[Day: Thursday, July 15th. Time: 11:00 p.m.] [You spent sometime sailing a planewreck to Hong Kong, easily recognizable by it's many, many tall buildings. Seems like practically the entire island is covered with them. Once there, you were greeted by various Interpol people, who brought you to their HQ and left you in a waiting room while informing various important people of your survival. So that's where you are. And they took Nikolai away.] [Lazar stepped out for a break. Hopefully not literally.] [Session Start!] [By the way, the room is medium sized, with chairs around a coffee table. There's a magazine rack and a Corke machine in a corner, and a snack machine in the other.] * Rei sits on the back of a chair and plays with one of those paddles with a bouncy ball and a string. She bounces the ball. It goes up. It comes down. She bounces it again. It goes up. It comes down. Repeat. * Chomei is leaning against the wall being angsty, but not whiny. So he doesn't have the prereqs for the wangst feat. * Asanjya is sitting on a chair. Reading. How her books didn't get wet, the gods only know. * Chie walks over to the vendng machine to get a Corke, then realizes she likely doesn't have the right currency. "Dammit." * Rei looks up. "Hey, Asanjya. How come your books didn't get wet?" Because they should be soaked? Demonic sorcery, Rei. Isn't it obvious? I mean, really soaked. With salt water. Which is nastier than fresh water, 'cause we were in the ocean. And- demonic sorcery waterproofs things? That's how it always works. You really ought to have noticed before. I've taken direct fire and my books have suffered no damage. * Chie nudges the vending machine with her foot in the hopes of maybe, miraculously getting something to come loose. * Rei thinks about that. "Well, I guess so, but I still think it would've made more sense to have a waterproof bag or something. Less contracts, more waterproof. And- hey! I was busy trying not to be hit there." It keeps me from getting wet, to a degree, as well. I despise wet. * Chie sighs and gives up on getting something to drink. "Yeah." She walks over to Chomei and peers up at him. * Rei bounces the ball a couple of times and nearly gets her eye. "Gah!" Mmm... * Chomei looks down at Chie, and remembers again that she's short. ^^; (You forgot? ;p) * Asanjya turns the page. Flip. (He's Chomei.) (<.<) * Rei wrestles with the ball, dropping the paddle in the process. It gets away! She scrambles, trying to grab it, and ends up on the floor. "Oof." * Chie laughs. "You okay, Rei?" No, but you should see the other guy! * Rei holds it up, ball first, then string, then paddle. "Victory!" * Chie applauds. * Rei V-signs. * JesseLman is now known as Lazar What other guy? * Rei waves the paddle. "This other guy!" * Rei hits herself with the paddle and falls over. "Ow." * Chie waits for Rei to accidentally whack her... yep, there she goes. Do you need some help? ... Right. * Rei scrambles, getting the string tangled around her wrist. "Nope. Nope, I got it. I got- GAH! Circulation!" She unwraps. _ * Chie keeps giggling. [The door opens, and in walks Naomi. Lazar is behind her. "Hey guys."] Hey. * Chie waves. "Hey, Naomi." * Lazar waves. "Nikolai locked up nice and tight." Good. We *don't* want a repeat of what just happened. * Asanjya waves with her hair. * Rei squeals and pops up into a sitting position. She waves, but with the hand that isn't holding the paddle. "Hi Naomi!" He no getting out. And even if does, his arms, legs, and wings shackled. Naomi runs a hand through her hair. "Plenty else to worry about." So give us bad news, really bad news, and worse news. Yeah, what's going down? *flip* Naomi folds her hands behind her back. "You're probably tired from your flight, but we've got Julius Belmont here. He's agreed to help, but says he wants to talk to Lazar." Fine by me. Does "talking" involve fighting or killing? * Lazar mutters something about silly men with whips, then nods at Naomi. "Whenever ready." * Asanjya does the air quotes, too. With her hair. You know, if it actually does, I veto the talk, but I don't think it does, so you're probably cool, I think. But I dunno if Lazar's very good at busting candles with a whip. * Chie shrugs. "It's fine by me." Naomi blinks at Asanjya. "He's over sixty years old. Even for a Belmont, he'd have a hard time fighting anyone." Wouldn't know. I've never met the fellow. "Well, you're about to. Come with me." She starts out the door. * Chie follows Naomi out. * Asanjya gets up and follows, still reading. * Rei floats after her! * Lazar follows. "Candelabras, little one. They bring good luck. And meat." * Chomei follows. I remember that, actually. From Chelsea's castle. * Rei also puts the paddle in her backpack, already. "People should *not* eat meat out of candleabras. You don't know where it's been." In candelabras. Yeah? Who put it there? Someone who wasn't quite right in the head. [Naomi leads you all down a corridor. You pass some other operatives as you walk. Some normal, some not. But the place does seem fairly sparse. Naomi says as she walks, "It's too bad your first time to the HQ had to be under these conditions. I'd love to give you the grand tour."] Well, we'll just have to come back later, then. Hey, yeah! Some time when our plane isn't all busted! ( This is where we house the team in charge of containing Ambition... they're the ones playing with the colored blocks over there... ) [She turns a corner and continues, "Let me give you a brief update of the situation. Most of our officers are over in Romania right now. Dracula's been driving aggressively, but we've joined our forces with the Morris Foundation for Vampire Hunters and have so far managed to hold them off."] [She keeps walking. "I won't say it's been easy. We're so busy fending them off that we have yet to mount a counter attack. But that's where you guys and Julius come in."] * Rei floats, looking around. "We're the counter attack?" "Pretty much, yeah." I believe the word I am searching for is "swell". Why does this not surprise me? "Hey, your group has the best chances. You've already got a way to stop Dracula's plans, right?" Kind of. You could say that. I believe the best way to phrase it would be to say we have a good idea. "And there's more good news. We may not be gaining much ground, but neither is Dracula. He's sending virtually all of his forces at us to keep us from getting close. Therefore, we suspect that there will be little resistance at his castle itself." "Especially with the recently arrived Vatican priests." Results are hardly guaranteed. It is more that if we fail, everything else is surely doomed. Hey, go priestly core! Naomi chuckles. "Like I said, you're our best chance." We're doomed. * Lazar nods. "Needs to keep castle secure so can perform ritual to summon Luciver." *pauses* "Vatican get involved? That new." This doesn't speak well for Interpol in general, you realize. * Chie just rolls her eyes. (Duh! Precursor to MC3!) Naomi nods. "They took their time, but they finally went into action when they heard Lucifer was involved." [Naomi stops and opens a door. "Here we are."] * Lazar 'aah's. "That make sense. They always get kind of angry when Lucifer involved." Yeah, I'd imagine. Most people do. * Asanjya sighs. "The Vatican is always so preachy. Hopefully we can steer clear." * Rei eyes the door. Hopefully it doesn't attack them. ... is pope out fighting? With giant pope hat? That would be very cool. (*cracks up*) * Lazar enters! (The pope's out riding in his popemobile with his pope hat.) (Now I am picturing the Popemobile leading a cavalry charge of bishops with big hats and staves. ;p) (Bwahahaha!) * Chomei enters, and stuff! (Somebody needs to draw that!) * Chie walks on in. (It's one of my life goals to muster an army of popes.) [Inside is what looks like a briefing room. There's a bunch of chairs facing a large table and view screen, although the screen is currently off and probably not going to be used.] (That will run around NYC for a few hours.) (I could do stick figures, but would that get me excommunicated? ;p) * Rei floats in! She sits on a chair which hopefully doesn't eat her. [Sitting in a chair on the opposite side of the table from you is an older European-looking man. He's wearing a suit and a brown trenchcoat, and has white hair, a beard and a mustache. He sits slouched, with elbows propped on the table and fingers folded in front of his face. Kinda like Gendo!] (It's Julius! *pimpmusic*) ( It's Belmont! *creepy music* ) (...that really doesn't work very well.) [Naomi waits until everyone is in and steps in herself, shutting the door behind her. "I don't believe the Pope himself is involved, no."] Too bad. Giant pope hat probably strike fear into hearts of evil. [Julius glances eye to eye with each of you before he does anything else.] ( He's making sure you're not Arcana! ) (Well, DUH.) * Rei beams. Her eyes are violet. And she has a tail, but that isn't in her eyes. And shoelaces in her hair. Well, maybe not that last one. YET. * Asanjya stares flatly. * Chomei is there? [Chomei is so totally there.] * Chie has green-blue eyes right now, but sometimes they're brown! Gasp! * Chomei IS there. So totally there, that he's like.. there. And stuff. With being there. (Ya know, it's like... ya know...) (I know!) * Lazar has no eyes, technically! But he stares back at him all the same. Naomi makes introductions! "Mr. Belmont, Mystery Club. Mystery Club, Julius Belmont." (Ya know?) (It's like!) * Chie waves. Hey. Wow, you'd almost think we're a club, not an Interpol team something something that's gonna help save the world. Julius nods, unfolding his fingers. "Greetings." * Lazar drops his illusion, revealing his golem form. "I am Lazar Thau, of Transylvania." (People would think you were the Mystery Club, or something!) We're a mismatched group of rebellious pseudo-college students. Of course we're the kind of people who are gonna help save the world. (People might also think you guys knew what you were doing.) According to Dad, that's very true. (We are so screwed.) ... Yup. "So I've been told. You possess the means of stopping Dracula's ritual, I hear." Yup! He sits up in his chair. "I'm here to try to help you with this. I may be old, but I fought Dracula in my youth. I can help." So we think. I know of you fight against Dracula. My people fight with you last time he rise. He nods. "Exactly why I called for you." So what do we need to do? * Rei idly plays with her tail. "Hm, let's talk about that. How much about Dracula do you know?" He's a ridiculously strong uber-vampire. * Chomei doesn't bite, as much as he wants too. (The question, not him.) (I was going to ask. Bite what? Rei's tail?) (Mmm, tail. :9) Doesn't he have multiple forms or something? Though there isn't much documented on that. (Chomei's chasing Chie's tail? So what else is new?) (Just what the world needs... another insane demonic/vampire smorfy. :P) He nods. He more than vampyre. He almost demon lord in terms of power. Which is why his partnering with Lucifer is doom. Certain doom. As opposed to uncertain doom, which is much more common, especially on Tuesdays. Tuesdays? Cosmic imbalances. Tuesdays. (aw, c'mon, Lucifer's not that bad a guy once you get to know him.) (... yes he is!) (We got to know him. He's a bad guy.) ( Yeah, I'm quite personable!) * Chomei nods. And he never stay dead. ... redead. He nods to Lazar. "Dracula is very powerful. He's one of the greatest dangers mankind has faced for almost a mellineum. But, having fought him so many times, we aren't completely unprepared. He has weaknesses." You mean other than whips? (Sorry, I couldn't help myself.) ( "You didn't work with the paranormal investigation team of Blade, Drake, and King when you were younger, did you?" ) He smiles. "You might not know it, but yes. The Vampire Killer my ancestors used was designed to destroy vampires, and works especially well on Dracula. But there are other ways to beat him." Vampire Killer? [He pulls it out from his trenchcoat: a long chain with a spiked ball at the end. "The name we gave it. Vampire Killer."] * Rei blanches at that. "Looks like anything killer." That's... not something to be messed with. "Yes, it works quite well on other opponents as well... but we're getting off target." * Lazar whistles softly. * Asanjya looks thoughtful. ( As in a "DAAAAAAAAAAAAAMN" whistle. Not whistling Dixie. =P ) * Awaymancer is now known as Segev Mmm hmmm. "Dracula's weaknesses. First and foremost, you should know that his power is not entirely his own. A great deal of it is granted to him by the Crimson Stone." Another stone. Joy. At least it's not an orb. Do we get to smash it? Oh, it could be spherical. So where is it? ('An appointment is an engagement to see someone, while a morningstar is a large lump of metal used for viciously crushing skulls. It is important not to confuse the two.') He shrugs. "It was the Middle Ages, and people had a thing for shiny rocks. Go figure." He looks at Chie. "It will be in his castle, as it always is. Dracula binds it to his essence and the essence of his strongest subordinates. He keeps the bulk of power on himself, but if you can eliminate the creatures that carry the fragments, his strength will wane." So who's got 'em? Or what's got 'em, as the case may be? "It changes every time. But you'll know them when you see them." They his... what word... lieutenants? Underlings, hmmm. Big monsters what serve him, as opposed to regular random monster. "You could call them that. Although it's not technically an army." How will we know? Do they have an aura or something? They'll be harder to take out, I think. He nods. They'll be carrying big shiny chuncks of rock, maybe? Or is it not that visible? "No, you won't see the fragments until the beast is destroyed." "I should add, the layout of the castle changes every time Dracula reincarnates. Therefore, we don't have a map to give you." So, essentially, your expertise in these matters counts for very little. * Lazar eyes Asanjya. "He beat Dracula in fight. That count for lot, I think." "Take it for what you will. Now, phsycially, Dracula might seem highly resistant to attacks. But he has a weak point." Not if all he offers us are vague hints and more orbs. ( Where's a Belmont when you need him? ) Let him say what he will. (We have one.) (He is a Belmont.) "Child, if it was easy to defeat Dracula, we wouldn't have such chaos whenever he came back." "As I was saying, he has a weak point. His head." His... head? * Asanjya looks levelly at him, but says nothing. You mean like 'Shoot him in the head, he should be dead'? ( Yes, but without the comma splice.) (Hey, it's a common phrase. YOU even said it, Ard. :P) (WITHOUT the comma splice!) "Not so easy as that, but certainly you'll meet with better results if you aim for his head than the rest of his body." * Asanjya 's hair twitches angrily. * Rei doesn't poke Asanjya's hair with a pencil. That work. * Rei thinks about it, though. "He has a mental weakness, too." * Rei perks. "What's that?" Yeah? ( "He hates show tunes." ) (Done and done!) Hmm? "Dr. Van Helsing discovered this in the nineteenth century. Dracula keeps factual knowledge from his previous reincarnations, but he loses his experience. He'll be unaccustomed to dealing with repeated threats." ( He starts at level 1 each time!! ) (*ack*) ( heck of a drawback ) So he no remember how beaten before? "He'll remember, he just won't learn from it." (He has that little level penalty thing!) (Man, those things suck in BCNM fights.) (Level cap!) That's messed up. How does that even work? So he know that we going hit him in head, but he no do anything about it? "I'm sure he'll try after you do it a few times. But he won't expect it. And he'll probably use the same tactics he did on all my ancestors: teleport around the battle location and throw fireballs." (STUPID FSKIN' MILES TACTIC!) ... teleporters. HATE teleporters. (* Taki sniffles.) He might toss another spell or two, but that's by and large his strategy. "Uh-huh." "Oh, and one more thing." "Dracula's closest ally has always been Death incarnate." Death incarnate? ... Clarify? [He nods. "Have you ever heard of the Grim Reaper? That."] (Although this one time, it was Shaft) That's... real? "Very real, and very powerful." * Lazar hisses. "Heard stories about that." Yes. Rumors and tales abound. He smiles. "So you should be grateful you won't have to face it. After Dracula's last defeat, a way to seal Death was discovered." * Chie looks skeptical. "Which was?" "We locked it in a kind of stasis dimension." And it's not gonna get out? "It can't. That dimension is one where time doesn't flow. It can't act to free itself." Nice. That doesn't preclude other people saving it. "No, it doesn't. But at the very least, we know that we haven't given Dracula the opportunity to." You having people making sure that Death stays in stasis? "Of course." He leans forward. "Do you have any questions?" Know you can't give a map, but what's his castle like? [He rubs his beard. "Hmmm... Well, it's very large, and parts seem like they were designed by an abstract artist. The exact layout changes, but similar rooms do seem to show up. You might find a library or gallery, or even a chapel. There's always a cavern underneath the castle. Sometimes there's a dungeon built into it, other times a waterway. ...And a clock tower. " Who the hell is his architect? Someone dead, I bet. (B.S. Johnson.) "The castle itself is an incarnation of chaos." Sadly, that makes sense. (/me snerks at Gryph's comment) ( Frank Konami. ) I assume castle is filled with candelabras? He nods. "Always a lot of candles." He then adds, "Due to the time constraints, I would advise you to split into two groups. Just a suggestion, mind." * Rei chews on her lower lip. She thinks about that. Aw, no. Not splitting up *again*? * Lazar rubs his head. "No sure we have enough... what word... firepower to do that." Hey, it worked out last time. But we do sorta lack firepower. Yeah, if one of us runs into Dracula, we'll need all the help we can get. "You won't. He'll be far too busy conducting the ritual to search for you." Well, what about those underlings of his? "And if you need firepower, you may borrow this." He indicates the Vampire Killer. "Family heirloom or no, it won't do me much good at my age." * Chie looks at Lazar. "You want it?" Lazar or Chie. I think Rownal's good enough for Chomei. * Chomei nods. "Rownal is a perfect weapon for me." * Lazar eyes it. "Suppose." *eyes Rei with a grin* "Unless you good with whips and never tell anyone." (It's just lame enough!) I don't think I can even lift that thing. I'll stick with my swords, thanks. I need no weapons. Julius: "I'd advise whichever one of you feels the least comfortable with your combat skills to take it. It could well turn you into a formidable force. But the decision is up to you." * Rei pauses a moment, then asks, "What's it *do*?" "Kills vampires." Like, if you're totally and completely unskilled with those things and got tangled up with a ball and string earlier today, it'd still kill vampires and not you? 'Cause I've had really bad experiences with sentient weapons lately. Ohhh, yeah. "It's hardly sentient. But if you're not very physically capable, it can't help with that much." There, see? Not mine. So not mine. Then I guess it go to golem. Actually, I think Chie should take it, if she can use the thing without hitting herself. What? I agree. You don't have any problem dishing out damage, Lazar. Well, assuming you can pick it up and stuff, anyway. * Lazar shrugs. "Want give it try, Chie?" * Chie walks over to look at the morning star-type thing. [It doesn't turn into a snake and poison Chie.] (So far, so good!) * Chie tries to pick it up. [Chie succeeds! It isn't *that* heavy.] I can *try* to use it, but... I'm better with a sword. Are you sure you don't want it, Laz? Really seems more your style. Let me put this way. Chomei right. I can do much damange without whip. But if you no comfortable using, it may no be good thing. If that case, I use. I am afraid to try this thing indoors. Lemme do a little practicing with it and see how it works out, if that's okay. * Lazar nods. "That smart." Julius nods. "Do what you will. Just... bring it back in one piece." Oh, sure. Thanks for lending it to us. I'll take good care of it. * Asanjya still looks peeved. * Rei nods. She glances at Asanjya. * Chomei raises an eyebrow at Asanjya. "You might as well say what's bothering you." No, thank you. Are we finished here? * Chomei hmmms, then regards Belmont again... "What about Dracula's minions?" "Who can say? With as wide a range of control as he has, there's no telling what he'll be using." * Chomei shrugs. "Just asking." I have nothing else to ask. Is true that there useful things hidden in castle? Was how story told in village... (Is it true I can get a more interesting powerset if I change my name before entering the castle?) (Ha!) (Hah!) He nods. "Dracula has a great many treasures, yes. If you can find them." * Lazar nods. "Any other questions?" * Chie shakes her head. (I'm getting a very RPG prompt feel to this.) * Asanjya shakes her head. Nope! ( or .) I don't have any more. Naomi speaks up. "If your finished, you'd better get some rest. Tomorrow morning you fly to Transylvania." Think that it. Unless you can think of anything else we need know. ( When come back, should bring pie? ) * Lazar falls silent at that, and whispers after a moment. "Home again..." (When come back, bring pie!) ( Is there any chance we might actually be facing a were- Dracula?) ( ... die. ) (*snickers madly) ( Where Dracula? No, Lazar, he's just a regular Dracula. ... ) * Asanjya turns to leave. "No problem." She walks out. (/me snickers) * Rei nods. She hops off the chair. "Where are we staying?" (That doesn't even make SENSE.) (Neither does 99.99% of other weres.) Naomi: "We've booked you into a nearby hotel." [Session End!]