War of the Overdoms: Battle at Lover's Lookout - Strike Team
In the Tower, Second level, Tunnel 3

((OOC: Lia, I don't really have too much of a plan, so whatever ideas you have, go for it! ))

Mountie thought about how strange she would look to Lia. First of all, there was the fact that her voice seemed to be coming from nowhere. Then, the only thing visible was Growlie, whom she was holding. Since she was invisible, it looked like he was suspended in midair. Being invisible was a strange experience.

"Lu is no longer one of us? Oh bother." Mountie said thoughtfully. After a moment, she spoke again. "Yes, we must rescue Lady G, and whoever is in the dungeons as well. I just hope we come out alive."

She gripped her sword, and quickly surveyed Lia. "What weapons do you have?" She paused. "You have a cloak, too. That's good. I wish I had some more of this invisibility enchantment, but hopefully you can blend into the shadows well enough." With their hooded cloaks, they both looked like something straight out of Robin Hood. She nodded towards Growlie. "The only question is... what to do with him?"

She adjusted her hood out of habit, and solemnly looked at Lia. "I have a plan. Well, half a plan. Are you with me?"

War of the Overdoms: Battle at Lover's lookout — Strike Team
The Entrance Hall of the Tower

She didn't seem to be able to talk. Or move, for that matter. The not moving she didn't mind so much, but the not talking was seriously starting to irk her.

Her eyes alone seemed to still be free. She glanced around the Entrance Hall, looking at the snooping forms of Traitor Joe and the evil wolf, both seeming have lost interest in her.

Perfect time to get away. . . if I could only MOVE, she thought irritably.

She wondered if she was allergic to flour. The wolf had thrown it on her, giving away her position. But as soon as it had touched her, she had lost the ability to move, and leaving her unable to run or even flinch in dismay at being caught.

Allergic to flour? Me? The dryad thought. I eat, what, ten biscotti a day? That's not it.

She stared hard at the little sack of flour sitting on the floor. A random minion ran by, screaming something about the tacos being destroyed, and caused the label on the bag bearing the word "FLOUR" to flutter and fall off.

Great. Just great.

It seemed that practical jokes were a popular thing to do in the Tower, because as the deceitful, fake label floated to the floor, the bag was revealed to be covered in hazard symbols and two words that had absolutely no place in your grandmother's chocolate chip cookie recipe.

Paralysis Powder.

This was really one of those moments where you want to scream with frustration, but all the dryad succeeded was wobbling slightly, stiff as a statue, and making a noise that sounded a little like a squeaky faucet.

If I ever can move again. . . and I get out of here alive. . . I am going to give these folks of flame and shadow an April Fool's Day they'll never forget.

And she began plotting all of the devious, not-so-peaceful-and-monkly things she would do to exact vengeance upon the Dark Overlord and his minions, because at the moment there wasn't much she could do other than wait.

And hope someone rescued her, or the magic wore off, before some minion got creative and turned her into a gargoyle.

War of the Overdoms: Battle at Lovers Lookout
In the tunnel outside the room of Epic Wetness with Took and Lu

"It seems we do meet again," said Lady G, quickly glancing behind herself to look for any more hidden trapdoors. Then she realized that she wouldn't see them if they were hidden, hence the word hidden. She looked quickly back to Lu just in time to see Took knock her down with her staff. Lady G burst out laughing -- but she stopped immediately, grimacing from the pain that shot through her head. She felt the back of her head gingerly, then immediately pulled away as her hand touched a sore spot. "It appears also that we are both taking turns getting knocked on the head."

War of the Overdoms: Battle At Lover's Lookout

((OOC: Lu, I'm going to go ahead and play along with your plot twist, but see my pm for explanation.))

"Whoo-hoo, that's the first time I used my perfection of your cloning belt, Booky, and I must say, it worked perfectly!!" Lady A exclaimed, crawling out from under Pilot's desk, one weapon still trained on the alien. "Belts look so unstylish with my shape and clothes. Turning it into a corset though, that was sheer genius, if I do say so myself. I'd offer you a copy of the design plan, but I don't think a corset would work for you. Anyway, back to business."

"There are," Pilot commented, "many days where I would be happy to see you point a weapon away from Booky. Leaving it trained on me and directing another to Tower's brain stem, however, isn't so nice. Can't you hide behind him next time, instead of under my desk?"

"Maybe. Hand Booky a pen, will ya?"

~~

Lady A1, who happened to be the clone Lu took, but who Lu didn't know was a clone, watched as Lu worked the locks. After making a thorough inspection of her new quarters, A1 did exactly as she had been programed to do: break all orders. First, she ate some mushrooms. Next, she lay down on the floor and attempted to sleep, which failed, as A1 was not programed to sleep. Next, A1 began looking for anything dry and burnable. After discovering that there was nothing fire-worthy down where she was, she scrambled up the stairs to the bed. After examining it and finding it to be satisfactorily dry, she gave it a heave, and watched proudly as it tumbled down the stairs. 

"GERANIMOOOOOOOO!" Lady A1 yelled, giggling madly as she leaped off of the platform and onto the bed (incidentally hitting her head). "Ow...."

After taking a few moments to recuperate, A1 took her right index finger and plunged the nail into her left wrist. After a few seconds, a compartment, running from just above her wrist to just below her elbow, slid open. Whistling a merry tune, she selected a roll of tinsel (she knew from the original Lady A's watching The Santa Clause that tinsel could cut one out of jail) and a cigarette lighter. After successfully taking the dungeon door of it's hinges, A1 carefully lit one corner of the mattress, then ran like crazy out of the dungeon and up the tunnel. 

"Five...four...three...two...one........"

An angrily loud boom came from deep under the Tower. A1 ran to the nearest wall, dropped to the ground and cover her head--her best protection from the whirlwind of debris that came roaring past her. She remained as still as a stone, even as the dust finished settling. 

~~

Lady A glanced over at Booky's surveillance monitor just in time to see the mattress explode. Seconds later, various items began to fall over, as Tower shook from the explosion--and maybe from furry?

((OOC: No one should be able to tell that A1 is not Lady A. They are perfect clones. Also, if anyone wants to find A1, they can. The explosion can be felt all through the tower and even in the castle. The debris storm should only effect people in tunnels.))

War of the Overdoms: Battle at Lover's Lookout
In a tunnel

Took started laughing even more at Lady G's comment, but when her sanity finally managed to communicate to the rest of her mind the seriousness of the situation (and she was starting to run out of breath), she quieted down a bit. "Well," she said, suppressing a giggle, "Perhaps if you'll be our guide, I'll try not to whack your head anymore." She laughed a little more and motioned Lady G to secure their prisoner.

Then she heard a roaring boom echoing through the tunnel. It quickly grew even dimmer than it had been, and Took crouched in tornado-drill position (trying harder than ever not to laugh, for fear of getting dust in her mouth) as the debris flew past.

War of the Overdoms: Battle at Lovers Lookout
Inside the tunnel with Lu and Took

Lady G momentarily wondered why Took was laughing so nonstop before she realized that Lu could easily get away. She moved forward to grab her arms and realized she had no rope to tie up her enemy with. Well, I can't think of everything at once!

She grabbed Lu's arms anyway and tried to move them behind her back. Suddenly, she thought she felt a gust of wind begin to pick up. But how is that possible? Her mind didn't know how to rationalize wind in a place where there should be no wind.

The wind quickly picked up into nearly a gale of dirt and debris. Lady G crouched similar to Took and tucked her head, trying to keep her hold on Lu at the same time.

War of the Overdoms: Battle at Lovers Lookout
Inside the tunnel with Lady G and Took

(OOC: Sorry for God-modding! I didn't realize that I was making this story un-fun for anybody else. I think I can post again now as both Took and Lady G (who am I with) have posted and also Lady A, who I reaaaaly could have messed up with my UBER plot-change. Sorry guys! BTW, Lady A, I love that part about the clone! )

Lu started to try to get away from Lady G, but then a wind full of dust and debris convinced her that going along with the crouching-out-of-the way thing was a very good idea at the moment.

When the wind finally stopped, Lu tried again to pull away, but it seemed that, while they were down there, Lady G and Took had done something to her arms...

War of the Overdoms: Battle at Lover's Lookout
In the Tower, Second level, Tunnel 3

((OOC: Mountie, no half a plan? Details! It all comes later on. )

Lia looked at the kitten. She slowly looked up so that her eyes were level where she assumed Mountie's head would be. She thought that she remembered that Mountie was about that height and and she assumed that she [Lia] was looking Mountie in the invisible eyes. "So, this half a plan? Does it involve breaking into the stronghold of our enemies? Oh, wait... We've already done that, haven't we?" She thought in silence for a moment or two. "Perhaps if we--"

She was cut off as an explosion ripped through the Tower. Debris rained down through the entire Tunnel. Lia felt her knees give out and she fell, knocking her head on the way down.

When the debris finally ceased to fall on their heads in a fine dust, Lia sat up. As she saw the little dancing spots of color before her eyes, she tried to form a plot. "Do we want fast or really fast?" she asked Mountie.

War Of The Overdoms

Flow rushed back through the tower to where he left the dryad. Great. He was dead meat now for sure... He new that the stun wouldn't last forever, and there was always the possibility that one of them might find her... Then they'd just bring her back to their leader...

This was definitly a better job for the she wolf. Then he started to wonder why was he running if he could fly? Uggghhhh...

War of the Overdoms: Battle at Lovers Lookout
Inside the tunnel with Lu and Took

As the storm of debris stopped, Lady G stood up, coughing, and tightening her grip on Lu. "Whatever that was about, on to business. What shall we do now?" she asked Took. "I rather like the idea of having a tour guide myself!"

At the mention of a tour guide, she realized that Lu would probably know the way back to the entrance hall, where the invisible person (or so it had looked like) was. Hmm, I wonder what that was about, and if it is even still there? It hadn't been moving while she was looking at it.

The idea that the two minions who looked like they were probably from the Tower (for Lady A had no guys with bandannas or winged wolves on her side, as far as Lady G knew) were cornering something made her wonder once again if it had only been a useless game they were playing or if they had actually been cornering something... Anyone who is an enemy of the Tower is probably a friend of mine, she thought.

Yes, I will have to see about heading back there.

War of the Overdoms: Battle at Lovers Lookout
The Endless Stairs

Pippin stayed in his spot for what seemed like a very long time. To him, that is. He shifted around, spinning in circles for a little while, then soaring up in the air, then down. Up and down and up and down and- Uh oh. Something was coming! Pippin noticed a few seconds too late. Chomp! went the jaws of a very large, very ugly mutant hound around Pippin's sphere of energy. The little dog let loose an unearthly shriek of terror and bolted, the thrusters helping him pop out of the beast's mouth like a cork out of a bottle. Screaming, he hurtled up the stairs with the creature on his heels. Around and around, up and up they went. Pippin glanced behind him at the monster- and slammed into something. He gave a yelp and started back, getting a moment's glimpse of what looked like a floating cloud of dust in a vague humanoid shape before he heard the crack of the giant jaws behind him again. With a screech, Pippin zoomed to the side like he should have done from the very start- over the pit that the seemingly endless stairs spiraled around. Like I said, when Pippin gets scared, most of his sense leaves with his courage.
The hound leaped over the railing of the stairs, jowls snapping for its prey and plummeted into the black depths below.
"Aaahhhrrrooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...." went the monster as it fell down the hole.
Suddenly finding himself rid of the other dog, Pippin quickly recovered himself and sent a smirk after the creature. "Serves 'ya right! You overgrown puppy!" With a wag of his tail he floated up the shaft for a while, having completely forgotten that he was supposed to be staying in one spot so his Person could find him. Suddenly he froze- certain that he had just caught a whiff of something edible... Like a shot, he darted into a doorway and followed his nose.

---------------------------------

Random Storehouse

Lady C was pretty certain now that she was wandering through a maze of storage rooms. There were crates and boxes and shelves galore. No telling what goodies she might have picked up if she took the time to dig through them. As it was, she had not wasted any time and yet had wasted all of her time. In other words, she never stopped walking and she never got anywhere that looked much different than the place she'd been before.
"This is really starting to annoy..." she muttered, semi quoting National Treasure without thinking. Then she heard something and stopped dead. It was a low growl. Oh great. Just great! The mutts are out? I thought we didn't have to worry about them!? She carefully drew out an arrow from her sheaf, laid it against the smooth wood of the bow and slipped it to the string. She couldn't quite see the thing yet, but it must have been able to smell her and could leap out at any moment. She rounded a giant crate that was so big it rose above her head and froze. The dog was just behind it, hackles raised, yellow teeth bared, jaws dripping a thick and slimy saliva, bloodshot eyes focused on Lady C. LC swallowed. She was very used to animals, as y'all probably already know, but this was different... It was a monster. And... How does one deal with monsters? Oh yeah, you kill them.
Lady C whipped up her arms and let loose a shaft that sped towards the creature's neck, struck with a loud zapping sound and bounced off (remember, they only bruise and stun, not pierce). The dog's snarl deepened and it made a sudden bound that sent it soaring through the air towards Lady C's throat. Lady C had another arrow to the string and let it fly, striking the dog on the jugular. Apparently, that was the key spot for this particular monster, because the stun worked immediately. In mid leap the creature curled into a senseless ball and tumbled towards Lady C.
With a squeak of sudden realization, Lady C dove to the side a split second too late. The giant animal collided with her fleeing backside and they crashed heavily to the floor.
"Uuuggghh!" groaned Lady Courage, "Mutt, you weigh a ton! You've gotta lose some weight! Then maybe the next time you decide to squash me to the floor I won't! Be! So! Grumpy!" With every one of the last words she tried to pull herself out from under the massive beast. She didn't budge. Her legs from the thigh down were trapped beneath the dead weight of the mutant mutt. She growled in frustration and ground her teeth. "Why does this have to be so hard? Ok, let's try that again..." She relaxed for a space of three beats, then gave a mighty heave with her arms that made the contours of her forearm muscles pop into sharp relief and a grunt of exertion ripped from her throat. She pulled and pulled and finally dropped to the ground panting. After a moment's rest, she turned and looked to see how far she had pulled herself out. Then she did a facefloor, which is kinda like a headdesk. She had not moved herself an inch.
Suddenly, a thought struck her. It was so simple and so perfect and so obvious that she laughed aloud at her stupidity in not thinking of it in the first place! Her comlink! Button! Oh, for cryin' out loud! What an idiot she felt... She shoved her hand into her pocket- and froze when her hand come upon empty fabric. Uh oh...
"Oh, where is it!? Where- oh! There it is! Just out of my reach of course... Must've fallen out of my pocket. Ummm..." She snatched up her bow and stuck it out to pull the comlink back to her. The tip of it just reached it and she pushed. It moved to the side. She pushed again. It moved to the side. She pushed again and it moved to the side. But all its movements were in a semi-circle and not any closer.
"Ugh!" cried Lady C. "This is so annoying!"
Finally though, she managed to hook the end of the bow over the comlink and dragged it to her hand. "Aha! Now to call Button..." she pressed a button to call Button. "Lady C to Button, Lady C to Button... Could you please move me to- um, wherever Pippin is? I'm kinda in a jam..." She glanced back at her legs with an eyeroll at her pun and waited to be transferred.

War of the Overdoms: Battle at Lover's Lookout

"Button here. Locating Pippin's current placement..." There was a pause. "Pippin located. Just FYI, he's by one of the members from the strike team. You might want to make sure that person is O.K., as they haven't changed location for quite a while. Transporting in five...four...three...two...one...."

And Lady C disappeared from under the mutt, reappearing in the same position on the floor by Pippin.

"Button here. Can you see Strike Team Member Rose?"

War of the Overdoms: Battle at Lovers Lookout
With Lu and Took

As the thoughts went through her head about the invisible creature, Lady G realized something a bit obvious: She could ask Button about it.

She switched her communicator off of the "texting" setting and called Button. "Button...I saw something a bit odd in the entrance hall. It looked like somebody invisible with flour all over them." Sounds weird, but that's what I saw. "I have no idea what or who it was, but in any case, it was being watched by a few of the Tower minions, if I understood the situation correctly. That makes me think that it might be someone or something we should check on. I was going to go back there, but my hands are a bit full at the moment. Do you think it would be possible to have someone closer check it out? Either that, or move me over there?"

Silly, why didn't you think of this before?

Well, you were a little preoccupied!

War of the Overdoms: Battle at Lover's Lookout
In the tunnels

Joe was thrown off his feet by the explosion, as you may know; the stairs are not a very good place to be when you need to BRACE YOURSELF!!!!!... Um... Never mind. As I was saying, the stairs aren't very safe... So Joe proceeded to be thrown the entire way down the length of the stairway he just finished trudging up.

"Mmff" was the only thing he could say, his fedora was bent, his Blaster was scratched and his knife was broke. All this led up to the end result, which of course was the fact that Commander Joe was as mad as a Dragon with diaper rash, to say the least.

And it sure didn't help when some happened to trip over him at a full sprint "YO! DON'T YOU WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING?!" Joe yelled, the figure looked backed at him, he was in full armor.

"Sorry Commander, Sir" Jason Nagi said, standing and saluting "At ease soldier" Joe said to his personal Army. Yes, Jason was as good as any Army the world had ever known, just ask him. Not to mention he had a host of modified battle droids at his beck and call.

"Sir, I've been working with R5-W3 to locate the pinpoint of the blast, I think we've found it" Jason said, taking his helmet off "Good, assemble your droids and we'll head in that direction" Joe replied, attempting to bend his fedora back into its original place.

Jasson placed his helmet back on and hit a few buttons on his wrist band, and within a few minutes an entire squad of assorted droids showed up on the scene, however, only the ones required for this job came. Blaster, Sharp, Killer, Spinner, Bang and of course; Destructo.

"Move out" Jasson said, and the team moved forward in SEAL like fashion. Covering each others back along the way. When they reached the tunnel entrance they found it blocked. "Blaster, Sharp, Cover our backs. Spinner; find us some cover... Bang, can you get us through?" Joe said after his repeated kicks fail to break the barrier.

"Sir, I am programed to blast my way through any object" Bang replied in a deadpan voice, most of his circuitry had been devoted to the complex task of blowing things up, not leaving much room for social abilities. "Well just make sure you don't disrupt the space-time continuum while you are at it"

Spinner peaked his head out of a side room "I got that cover you wanted, sir" he said, pointing into the room. Jasson stood up and walked over to it "This will do" Bang looked up from his work and said "I think I know what to do" as he grabbed several thermal detonators and placed them against the barrier and turned them on "Alright, we get a minute, everyone in the room.

They all rushed into the room, well before - BOOOM! The detonators went off, blowing a whole section of the wall into tiny grains of dust. "CLEAR" Bang yelled, Killer and Blaster rushed out into the hallway, their guns trained on the new opening followed by Sharp with his sniper rifle and then everyone else "Door is clear, there doesn't appere to be anyone in there" Killer said, Joe walked up behind him "Oh, there is someone in there all right... More then someone, if these readings are correct"

"Three someones, to be exact" Jasson said, walking out of the room "Lets go" And with that, the made their way into the tunnels, once again; Killer and Blaster took the leader with their automatic blaster rifles, next came Joe and Jasson, after that Destructo and Spinner, Sharp and Blast took up the rear guard about fifteen feet back.

As they came to a corner they heard voices just up ahead Killer instantly froze and rose his left hand in the signal to stop, then all the droids switched to a inner com system that allowed them to comunicate silently, and Jasson was able to hear everything they said and respond through a system in his helmet. Joe would just have to sit and watch.

And watch he did, as Sharp moved his way to the front, he used a parascope to see around the corner. Three humans Sharp said use tranqlizing darts Jasson responded. Sharp replied by loading his rifle silently, screwing a silencer onto the end of the barrel, an then peeking the sniper blaster around the corner.

He fired the first shot at Lu. There was no way he could miss. Not at this range. Reload. Squeeze. The second shot was down range and flying towards Lady G. Reload. Squeeze.

War of the Overdoms: Battle at Lover's Lookout

"Well, Lady C just requested to be beamed there, and it appears that we have a soldier down in that area--it's Rose. I'll go ahead and beam your group up, just incase Lady C needs help. Rose's vital signs are fine, but she hasn't moved for quite a while, and seems to not be responding to anything. Beaming initiated."

A few seconds later, the little company found itself next to Lady C and Pippin.

"Transmission complete," Button said. "Let me know what Rose's status is as soon as possible."