Domain Game Quest

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

"Newbies, don't try anything heroic. I don't want you getting popped out there!" you call from the tree line. They respond with a double thumbs up. God, how cheesy. What did they choreograph that? The thought brings a small smile to your face, just for a moment. Stupid Newbies. You look at Armand and he give you a slight nod. With that, you both head into the deep jungle, towards Masada and whole heap of bad memories...

Your name is Amanda Horton, and you can't help but think that it's going to be a long day.

>COMMAND?

[Philote]

>Proceed to Red Base under cover of Armand's void ability

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

You move. There's no one out here to get ambushed by. You can make as much noise as you want before closing in on the base. Armand, like always, tries to make idle chatter.

"Do you find this a little ironic at all?" He asks causally.

"I-frikin-ronic?"
"You know, ironic. Like, it's-"
"I know what it means! I just don't get how it is, at all."

He slices through the underbrush with his dinky little knife, like it's a machete. With how sharp the knife was, it might as well be. He keeps talking.

"I mean, this is where it all changed the first time. Where things started going bad." When the whole game started turning against your team. You remember. You were there. He keeps going. "It just seems like a great place for a turnaround."

You smile bitterly. If there was one thing she couldn't stand about him, it was that belief that everything would turn out."This isn't going to turn anything around. We're all going to die."

"Well, of course we are with that attitude."

"Oh, if you start talking like, y'know, what's his name, blondie, I swear to god I'll kill you."

He actually stops, and cock and eyebrow. "Blondie?" he asks.

You look away. "I'll see if he lives through the day before I bother to remember his name."

Armand just sighs and shakes his head before continuing on his way.

Peter, you think. His name was Peter.
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Before long, you see it. At first it looks like any other tree, except giant sized. It was only if you look closely, or knew where to look like you do, that you could see the faint outline of a door in the gnarled lines of bark. To look up was to see nothing by a mass of branches and leaves, so think as to completely block out the sun and cast the entire area in shadow. But you know better. What others would blame on the twisting canopy you know is actually evidence of the hidden fort Canopy Masada, nestled up there among the branches.

Armand is right beside. From now on, stealth was only an option for him. "I don't see any guards."

"Of course there are no guards. No one is dumb enough to attack with only two players left."

>COMMAND?

[Philote]

>Review what we know of leaders of this base
>Approach door and crack it open

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

"You know anything about these guys?" You ask Armand. He shrugs his shoulders and shakes his head. Yeah, you expected that. It's not so weird that you haven't seen these guys: Masada is a defensive fortress. You don't ever have to leave if you don't want. Being a front liner, you spent a lot of time here.

You know one thing through: If they were posted out here in the sticks, they probably did something to piss Jessica off.

You emerge from the treeline. The disadvantage to Masada is that you can't actually see anything going on beneath it. The two of you make it to the door at something resembling a light stroll. Armand cracks the door and peaks in.

You don't have to look. Inside is hollow, mostly. A hollow room with a spiraling staircase headed up into the base proper. A long staircase.

Armand mimes the blowing of a horn. Trumpeters. You'd seen annoying things like that in the forest. Something like an artillery platform, they shot concentrated blast of sound out of the trombones that spiraled around their form. With the base producing them ever day, there were probably hundreds.

Armand holds up four fingers. Just four? That was strange. You can't help but wonder where the other ones are. Maybe the base itself?

>COMMAND?

[Celadon's Penultimate]

>Use a Word (Isn't there one that could take them out, or convert them? I forget...)

[Philote]

(We aren't controlling Arthur at the moment Wulf)

>Check for other means of entry or ways of determining where the chest is located.
>If there is no other ways in, Check if Armand can take some out stealthily to reduce the number of creeps.

[Celadon's Penultimate]

(UGH, sorry, I kinda just jumped in; kind of assumed, didn't look back to the part saying we were playing Amanda, now. BTW: She's aerokinetic right? I think a power use is in order here, regardless of the player in action. And if she's an aerokinetic, like I think I remember her being, I think we should attack, and use the aerokinesis to neutralize/riposte any sound attack directed toward her...)

[Philote]

(Our enemies make sound attacks and we are trying to sneak into a Red Base. I think letting them make any attack towards us would be bad as the base would be alerted.)

[Celadon's Penultimate]

(True, unless she has proficient enough air mastery that she can neutralize sound before they produce it, since sounds are just vibrations in the air; if so, it would allow her to sneak up on them without making a sound AND neutralize any sound they produce as an alert/alarm; GV, do you think that could work? If not, I could think of something else.)

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

(That sort of fine control can be tricky, and seems like something that would be gained at a higher level. However, I do like the idea. Tell you what: I've got a D20 right beside me. If you both agree and want to risk it, I'll roll it and add Amanda Level (6). If it's over a 20, you succeed. Also, they're facing the door: Armand might be able to slip in unseen, but not Amanda.)

[Philote]

(Lets do a combination. Armand goes with my first plan, goes in stealthily and takes one out without notice. Then he can cause something to make them turn from the door and Amanda can go in with Wulf's plan, assuming we win the roll, and then the two of them can take care of whatever remains. If we get unlucky we can just work something out after.)

[Celadon's Penultimate]

( I like that. And I hope this suggestion makes up for my past absentmindedness in this story...)

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

(10, partial success)

Armand begins moving, and slips within.You lean your ear up to the door and listen for the tinny sound that knife of his makes when striking. Most people can't hear it, but  you know the sound well enough to pick it out. You clench your fins in your pocket, fingers wrapped around the yo-yo. Then you hear it.

*Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing-*

It cuts off suddenly as it sinks into the enemy, and you throw open the door. Armand is back there, weapon buried into a trumpeter and on it's way through. But the others see his now, in the visibility that comes with stillness. You see there disgusting puckered mouths press down on the horns, see their cheeks puff out. You reach out into the air, calling it. Everything, even sound, has to go through the air to reach it's target. If you can just....

You see the air ripple as they fire, and you rush to get a hold of the sound. You manage to circle a crush one, but the other two blast hit home. You look on in horror as Armand is throws back against the wall along with the creep who was cutting. The sound echos in the trunk. You spare a glance up to see other trumpeters peering over the edge of the stairs, high up in the tree. You can't get a quick enough count, but definitely more than twenty, maybe thirty. That's still odd though. There should be more. But then the shapes disappear. On their way down, no doubt.

You look to the Trumpeters between you and Armand. They only good thing about this is that they don't seem to have seen you. Armand drags himself to his feet, and nods at you. You don't let the relief show on you face.

After all, now you were on the job.

STRIFE!

Armand Irving, Rogue of Void
Amanda Horton, Witch of Air

-VS-

Trumpeters (30???)

[Philote]

>Blast the remaining two in their blind spots while we still have the chance
>Make a break for a different part of the base, away from where the other Creeps are homing in on

[Celadon's Penultimate]

>What Phi said.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

(The base proper is actually above you, up the staircase the trumpeters are coming down. The place you are now is essentially a big empty room with the staircase running up and down along the wall. So, I guess the question is, go UP or run OUT?)

[Celadon's Penultimate]

>Go up toward the base. Going out would not only keep you further from the base, but also likely be futile, since the likelihood is that more Trumpeters and other unnecessary enemies await outside.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

A concussive blast of air rams the trumpeters in the back, throwing them forward onto their faces. Armand vanishes as he darts forward, only to reappear in front of you. You can read his look. Since we screwed that up, the only option was obvious: Attack Attack Attack! Peter and Arthur were laying it all on the line, it was only fair you do the same. You rush up the stairs.

It feels good. After all this time spent skulking in the jungle it felt good to be moving forward again, even if it was toward oblivion.

Sound blasts from the two on the ground slam into the wall behind you until they can't get an angle anymore. They would be coming up. But that doesn't seem as important as you meet your first group of three headed down.

>COMMAND?

[Philote]

>If the stairs under the creeps are breakable, break them
(We can use Amanda's Wind and Armand's Agility to get past the broken bits)
>Continue this plan as necessary if it proves successful.