War of the Overdoms: Tower of Shadow and Flame

[Ithilwen]

A shivering dryad stood outside the Tower gates in the rain, tapping her foot impatiently in the mud. She didn't really mind the mud, being a dryad, and she didn't mind the rain, either, but the Tower had a wonderful tendency for attracting lightning, and dryads did not like being electrocuted.

She pulled her cloak tightly around her shoulders, and muttered, "This hadst better be worth it."

"Rose!" Izzy cried in delight as stepped out of the tower, seeing her invited guest had come to her parley. "My little future villain! I'm so glad you decided to come."
In her hands, the Silver-Tongued Speaker held the bundle in a blanket she had been keeping safe. "Don't worry. This isn't a weapon or anything. Rather, it is the matter we need to discuss."


~Riella

[The Rose-Tree Dryad]

"'Little future villain'?" The dryad scoffed at the misnomer, and, still rather suspicious, proceeded to poke the bundle the Silver-Tongued minion was holding with a ten foot pole. "What is it?

[Ithilwen]

Izzy glared at The Villain-to-Be. "Don't poke it!" Carefully, she lifted the blanket off of one end, revealing the face of a very sick crow.

"It's dying," Izzy explained. "It's been poisoned. I tested it in my evil lab down in the dungeon, and it turns out that it drank coffee with a toxic substance in it called MO2. The only place it could get coffee is your castle.

"Now, I do not say these things in blame of you. I am merely warning you of possible danger. If there is MO2 in your coffee, some of your little friends and Minions may get deathly ill from it too. If I were you, I would find out what is causing it, or who is putting it there.

"You may be wondering why a Minion like me would do something so nice as to try to help you like this. Well, I'll tell you. I want to make an exchange. I gave you this information to save your lives (when I could have kept it to myself and let you all die), and in return... I was wondering if you or any of your peers could somehow save my poor crow with any of their healing balms?"


~Riella

[The Rose-Tree Dryad]

"MO2?" The dryad said, puzzled. "Forsooth, I am not familiar with that. I do know, however, that the baristo, Fritz, hath an endless supply of caffeinated sugar, and it sometimes finds its way into the coffee. I shalt have to speak with him about that. Again. Methinks it may not be safe for crows to ingest, and possibly humanoids as well, but all we good minions seem to have suffered thus far is hyperactivity."

Rose looked down at the shivering little crow. However much she opposed the Tower, the tenderhearted dryad had a fondness for all woodland creatures, and this crow was no exception.

"Very well; I will take this poor bird to the Good Queen and see if anything can be done to help it. I promise to nurse it back to health if it is in my power to do so, and return it to thee when it is well again," the dryad said solemnly as she took the bundle from the minion.

She turned and began the long trek back to the Castle, muttering something along the lines of, "I hope the Castle cats don't have a taste for bird."

[daughter of the King]

Since the doors of the Lair of the Spoiled Rotten were shut, Dot had been wandering aimlessly about the countryside when she wasn't locked in the Dungeon of Scholarly Drudgery. Not that she was always in the Dungeon. She was often allowed into the Bright Tower of Happy Students Who Get Mostly A's where the sun only sets when all homework has been completed. But that's another story.

One day during her wanderings, Dot came upon a fork in the road. To the left was a bright castle gleaming with sunlight. To the right was a tower that was one moment brooding in shadow and the next lit up with random fireballs. Obviously, she turned right. I mean, who wouldn't want to go towards a dark tower with random fireballs shooting out of it? She soon found her way to the gates of the tower and looked up expectantly. It reminded her very much of the Lair. She boldly knocked on the gates hoping to be allowed to enter.

[Bookwyrm]

"Oh, just let the Terminators know what changes you want made. They've been programmed not to hurt any of you. Perfectly safe to approach them. Though I hope none of you happen to have Connor as your last name. They get a bit ... edgy when they hear that name," the Grand High Dark Overlord revealed to his Minions.

The gates of the Tower slowly creaked open, complete with the appropriate groaning, shrieking squeak of rusted hinges. Not that the hinges actually were rusted or in any need of oiling. The sound was generated by small speakers craftily hidden in the gates themselves. Dark overlords do have appearances to keep up.

The opening of the gates revealed a a glimmering hologram of a particularly strange looking creature.



"Greetings. Welcome to the Tower of Shadow and Flame. Please be careful as you cross the moat. The Tower's DRDs just completed a rather nasty job of removing the latest set of corpses from the moat. Once you enter the Tower, be sure to fill out the membership forms quickly. The Terminators won't attempt to kill you for ten minutes after you arrival. Filling out the forms will insure your safety."

With his message delivered, the hologram vanished.

[daughter of the King]

Dot was appropriately impressed with the sound effects and holographic message. "Ten minutes to fill out paperwork (probably in red ink with seven witnesses and all that sort of thing) or I get blown to pieces. Perfect. I like knowing where I stand," Dot said to herself as she crossed the moat with the necessary amount of caution. Once safely across and inside the Tower, she quickly began to fill out the paperwork and so became one of Booky's Eternal Minions. When she was done, she looked about the Tower casually wondering who else was dwelling in this delightful abode.

[Bother Eustace]

Boe was absent-mindedly riding the Almost Endless Escalator up and down repeatedly, enjoying listening to his chosen theme Parlay over and over, when he saw Dot filling out her membership forms. "Ooh, another minion!" He exclaimed happily.

"Hello there," he said as he approached. "A perfectly wretched day, isn't it?" As if backing his statement, a bright flash of lightning streaked down outside, accompanied by a guttural roll of thunder.

[daughter of the King]

"'lo, I'm Dot, or Dotty, depending on who's talking to me," Dot said to Boe. "Do thunder and lightning always accompany appropriate statements around here?"

[Bother Eustace]

"Hello Dot. I'm Boe, or...." he tried to think of another common variation of his name, but couldn't come up with any. "Or Boe. I don't think the lightning always does that, but it certainly is fun when it does!"

[daughter of the King]

Dot nodded thoughtfully, still trying to take it all in. "So, what happens she now?" she asked.

[narnianerd]

"The Wym dies" Joe said, answering Daughter Of the King's question. I drew my Pistol and placed it against the back of Bookwrym's head "Don't feel bad, boss. This isn't anything personal, the castle pays better... And if anyone tries to stop me, the'll be the next to go"

[Ithilwen]

Izzy returned to the Tower after her parley with Rose.

Entering and hearing her theme song play, she looked in surprise to see Joe holding a gun to the Overlord's head. Izzy rolled her eyes. "Like being locked in dungeons much, Joe? As if anyone could kill the Overlord."

Chuckling, she sat down in a chair on the other side of the room. You just can't trust mercenaries.


~Riella

[daughter of the King]

Dot stared in horror at Joe's pistol. She wanted to back away, but was frozen to the spot with either surprise or terror. Izzy's carefree attitude unfroze her long enough for her to inch her way over to a vacant chair. Now that she was further away, her talking-before-thinking-tongue got the better of her fears. "I don't think a pistol counts for much in a place that employs Terminators. Besides, I'm sure the Igors can repair any damage that may occur," she said.

[narnianerd]

Joe turned his head to look at Izzy and then said "You underestimate me friend, you see. I could kill him right now if I wanted. However, I will give you an option B. I you will hand over twenty thousand dollars in Credits to me. And I will let your leader go. So whats it going to be? And Dot, as for the terminators, I have an Army of Mercenaries at my beck and call, so I wouldn't try anything"

[Bookwyrm]

"Speaking of Terminators," the Grand High Dark Overlord said, "I've just revoked your security clearance. You'd better run if you want to make it out of here before they come to show you the color of your interior squishy bits."

And with that, the Dark Overlord vanished in a puff of sulfur-smelling smoke. He reappeared deep within the heart of the Tower, where Pilot lived and controlled the retrofitted Leviathan that currently went by the moniker Tower of Shadow and Flame.

"Very nicely done with that teleport, Pilot. And the smoke effects were lovely. I'll send an Igor up to give you a relaxing shoulders massage late on today once the Terminators have mopped up the mutiny."

"Very well, sir. Now have we learned our lesson about hiring mercenaries? This is the second time they've been ... disloyal," Pilot said with mild sarcasm.

"Oh, but that's the fun of it! I do so love a good mutiny."