The Return of the Villain circa 1989 Part Three [Nomad of Norad] Nomad watched them head off into the woods, searching for the missing men. He stood in the entry to the tent, wondering if CommHex would ever be freed. It had been how long since they had been forced out of the Hex? Weeks? At that time the Villain had threatened to take over not just the Hex, but Elsinore, Amy's Crystal Palace, and others. Was it wise to seek refuge at Elsinore? Wouldn't the Villain have already conquered it weeks ago? Shouldn't they take refuge somewhere that the Villain hadn't threatened? Nomad thought to himself that his own house might be best, except that he had been in his house, and then suddenly was NOT in his house! Even with the force dome activated, the Villain had been able to teleport him out! If the Villain could teleport Nomad from his own house, stranding him out in the wilderness like this, what was to keep the Villain from teleporting in? Still, even if the Villain captured Nomad's home, he wouldn't control it for long. Joshua, the sentient household computer, would simply teleport him back out again! Some guy had once gotten into the house to rob it, he found himself in the top of a tall tree soon afterwards. Even if the Villain could somehow disable the teleport, and put Joshua out of action - which was not likely, since both systems were located a ways into the house - Giles would likely deal with him come nightfall. Still, maybe some other place would be best. [Dr. Depraved] * * * And, deep within his Castle... with a cast over his left leg, and a patch on his head, the Villain thought, `Who on earth was that Giles character anyways?' [Nomad of Norad (in post production)] * * * Back at Nomad's house, Joshua was carefully monitoring the area around the house, all his sensor equipment was running, focussed. Joshua was embarrassed, in a mechanical sort of way, that he had let The Villain pull his sneaky little stunt against him and Nomad. If he had been scanning the area before, he would have seen a group of people past a little hill, with some rather interesting equipment, doing something very suspicious. The Villain had found a blind-spot in Joshua's security screen, and a very devious way to circumvent their force dome. Very very sneaky. Joshua should have guessed that with the way Crystal Palace had been destroyed, in a smoke-and-mirrors approach that made him look more powerful then he really was, that he would have tried another such smoke-and-mirrors approach to dealing with Nomad. The people had two portable teleporter-modules which they set up behind that hill near Nomad's house, and then beamed up a large cube of earth down below that point, and then beamed the second teleporter into the empty chamber thus created. The second teleporter then created another such chamber, centered under Nomad's house, and then the first teleporter was beamed sight-to-sight from behind the hill to this second chamber. Finally, they simply beamed Nomad out of this house, relayed through both teleporters, and then off to someplace else. They had intended to immediately cover their tracks by, fast as they could, reversing the process that had placed the teleporters in place, but they'd botched it. Seems the cubes of dirt they'd beamed out had collapsed, subsided, and would no longer fit the chambers they'd come from. Oddly enough, it wasn't actually The Villain behind this. It was some third party that The Villain had apparently recruited, a bunch that were mostly independant of him. The Villain didn't really know enough about high technology to pull these things off. It was yet another smoke-and-mirrors misdirection to make himself look powerful. * * * * * [Dr. Depraved] So! To continue once more cause it's been a whole two hours and no ones posted...heh (ahem...and now...the bard.) "....wha...where am I?" mumbled an exhausted Master of Puppets. He instantly groped for his sword, but found nothing. He tried to sit up, only to receive a crashing blow to his skull, and collapsed once more. Meanwhile, THX had just finished saying the same thing... but when he sat up... his head only nicked the top of the tunnel, and gave him a super sized headache. He sat against the wall, and tried to collect his thoughts. Meanwhile, Dr. Depraved was still unconscious. He would awaken in two hours when the anxious, blackened faces of Master of Puppets and THX would be hovering over him, trying to make a tourniquet for his leg, which was bleeding profusely. But for now, all he was doing was lying in the muck on the tunnel floor, unaware of the cocoon he was being wrapped in. THX-1138 threw off the silk-like covering that had been wrapped around him. It had been no easy task getting it off either, and had taken him a quarter of an hour to move his hand down to his boot where he could withdraw his concealed dagger. The "webbing," although strong, succumbed quickly to the bite of THX's dagger and lay in the mud on the floor like a dirty blanket. "Gotta get out of here...." he murmured, and quickly went head first into the wall, for there was not one speck of light in these "caves." he went cautiously to the side wall, and found a relatively smooth surface. The tunnel felt as though it was a large stone pipe, even though it had a rough feel of nature's work. "Must've been an old underground river or something," he said to himself. But then he quickly laid back down on the floor, for he heard a scurrying sound coming from down the tunnel. He felt something brush by him at tremendous speed, but saw only a pair of burning red eyes. Yet he saw more than just red in those eyes. He felt the eyes staring at him, with a cold calculating hatred. A servant of the Villain. He saw the cold intelligence those eyes possessed, and it touched something in the pit of his heart. He could feel power... * * * Master regained consciousness again, but this time, remembered to stay down instead of rising. He felt the hard, mottled lump of where his new "headbang" was starting to form, and the cold, probably infected, lump of where he had first been attacked. He rubbed his head... but this only seemed to perpetuate the agony. He breathed shallowly, and felt as if his lungs were constricting. He saw that on the ceiling, wherever that may be, four glowing red beams of light coming together. His breathing decreased more, and he found himself becoming drowsy. He felt it again. A cold hard pain on his left side. Almost as if a needle was being pushed there. Master of Puppets passed out again. But before he did, he saw the four beams of light suddenly resolve into two eyes of glowing red... and he felt the constriction on his throat becoming tighter and tighter... * * * THX found the only way he could continue down the tunnel was on his hands and knees. Better safe than sorry, he thought, and rubbed the bloody gash on the back of his head. It was pitch black in the tunnel. He had no idea where to go, but found he rather liked the idea of heading AWAY from whatever direction that creature had gone, and had started along. Within minutes he had determined exactly how bad of a predicament he was in. He found that the caves would suddenly compress together into a slit he could barely squeeze through, and then, almost as quickly, branch out leaving him with four different directions to choose from. It was starting to get pretty bad. Several times he found himself suddenly being overcome by a drunken-like feeling, as if he had been drugged or something... --- Meanwhile, two miles west and 350 feet higher.... --- "O.k... let's get some sort of plan going here. Beelzebub and Alter. I want you here... and Bob Smith... I want you here...." King Joe said, as the group huddled in The King's tent to get away from the chilling rain. "Well, I'll check to the North of us... see where they last were..." volunteered Captain R/C, as he pointed to the location on the map. All eyes zoomed in on the location. Very thick swamp, they all silently agreed. It was going to be tough to find them. And as far as the Villain? Well, out here it would be easier to catch pneumonia... and the rain didn't look like it was planning on moving along for the next few days. "Well, we'd better hurry up. It doesn't look like it'll be getting any warmer around here..." said the King. "I want hourly reports. Everyone be back here before dark or I'll suspect you've been captured, killed, or eliminated in some way.... Good luck." --- Meanwhile, two miles East, and 350 feet lower.... --- THX was still stumbling around. He had managed to find a part of the cave where he could at least stand up, but movement was slow. He heard something to the left of him, and in his surprise he fell over a rock. Except... this rock started to move... [Dr. Depraved] (To continue because it ran up too many lines and hung me up...) THX yelped, and started slashing wildly at the air. His dagger encountered something soft and muddy. He stopped slashing and knelt down to feel it. It felt like some more of that webbing stuff, and for a horrible moment he felt that it was quiet possible that he had been going in circles.... But, it turned out to be Master of Puppets... or so he thought... it certainly FELT like Master of Puppets... this person was certainly wearing Master's clothes... he heard MoP groan... and immediately THX began slicing away the webs and exposed MoP to the air. MoP gasped for breath... and began to breathe normally after a few moments. "Whew!" he said... and cried out in pain. "What's wrong?!?" THX asked quickly. And felt his way to MoP again. "My leg! My... my... leg feels like it's on fire!" And with that, Master of Puppets screamed in pain. A terror filled, broiling scream. THX could see nothing at all, but he felt his way to MoP's leg, and just barely in the darkness, he could see a fading greenish glow coming from MoP's leg. Like a faint light under his leg. Master screamed again, this time, a pain filled howl. "God! Help me! It HUUUUURTS!!!!" MoP screamed into the darkness. THX felt it before he heard it. Down one of the tunnels. He could feel SOMETHING coming. He heard a rustling sound of many legs rushing upon them at terrifying speed. And the red-lights of its eyes... closer... closer... "Master! Come on! Hurry up...!!" THX turned toward the tunnel he felt it coming from... He could feel it coming... closer... the fear was radiating off him in waves. Closer... closer... Master screamed again.... THX dove into one of the tunnels, and scrambled his way, belly down, through the muck. But just before he left, and just for an instant, he thought he could see something moving in that glow of MoP's leg... something, alive... He continued as quickly as he could. Master of Puppet's screams of pain were now changed into screams of utter abject terror. He could only imagine what was happening back there... in the glow... * * * After two hours of crawling around in the dark, THX collapsed in the muck and fell asleep. He did not wake for some thirteen hours... but when he did, the screams had not stopped. (ED:Well, there you go...tune in next week for another episode of, THE INTREPID GROUP'S TRIUMPHANT RETURN! -- Well, at least, most of them...) [THX-1138] "Oh God..." said THX as he awoke from his not-so-pleasant slumber. And then he heard the screams of MoP once again. The blood-curdling screams coming from his FRIEND. He could not help but feel the pain inside himself telling him to help his friend. "I've gotta do something," he said. "I can't just leave MoP there to die. We've been through a lot, and he has saved my pitiful life many times." And with that, he drew his dagger and made his way back to where he had left MoP. The screams were a surefire way to detect him... so he thought. When he arrived at the location, there was no one there! All that remained was a tattered denim pocket, obviously taken from MoP's jacket. "My GOD! What have I done!" he said to himself... and then realized that MoP's screams had not ceased! "Wha? What's going on?" Then the screams came again. They were emanating from the exact spot that THX was standing. He told himself that it was his groggy mind that was playing tricks on him. "It can't be coming from here! It CANNOT!" he told himself, over and over... but the screams continued, biting into him... as if they were numbing him to the bone.... "MoP!!! Where are you?!" No response. But the screams continued. THX could not take it any longer, and started to make his way back TOWARDS where he had arisen initially... the same place he was happy to leave earlier.... "No... I don't want to go back... NO!!" he screamed. But it was no use, something had gotten control of his mind... the endless screams... the pain in his head... the foul reek of the tunnels.... "I must maintain CONTROL!!" he yelled. But it was no use.... MoP's screams were getting louder (?) as he approached the spot... but was that possible? He had sworn they were coming from the opposite direction... "NO!!! I will NOT succumb.... Stay in control.... Stay in CONTROL..." THX repeated over and over.... And then he arrived at the spot... and almost subconsciously laid his dagger on the cold ground... and looked up... and saw four red beams of light... and still the screaming continued... "No... Lord help me... NO!! MAY THE MAD GOD TARJAN SAVE US!!" yelled THX... before he fell into unconsciousness... his last waking thought was, `I have failed you my liege...forgive me...' [Master of Puppets] * * * As THX-1138 woke up, or began to, at least, he noted an eerie, fuzzy kinda light over top of him... from his blurred vision it appeared maroonish... "I've died and gone to hell," he noted. "No... you haven't gone to hell..." began the apparition, "but HELL HAS COME TO YOU!!!!" That startled Thx so bad that he awoke as quickly as possible and ran like hell.... into the wall.. "There is no escape! I, Mephistopheles, have come to take YOU... Mr. THX-1138... and there is NOTHING... (and i repeat) NOTHING... that you can do about it!!! What do you have to say to that?" "I think i just peed in my pants!" And his vision began to clear... at long last he noticed that the glow was radiating from Master of Puppet's body... it was his voice... but it wasn't HIM... something about it... maybe the Atheist comments oh, so long ago told him that this SURE as hell wasn't MoP. "OK..." began THX. "What do you want? " "I want your SOUL!" "Damn. I was afraid of that..." "You don't think I'm Satan, do you?" "Not especially... but I could be mistaken... I have before..." MoP abruptly began to vomit on THX 1138... What was strange about this vomit was, THX was all the way across the room. "Projectile vomiting?" "Yeah... ain't you ever seen the Exorcist?" "No... I don't think so... what was the story?" Thx began to stall. "Well, I possessed Linda Blair and her head turned around and around and she went around barfing on things..." "Oh yeah... I remember that one!" "I know what you're doing... you're stalling..." "Me?" "Come now...." Satan led THX to a large steel elevator. "WHOA!" THX looked down the little shaft. There was no bottom. "Resistance is useless!" "Can you do me one favor?" ventured THX "What is it?" "Make MoP's head spin around..." [Nomad of Norad] Suddenly THX found himself on the ground again, in pitch darkness, picking himself up from having run into a wall and hit his head. "OOOoooooohhh....." he moaned. Where was the possessed MoP? Where was the elevator to the Hot Place? It dawned on him that it had been a dream. Then it dawned on him that MoP was no longer screaming. He turned around and tried to see if he could find any sign of the glow that had been on part of MoP's body. Total darkness was all he found. "MOP!!! MOP!!! ARE YOU OK?!?!? WHERE ARE YOU?!?!?" A faint yell was heard. "THX? Is that you?" "YEAH!" Thx determined that the voice was coming from his right. He started to feel his way there. "Why are you no longer screaming?" "The mutant slug decided to leave me alone," came MoP's response. "Mutant slug?" "Yeah, one of The Doc's little experiments. Mostly harmless. It got out of the Hex and came to be here..." "Yeah, but it scared the wits out of both of us." "Well, it was just happy to see another living thing. It got lonely down here." [Captain R/C] (Ed's Note: Dr: See how good it can get?) --- Meanwhile, about one and a half miles away and 250 feet up.... --- "Hey, R/C, come look at this..." said Nomad. "What is it? Did you find something?" asked Captain R/C as he approached Nomad. "Footprints." Captain R/C looked at the ground. "Wow! You're Right!" "THINK! This is a deserted part of the world! Not too many living things live in the Fens of the Dead. Especially not humans," noted Nomad. "You may be right..." R/C inspected the footprints once again, this time more seriously. "That's MoP's shoe right there... we're on the right track at least..." "How can you tell?" "Who else wear's Metallica brand shoes?" asked R/C as he looked at Nomad. "I do," Beelzebub proudly stated. "Not your size, Beelzy.... JOE! Come here... we found something..." Captain R/C said aloud. Joe and Shammy looked up and approached the now small, semi-intrepid group. "MoP's shoe-prints." "Yes, I see..." Joe looked closely, "Metallica brand shoes I see.... We may very well be on the right track." "Uh-oh... look at this..." R/C looked at a different set of foot-prints. Joe looked. "Orcs," he said grimly. [Daggoth] Daggoth, who had been lagging behind, caught up to the group and yelled when he saw the orc-ish footprints. "What are we gonna do...? We gotta save MoP!" "And Jocko," added Beelzebub. "Lets follow the prints," suggested Spidey. "Good idea," Captain R/C replied. So off they went. About 300 yards up the way, the headless body of an orc lay on the ground surrounded by two dead orcs. Or at least they looked like Orcs. "That'll teach these slime to mess with the Master of Puppets," said Shammy. But up ahead, unbeknownst to the group, MoP and three other orcs were engaged in combat. Two dead orcs and two dying orcs lay off to the side. MoP was pretty cut up though, and one arm looked limp. As MoP yelled when a sword cut his leg, the group reached the scene. R/C, springing forward, sword in hand, slashed through one of the orcs, and Beelzy, Joe, and Spidey chopped up another one as Daggie neatly nailed the third one in the back with a poisoned dagger... but this orc still fought MoP slashing at him wildly, but missed. Then MoP cut off a leg, but it still wasn't dead. Its sharp claws raked Master's face as he fell to the ground. "NOO!!!" screamed Shammy. "These aren't Orcs... they're Ghouls." And then the ghoul bit MoP, and paralysis started to set in. "Aiyee!" yelled Joe as the supposedly dead ghoul, now decapitated slashed Joe thrice, opening several wounds to the dirty ground. Then R/C slashed twice, splitting the ghoul as it fell to the ground... VERY DEAD. * * * Meanwhile, MoP, now paralyzed, was about to become lunch, even though Spidey, Thx, and Dr D and Daggoth were cutting away at him, the blows were just splattering him apart but since he was a minion of the Villain, not much could stop it. Then three more ghouls entered the picture, with DR D, Spidey, and Thx taking them on. Daggoth decapitate the one that paralyzed MoP but not before it plunged three claws through Daggy's gut. "AGHHHH!!!" yelled Daggoth. Then Thx fell and Spidey had to face two of them. So did Dr D and now ORCS and GOBLINS, attracted by the noise, rushed and attacked those still standing, with brutish force... [Captain R/C] The group was almost completely surrounded by a baraj of Non Player Nations. Four or five monsters tackled Dr.D, and his sword flew out of his reach. He had to rely on his brute strength (Crackle...) to save his life. MoP saw this and slumped (partial paralysis) and tried to help Dr.D, but was quickly stopped by a fatal blow to the head. Scratch one Intrepid Grouper. Dr was fiercly fighting but was quickly overcome by the monsters. Somehow, he managed to scuttle to his sword and got a hold of it. By now, though, he was pretty badly beaten and he couldn't put much power behind his sword. He tried to hold off the monsters as long as he could.... Nearby, R/C was cornered by five or six orcs, back against the tree. His sword drawn and a dagger in the his other hand, his eyes bloodshot with fear, he began wildly slashing at the orcs. One of the orcs met his fate with a crushing blow across his cheekbone. Another Orc, caught by the same swing of the sword, got his eye poked out by the sharp tip of the sword. From the left side, R/C felt a sharp pain in his shoulder, an Orc's spear deeply embedded rendering his dagger hand useless. Then, two Orcs jumped on top of him, tackling him to the ground and the rest of the Orcs followed suit. R/C met the ground with a deep thud and his head landed on a rock, and that was the last he remembered... "Nooooo...." Cried Shammy when two or three spears landed in Joe's chest, almost killing him. Fortunately, the Orcs went after someone else before finishing Joe completely. Shammy knelt beside Joe and yanked the spears out. Spidey was just jumped by surprise from above and never knew what hit him. Daggoth looked around quickly as he was one of the few left standing. He looked around at the bloody battlefield. Monsters Galore. He whipped out two of his daggers (why do you think they call him DAGGoth?) and threw them at two different Orcs. One dagger killed an Orc by way of the eye socket and the other Orc suffered before he died. The dagger pierced his neck and severed the Orc's jugular vein. Shammy slowly got up, and then ran to Daggoth for protection. When she got there, Daggoth was somewhat surprised when she asked, "Do you want any bacon?" Daggoth turned to Shammy. "Bacon?" he asked. He realized there was no longer the stench of Orcs or the cry of his dying comrades. All he saw were the trees above him and the early morning mist. "Bacon?" he said again, still `dazed out.' Shammy chuckled quietly. "Yes, bacon! Would you like some bacon?" "Bacon?" he asked yet again. "Do I have to Spell it out for you? B-A-C-O-N!" "Wh--.. What happened?" he asked quietly. "I dunno... Come and join us for some bacon," she said. "`US'? What do you mean `us'?" he asked. "Cappy, THX, Dr... you know.. the group?" "But... THX is missing and Cappy died! Wha..." said Daggoth.. "Died!? What are you talking about... Let's go have breakfast.." Shammy led Daggoth to a clearing in the woods where everyone was eating breakfast. "Well, hello sleepy-head!" said Captain R/C. "Uhh.. yeahh... Hello..." Daggoth looked around... peacefulness? `Must have been a dream,' he thought.. "Hurry up, we need to find that Mandrake!" commanded Joe. From behind the group came a voice, "I'm afraid that won't be necessary." The group turned to find Mack, Mask, and Magister Magus looking solemnly at them. "Jocko passed away yesterday morning..." The group was silent.... ...... `Must STILL be a dream,' thought Daggoth.. [Dr. Depraved] (Whoa! This is certainly killing off everyone well! [ahem]) The Intrepid Group bowed their heads in silence... mixed with the disbelief that their Group leader was gone. No one would ever forget the noble Advisor Jocko... and the stories of his conquests would live forever. King Joe made an oration about Jocko... and the group lapsed into silence once more... and began to question the harbingers of doom. "He went very quietly..." said Magister Magus, and the group clustered around to hear the tale. Magister continued, "He was lying in his chambers. He had been having problems breathing until a few days ago... but then he seemed peaceful. We were almost hopeful that he was on the road to recovery... but after a few days, he died. The nurse-maid went in to give him his medicine... and he just stopped breathing..." "I'm afraid there is nothing we can do here..." said King Joe. "This wholetrip has been useless. The only thing left to do is return to Castle Hex." "Can't do that I'm afraid," said Mask, "but we had to evacuate Castle Hex before The Villain's hordes arrived. We had taken refuge in Elsinore. Amy's Crystal Palace and The Cloister have fallen... and no messenger has returned from TSX... we can only fear for the worst..." "Oh well. Could someone find me a cane please?" said the Doctor. "I'm afraid we are in for alot of walking today..." [Captain R/C] Joe and Shammy both had to sit at that news. "Our beloved castle.. we should never have left... 500 people dead or enslaved. I made the wrong choice." Joe felt guilty. "How'd it happen, Mask?" asked Captain R/C. "Well, you remember how we had a three day ultimatum? Well, on the third day, we put ALL our forces on alert and hid all the treasure and secured the windows and doors in defense against the Villain. The guards were stationed at dawn and waited for several hours. Around eleven, what we were told was a messenger from Elsinore told us that the Villain had been defeated by the combined forces of ACP, Cloister and Elsinore. We were all invited to see the Villain's body burn. The legionaries rejoiced and threw down their arms and the villagers came out of hiding and a huge celebration went on. All through that day, everyone was happy, happier than they had been in a long time.... What council we had at the Hex at that time gathered together and declared that day a kingdom holiday. The celebration continued until late in the night. The Next day came all too soon. The majority of the castle was still asleep when the Villain and his forces REALLY attacked. There was no way the castle had a chance on that day. The casualties were low as the Villain didn't want to KILL the castle, just take it over and enslave it's inhabitants. That was the morning Jocko had died. IF it wasn't for that, NOBODY would have been awake and the castle would be easily taken. At least we know Jocko died honorably. He tried to save the castle by dying for us. Still, the Villain's forces kept coming. A small group, myself and these two included, took exit through the dungeon to escape the castle. Floyd came with us too. We sent him around the land to search for any sign of hope. WE came after you," said Mask. The group was silent. "Please, let us rest," said Mag, "we have been wandering the wilderness for the last twenty-four hours with little food." "Want some bacon?" asked Shammy to the three travellers. "Bacon?" asked Daggoth * * * [THX-1138] After a long rest, the group decided to make way for Elsinore castle. It was their only hope, Joe felt. "We must continue to have hope that Elsinore has not fallen," he said. On the second day of the journey, a messenger arrived from TSX!! He was greeted with questions and camaraderie and the such, for the group was happy to know that another castle was still free. "Sire, I have a scroll to read," said the messenger. "By all means, read it!" replied Joe. "Ahem. Message from King McHan of TSX. `Noble King Joe, I beg to report to you that Elsinore castle has fallen to the invading hordes of the Villain. Ophelia's forces fought a brave battle, but in the end, it was the Villain that was victorious. TSX is the only Multi Castle left. I beg for you to make your way to this location. [Map included] Once there, I will send to you a messenger with instructions on where we will meet in person. I would much prefer that you come to the Castle, but I am afraid the Villain has his forces all around the outer perimeters. Please make haste, for there is much to be done! Yours, King Charles McHan.'" "Well, I think the choice is clear, then. We must go to this spot and wait..." said Joe. "Hmmm... this is unfamiliar ground to me, although the path is clear. Does anyone else recognize this land?" The group gathered round and examined the map. No one knew the territory. Not even Mask, who had traveled far and wide in the Realm. "Messenger, dost thou know the way?" asked THX. "Uhm... yes, but I was requested to return to TSX at once..." he said with little confidence. "But how will you make it through the Villain's forces?" asked Joe. "I am stealthy and quick on my feet... I will make it..." At that time, THX and Dr. Depraved requested a private conference with King Joe. "Our liege, may we have a word with you?" inquired Dr. D. "Of course," Joe replied. "In private," said THX. The three walked a little ways away and discussed a matter that no one else was to know. "He is most definitely a spy. I concur that we should follow through on Dr. Depraved's plan," said Joe, commandingly. "Let us continue to make him think we are going to the spot," said Dr. D. "I recommend we send a stealthy thief -- say, Mag Mag -- to keep watch on him as he returns to wherever he came from." "Agreed. But what if Magister Magus is captured?" asked THX-1138. "He is expendable," said Dr. D. "NO ONE is expendable. Not even the foul Mag," said the noble King. "He has done us well before, and he is of great use to us now." "Then let us get on with it," said THX. They returned to the messenger and told him to leave. Dr. Depraved told Magister Magus of the plan and Mag reluctantly agreed to do it. Both left, but the messenger had no idea that he was being followed, for the quiet Mag Mag knew his life was on the line. After all were gone, Joe told the others about the situation. Everyone agreed that they should make way for the spot... at a slower pace than was expected... they would wait for Mag Mag at the rendezvous point, and would decide what to do from there. "Before we set out on this long journey... anyone want some bacon?" asked Shammy. [The Flip] "I'll have some, Queen," piped Flip, who felt left out of the story. * * * [Daggoth] "Damn," said Daggoth Zedka, "whatta day, I have the goriest dream ever, then I find out Jocko is dead, which I still don't believe, I still think there is hope for him, and then I find out the Villain has overrun Hex, Elsinore, Coister, and ACP, with only TSX still standing.... God dang it!!" "Lets hope Mag can infiltrate the place behind that spy," Dr D said after sitting down with some bacon. So the group decided to all have some bacon, since Shammy is by now getting quite mad that no one wanted her bacon.... Everyone except Beelzy and Spidey sat down for breakfast, and Mask hurriedly ate up his share. But Joe didn't touch his, too worried about Castle Hex. "Hey Joe," R/C yelled. "I've got a brilliant plan on how we can get into the Hex, push out that scum Villain, and take a standing army to help Elsinore." "How??!?!" the whole group now asked their party leader since the demise of Jocko. (This may be incorrect, as he could be in a coma, gulp, hopefully.) "Simple, while Maggy is going to TSX, hopefully he can tell Mchan of the plans, then, they will be ready, anyways I know a back way into the Hex through an underground Labyrinth [(*) Disclaimer: only there's no David Bowie.] and maybe just maybe, if we penetrate Hex we can get the people against the slimy minions and just maybe push out the Villain, then we can get together people from all around, even from the coastal Hot Resort, and attack Elsinore and recover it for Queen Ophelia, by which time, King Mchan shall have recaptured ACP, and then all three armies can converge for the final blow to Cloister..." RC finished.. "Sounds Good if only it will work," replied Joe and Shammy. "We'll need lotsa luck," said MoP, Mask, Beelzy, Dr D, and Thx. "Lots and lots," exclaimed Spidey, Daggy, and Flip, through the half eaten bacon.. "Ok group, who will lead us?" asked Thx. "Simple," the group said, "R/C!!!" And Captain R/C thought to himself, "I Hope I aint leading them all to their doom." [Captain R/C] "Ok, Mag Mag, follow him. Use your stealth and don't get discovered. Meet us back at the Hex or near it at least," said Joe. "Yes, Sir, King, Sir!" said Magister Magus, just before he promptly turned around and ran towards the direction of the messenger. "Let's go get our castle back!" yelled Flip as he lead the onslaught. The Journey back home took less time than expected and they reached the outer parameters of the Castle a little before dusk. The Journey was long and tiring but had little problems and lunch was supplied by way of squirrel (Aww..) meat as there were no wild cows roaming about to make hamburgers out of, or no pigs intestine for hot dogs. The Castle was in pretty bad shape. The walls were burnt and several bricks had cracked and fallen. A hole in the north wall enabled everyone to see straight into the Parlor. The Castle Parapets were mostly cracked. Inside, it was worse. The inside smelled pretty bad, a combination of death and fire, although, in places, the smell became not as bad and even smelling as good as burnt hair in parts. The roofs were caved in in some of the rooms and subs. The Anonymous Chamber was no where to be found, buried under a mass of rock and wood. The courtyard itself was in pretty good shape. Several of the shrubs were uprooted and most of the grass was ripped up. There was no main gate and the drawbridge floated majestically through the moat. "It's totally deserted!" exclaimed Daggoth. "I wonder if the Old Man survived..." wondered Daggoth. "I wonder where Floyd is!" said Mask. "I wonder if the Villain got all our subjects!" said Shammy. "All but one..." said a timid voice coming from the general area. "Who are you?" asked Captain R/C "Sweet Child! How did you survive such a blitz?" asked Joe. "That is not the point! The Vortex will soon fall followed by TSX," yelled Sweet Child. "Are there any other survivors?" asked Shammy. "One that I know of. Gabrielle A-leen. GABRIELLE?" said Sweet Child. Out from behind one of the few shrubs emerged another survivor. "M'lord," She said. "M'lady... I am glad to see you two alive. Must have been terrible," said Joe. "Come anon... we must plan out our attack," said Captain R/C. He lead the group into his Stategist's Corner. It was also in bad shape. The round table usually placed in the center for meetings was now two semi-circular tables. Three chairs remained intact. "Oh my god... I feel faint," said R/C upon this sight. "It'll serve the purpose. Hurry, pull up a chair leg. We need an emergency meeting," said Flip. "I've never been in here before..." said @-leen. [Two messages deleted, apparently by the sub-op, Captain R/C] [Captain R/C] (THX: think before you post! I'm getting really sick of you!) So, there they were... the brave group of young adventurers plotting out the very plan that would have to save their life. Nomad, sat, listening to all minor flaws in the plan, correcting them as they went. Flip, sitting at the end of the table, ALMOST forgotten (but not quite), THX and Dr. D talking nonsense and BS as usual, Spiderman, growing wise in his later years, listens eagerly to the plan. Mask, the strong technical advisor to the King. He was coming up with some of the best, and also the most complex ideas. Mack, sitting there quietly. Master Thief looking ever so innocently around the room, slipped some celery from the table into his pocket. R/C, what a stud! Sweet Child, and A-leen, the two young hopefuls, listening bright eyed to the conversation at hand. Shammy, seated beside Joe, just cheerfully listened and inserted her comments wherever they became appropriate. Joe, mighty King Joe, seated at the head of the table, his eyes now showing the great wisdom he stored. "I still think that messenger was a farce!" announced Mask. "The Villain was able to pull that trick on us once before!" "But what if he is a REAL messenger??" asked Captain R/C. "...and just how do you suppose he found us out of the entire forrest if he wasn't spying on us and tracing our steps from day one?" asked Mask. "Well," thought R/C, "how did you find us?" "Floyd directed us!" "Here," all eyes turned to KOE Joe, "what if we were to go to Elsinore, find what has happened to Ophelia, get together what we can from Elsinore, go to ACP, same thing, THX, Hot Resort and then Cloister? All of this will be in secret of course." "Do you think we can do it?" asked Flip. "And just how are we s'posed to do it in secret?" asked Nomad. "Well, we are going to have to trust everyone we meet!" said Joe. Spiderman said, "Well, what if the Villain is waiting for us at one of the castles?" "...uh, well, I guess we'll either retreat or attack," said Joe. "I hope this works..." "Doubtful!" said a malignant voice from the shadows. "Who goes?! Prithee! Show thyself!!" commanded Joe. The fat figure stepped from the shadows. It was Nunzio, the Villain's semi-faithful assistant. "Hello, Joe." "What are you doing here?" asked Joe. "I've come to kill you!" said Nunzio. "You and who's army?" asked Flip in anger. "Me... and the VILLAIN'S ARMY!" Yelled Nunzio. The door to the Strategist's Corner flew open and in stepped the Villain with about twenty of his strongest guards. "At last, King Joe, or should I say, Peasant Joe! HAHA!" The Villain sneered, "At last, we have cornered you!!" "Vile Scum! How did you find us?" asked Joe. "Find YOU?! haha, My dear Joe, YOU found US! We knew you wouldn't fall for the fake messenger routine! WE set an ambush here KNOWING you would have no place else to go!" The Villain's face flickered in the dusk. "You'll never take me alive..." said Joe. "I'll fight to the end rather than succumb to your evil ways!" "We're with ya Joe!" yelled R/C in a fit of rage as he drew his broad sword. "I'm afraid that will make little difference, you scum-sucking bag of fleas!" said Nunzio. Evidently, it was intended as an insult. Daggoth slowly moved back into the shadows and drew a dagger. "You think you can rule the entire land?" asked Shammy. "I'm intending to!" declared the Villain. His eyes became dreamy and his concentration broke. Daggoth hurled his dagger in the direction of the Villain's head. It was dead on target. Nunzio, upon seeing this danger, jumped in front of the dagger, taking it's deadly strike away from the Villain. The Villain snapped into consciousness again, and seeing his dying comrade on the floor, the dagger protruding from his collarbone, he bent down. "Nunzio!... can you hear me?" asked The Villain. "B..Boss? Is dat you?... .... ... I'm..." "Are you going to be Ok?" The Villain was showing signs of compassion. "...I...I saved...your life... ... Dagger.. would've... killed you..." Flip drew his sword and started to lunge at the defenseless Villain. [Captain R/C] (Commercial: ) "Hi everyone! This is Mad Sam... no Sad Mam... no.. whatever! Anyway! I am talking to you direct because I have become SOO crazy, I am slashing prices! Right now, you can buy this state of the art 2300 baud modem, fully X-tronic compatible for the unbelievable low price of $410!! Why you ask? Because I'm CRAAAAZY JIM! No.. wait.. Sad somebody... whatever the case, act now! This modem features such things as: A built in plug for a phone line! Dialing capability! A really Spiffy case to hold it in and, get this folks, it can even talk to OTHER COMPUTERS! GREAT HUH! I tell, ya, I need to get one of these for the wife and kids!!" yelled the annoying salesman. "Hi! I'm Judy at X-tronic! I am one of the Operators as you can see by all my makeup and the way I talk to my computer! This head thing I'm wearing should also convince you! I am not an actor! Call now and send us a $410 dollar donation and we'll send you this free gift: The Deluxe X-tronic 2300 (only) baud modem! And if you act fast, we'll give you a gift, absolutely free! This 1987 puke green Yugo! Just call 1-800-rip-RIP-OFFF That's 1-800-RIP-OFFF!" said a fake operator. `Now back to our feature presentation...' Joe forbid his actions. "But JOE!" pleaded Flip, "now is our chance at conquering him!" "Let him be! Look at his face!" The Villain was wearing a caring face as he looked into his dying friend's eyes. "Don't leave me Nunzio! NUNZIO!" The Villain was hysterical by now. "NUNZIO!!!!" The body remained limp. Slowly, the Villain removed his cape and covered the body and stood silently for a few moments. After a while, he turned to Joe. "Joe?" he said softly. "Yes?" "I do not wish to fight anymore. Guards, release our prisoner." From outside the door, one tied and gagged Mag Mag appeared, slightly beaten. "Please, let us be friends." The Villain extended his hand as if to shake. Joe looked into the Villain's eyes and down at his hand. Slowly, Joe's hand came up and met the Villain's clammy hand and a handshake was met. The Villain's grip grew tighter and on the Villain's face appeared a sly smile. "SUCKER!" The Villain cried as he drew his sword and swung at Joe's hand, intending to cut it of. Luckily, Flip was nearby with his sword drawn and was able to block the swing inches away from Joe's sweaty hand. Joe, also drew his sword and lunged at the Villain. Upon seeing this, everyone in the room drew their blades and commenced into a fierce sword fight. The group was, by far, over powered. The battle would surely be lost and the Villain would reign! Suddenly, outside, a low roar halted the battle. Shammy whispered to herself, "Thank God! It's Floyd!" The Villain and his force developed a sudden case of dragophobia and fled. Joe tackled the Villain and attempted to apprehend him. But, the Villain wriggled his way free and ran towards the door. Daggoth, being nearby, whipped out one of his most favorite daggers, one given to him by his father, and threw it at the Villain in a great rush. The Dagger seemed true but missed the Villain's skull by inches, Slashing his cheek. From then on out, the Villain would have a permanent scar on his cheek so he could no longer trick his way anywhere he went. * * * * * Night fell and the forces of the castle rested. Soon, Joe would send messangers to each castle saying that the Villain had been defeated and also to be on the look-out of a man with a scar on his cheek. The Villain was last seen fleeing into the night. His where-abouts are not known... He may be dead, killed by nomads or wolves or he may be residing in some dark keep. Perhaps even the old Castle Hex... Who knows...? ____ __ __ ____ ____ __ __ ___ ][ ][_][ ][_ ][_ ][\][ ][ \ ][ ][ ][ ][__ ][__ ][ ][ ][_/ (..or is it?)