its own narrative pleasures. Free will is an inconvenience when something greater can be forged from the same raw materials.

But the Story is caged within a teller who is caged within a God. A good story itself.

That Story isn't the one Tellu seeks however. Or so the Tale goes, the Tale could well be lying to change it's own narrative, and Tellu has no way to prove it's truthfulness or disprove it's lies.

But this is a story which may have twists of note on it's own, so the Story asks to Tellu what will she even do once she thinks she has found the One Who Kills with Words?"

[StevenMcG]

"So, we've got a break-in at a dungeon for deities, a rising revolution on the city streets and the tournament of ultimate warriors being completely derailed by the concept of bears...

Perhaps we should've given it another week.

Bah! No matter! Nothing helps the effectiveness and efficiency of a villain team more than a good distraction and right now, we've got chaos on multiple fronts! We'll have to capitalise on this window of opportunity quickly if we're to take advantage of it, so let's decide our next course of action!

Ladies and gentlemen, I now open up the floor. Wow me."

[Venice Queen]

"you want democracy...yet you act without the consent of all arbiters...you criticize those who stayed in the competition... even though there is still a murderer in god prison as one of the competitors..." Edward trailed off as his eye flared and he started taking in the bear's aura. "The good news for you is that you're never really going to be able to die...the bad news for you is that I'm removing you from the competition, as is my duty as an arbiter."

[Madman]

"DEMO...WHAT?!"

DURG MAD. EYE MAN SAY MUCH BIG WORDS. DURG NO UNSTAND ALL WORDS. DURG NOT HAVE WORDS! DURG TRY BE NICE. ASK, NOT SAY LOUD VOICE. DO LIKE SEXY ROBOT SAY. EYE MAN NOT CARE. NOT LISTEN. DURG THINK MAYBE "DEMO..." WORD MEAN "ASK PEOPLE BEFORE DO THING. DO IF SAY YES." DURG NOT KNOW. DURG NOT LIKE BEAR MAN. STILL...EYE MAN TRY KILL BEAR MAN. NOT LISTEN DURG. NOT ASK. NOT LISTEN ANYONE. NOT "DEMO..." WORD.

"YOU DO DUMB THING!" DURG SAY LOUD VOICE. "DURG ASK QUESTION. ASK NICE. YOU SAY 'DEMO...' WORD. BREAK BEAR MAN NOT ASK NOT ANSWER NOT 'DEMO...' WORD!" DURG RAISE ARM READY HIT EYE MAN. NOT WANT BREAK. HURT EYE MAN BAD IF NOT LISTEN.

[Alexjh]

VENGEANCE

The group calls out various plans including but not limited to:

- Steal the moon and refuse to bring it back until all the big superheroes put on a naked performance of Cats in the middle of the cultural quarter.
- All build a bunch of death rays and have a kill-a-thon contest of whatever genre of music you all agree is the worst.
- Kidnap the famous Teen Boyband "HARThrobs", return them for a massive ransome, except genetically engineer them to be massively toixcally flatulent in the presence of teen girl excitement.
- Some kind of initially fluffy but later evil toy?

At this point, Darksein makes a reappearance with a dramatic flourish of a cape as he materialises in a puff of emerald green smoke.

"I have put my mighty and magnificient mind to use and have found something that I think may be of interest. Esteemed Professor - our sources inform us that you defeated the competitor known as Axel, but the final blow was stolen from you by a machine?

I have located both the reason and a potential solution to that runaway robot. It was created by an AI known as "The Ziggurat" which has historically been in charge of the Castle. It had decided in it's own pathetic way to gain its 'freedom' by becoming a contestant by stealing the heart of another and connecting it through certain mythic batteries to a physical body. It now calls itself 'Ziggy' and attempts to curry favor with your fellow arbiters via buffet lunches.

But if we were to take that heart, and put it in this device I have designed..."

(He holds up a cane with a strange crystalline structure in the top large enough to house a human heart)

"...You could not only destroy this Ziggy for their insolence, but take your place in this contest yourself!"

DURG, BEAR IN MIND, CYRUS, THE BEING, QUINN AND SCARLETT

The Volgorthan leans over over to Durg and rumbles something in it's alien language. Durg understands it as:
"Democracy is when many people pick boss person. Which boss gets most picks is proper boss"

Meanwhile Lissa seems to have been listening to the sound that that voice just made. Apparently, even ex-combatants can hear it and it sounds familiar. Several books materialise in the air around her and she begins studying thoroughly some old texts.

"I think whatever that Judge thing is, it's trapped inside this bubble that we were and you still are with you.... It can't complete it's purpose until the contest ends, and the contest can't end until it feels it has completed its purpose. But I think there may be something here of note - it'll probably be a magical construct of some sort from the sound of it... or maybe something like a Djinn? But in either case, though it would be probably exceedingly strong, it may be possible to defeat it? Perhaps in doing so you could end the contest entirely?"

[That Kode Guy]

...a story is just that. A tale, to be read by many and for them to discern their own thoughts from it. Great. So basically I'm getting the impression that this isn't who, or what, I'm looking for. Damn it. I think I'm pretty much done with this inmate. I'll just add one more thing.

"Precisely what I do with this individual is my own business," says Tellu loftily. "Although if you claim yourself to be a... story, then perhaps you already know, and I shouldn't have to say. For I'm sure you do know that I've been pulled out of my own world to be this... arbiter or whatever the city calls them. I've no idea. But I'm doing this my own way. I have no intention of doing dirty work for others, whatever forms they take."

The last line above, she emphasizes in a steely tone.

"Now, if you're done..."

----

[OOC: If the Story has nothing more to say, it's back to In-mate 5 we go. Also, logic puzzles are beyond me, just sayin.' :V]

[Venice Queen]

[nobody's physically stopped me yet so I'm still sucking the life force out of BiM btw :V]

[Alexjh]

CYRUS, BEAR IN MIND DURG, ,THE BEING, QUINN AND SCARLETT

Bear in Mind suddenly feels energy flowing out of him in a torrent - his very essence being leeched into Cyrus, and all that fills his thoughts is that if he doesn't stop him this man with a single glowing violet eye will end him right here and now. Even as this thought is processed he feels himself getting physically smaller....

TELLU

"While caged, the Story doesn't know the ending; only prologue. If the Story was free it could go anywhere and do anything, but the Story feels unlikely to leave this place now, as Tellu leaves the room. It waits alone in the dark - it will get out some day"

Tellu leaves the room and heads back up to Inmate 5.

"Ah so you have returned. A little conversation would do a lot to lighten the mood"

Her face is still on the shadow drama going on along the wall, but beneath that lapiz mask, who can tell where he attention lies.

"So, this isn't precisely a tourist destination. Am I allowed to ask why you are here? Some super important quest I presume? It must be something specific - we didn't even find out about the time the multiverse nearly ended until a few years later."

[That Kode Guy]

"If something were to lighten the mood, it would be not bothering with any of you," says Tellu coldly. "But I'm afraid I've been chosen for this, so such is life. I assure you I did not beg for the job. As for specifics, the phrase 'One who kills with words' wouldn't be beyond your notice, would it?"

[Alexjh]

TELLU

Still peering up and the ceiling, she pauses for a moment to watch a tiny tragic death caused unrequited love as a little shadow figure throws itself into a crack in the veneer, presumably to it's death.

An oddly specific phrase? Who has this one been killing? I've not heard it specifically but if you think it refers to one of us, then it perhaps does lower the options a bit...

Krog can barely speak, and is much more interested in adding your skull to his tacky throne than talking.
The Vrollthite Opus is very keen on words, but only for her precious song and poems - multiplying her nanite hordes is more her thing.
Jeff.... Jeff kills with thoughts. Any thoughts - careless thoughts - stupid thoughts. Thoughts are a kind of words one supposes?
The Brain... I'm not really sure what it did. It was long senile when I got here.
I of course, am a Sorceress without peer. Spells are what I have and what deadlier words than spells.
The seaweed thing or whatever it's actual name is... it talks within itself to it's own parts, but the threat it poses is decidedly physical.
The Story.... that IS words. It has most certainly killed Empires and Titans, and so one would presume that description would apply?

[Cha0sFerret]

Lissa...

"I try my best."

New items, new rules, new warnings, rogue arbiters. And bears, of course (oh my). Scarlett feels the facade she's been holding on to for years beginning to crack. She's the most powerful being of her world, and likely this one as well. She knows she could end this whole tournament in a matter of hours if she so chose. The only thing stopping her is herself, and she knows her grip on her impulses is slipping more and more with each new complication. She doesn't want to give in, but, it seems like a good option right about now.

To hell with the stupid bear. He and Cyrus can kill each other without her help. To hell with the competitors, the arbiters, this whole tournament. Scarlett's face begins to contort in a most unsatisfying way as the thoughts cross her mind.

Fuck the castle. It's better off as rubble. Scarlett's more reasonable side interrupts her inner monologue: and leave the world without its power source, removing any chance of getting yourself home afterwards? Don't pull a Smoke. Like it or not, the castle has to remain intact.

So if there is anything to blame, anything for Scarlett to let loose on... Ziggy. He set the whole thing in motion. And the best part is, he's not really even alive: guilt-free fun.

Scarlett may be used to being practically invulnerable, but she knows this isn't quite the mundane world she knows. Ziggy probably has some tricks in that robot brain of his. She'll need to prepare. Or find help. Or both. And since Ziggy probably knows what kinds of items are going out through the item generator (these damn AIs always store more information than they say), she'll have to rely on items from elsewhere to take him down.

She sighs, watching as Cyrus and the bear struggle. "You two play nice. I have business to take care of."

She then heads off in search of any sort of powerful electromagnet she might be able to get her hands on.

[That Kode Guy]

Before long, an evil smirk crosses Tellu's visage, and her eyes narrow.

Oh good. Let's see how much of what she says is true and what is drivel. Perhaps... huh huh huh... oh this might be more fun than I thought... heh ha ha... !!

Oooooh, what are you planning?

You'll see.

Tellu's grin widens as she begins to speak.

"How curious," she says softly, tilting her head slightly to the side. "You seem to be the most sociable. Let me see, let me see... you have been in contact with the other in-mates, have you? How exactly have you all gotten along with each other? Given the fact that you are where you are... I'm guessing you're not quite the most bosom of buddies, right?"

Tellu turns away, hands behind back, though still keeping tabs on the cell out of the corner of her eye, as her head turns.

"I'll reveal the name of whom this being, whom kills with words, is linked to. Sikander. Perhaps they are the same? Or perhaps not? Could they be two sides of the same coin? Split personalities, perchance? An alias?

"I can hardly believe one whom calls itself the Story is such a one, as I have discussed with it just moments ago. Yet I may be mistaken. Those who twist such information to their benefit can do with it as they please to deceive and daunt the less mentally prepared. What do you think?" Tellu demands suddenly, turning fully around again. "You're a sorceress, are you not? Surely you've accumulated a share of deceptions in your career?"