Legion World Forums LEGION OUTPOST Mission Monitor Board Every 10 Years Forum FIVE FACES OF DEATH: The Path...

Deep in the forest the red eye's watch.

Hunger drives it, and its sees them all spread out along the path now is its chance, now it must strike.


The thing moves fast for somthing so big and.....

<stands before the Tower>

Now we shall be judged. All the knowledge I have from the Tower is in question, yet I know that in my heart. I know I should be here. That we *all* should be here.

If it opens, we will do what we can to heal it. If it remains shut, all is lost.

Prepare yourselves now. Now we are judged.

<suddenly feels the attacker moving towards them>

The danger--it is not over yet!

<turns...>

<as Roy turns, the Ravenous Beast leaps out of the forest and attacks, as the LMBers and their allies scramble into battle>

<unknown to them, the Tower judges them worthy, and begins to open>

Invisibility

Super-speed

Invulnerability

Astral Form

These things I have waited to use in unison...and I shall pass into the Tower myself!

At last, I never thought they would make it, let alone prove worthy to open it! But the very center of multiverse is mine now!

<flies into the Tower, unknown to any save those with an acute ability of sensing pure evil>

It shall be mine!

<enters, flies off into the vast-ness of the Tower>

Let the beast kill them all! If not, I shall be waiting for them on top...

...while my four allies raze Legion World to the ground!

<Lardy holds back as the others confront the beast>

They...they don't need me...I-I'm not supposed to help them with the beast...

<turns and faces Tower>

...I'm supposed to go in there, now, after...the Empress? No! No, it's Metternich...right!

<races into the Tower, apparently unnoticed by the others>

Something else else is not right...

AN EMERALD ENERGY NET DROPS OVER THE BEAST BEFORE IT CAN REACH SIR ROY... BUT THE NET ENVELOPS... NOTHING! THE BEAST IS GONE!

Britney, My, Jailbait, It's still here... whatever it is... form a circle facing outward, weapons at the ready, the rest of you work your way into the circle.

Keep it tight...

{Rockhopper Lad notices Lardy sneaking into the Tower and nods. He's not entirely sure what is going on, but being attuned to magic more than most of the other LMBers, he understands Lardy is somehow on to something.}

Sir Roy: My Lord?

RhL: {shakes head}: Sir Roy. What's going on?

Sir Roy: That beast has escaped us.

RhL: The beast is not our main trouble. I don't know how, what or why, but there's something going on in the Tower.

Sir Roy: If you say my Lord. And if I must lay down my life, I am proud to do so at your side.

Rockhopper Lad sighs, at a loss as to what to say.

The Beast reappears. Cloaked in black all they can see are its red eyes staring hungrily at them.

“No one who is not true to themselves shall pass” it calls; the voice is ice cold and seems to suck the very life out of the air around them. “I shall flay away all thy little conceits, and self illusions and devour them, they shall feed me and my hunger and I will consume your very souls. Only those who are absolutely totally and honestly true to themselves will survive. You are not them, I shall feed on you all” ”

“Oh yeah” says Abin “well chew on this” and a blast of green energy fires out towards The Beast…..and ….and nothing.

“AH” calls The Beast with relish, “confidence and arrogance, a delicious entrée”

The ring is suddenly completely and utterly drained leaving Abin with just his wits and fists. Which are not enough as The Beast moves faster than the eye can follow, and hits Abin a huge backhanded blow which send him flying unconscious to land in a heap beneath a tree.

“GRAMPS” shouts Everyday Girl.

My Wee Fem and Jailbait Lass rush forward weapons ready. The Beasts eye’s glow white hot and My’s Katana’s and Lolita’s blasters melt into two useless puddles. “Acceptance rejection and unrequited love” shouts the Beast before knocking the two girls unconscious and advancing on Everyday Girl


“Blam Blam Blam” but the bullets have no effect The Beast Stands over EG and raises a hand to strike. As it does so Hrun rushes forward, “Not my Daughter” he cries.

The Beast staggers backwards.

Hrun then attacks, “Aggression and inferiority” calls the Beast, regaining its strength “I feed the hunger” and it hits Hrun so hard he tumbles backwards knocking over EG and Faraway who had moved over to try to protect EG.

Turning the Beast sees Concord, “And you little man, will you look on the face of truth, will you see the real you?”

“Pah!” replies Concord, “that stupid posturing may scare weak minded individuals like that Quank fellow but you’ll find me a tougher nut to crack”

The Beast roars, “so much food here so much loneliness, isolation, a need to belong”

The Beast eyes glow red and Concord looks in them and sees, well let’s just say a mirror into his own soul. What he sees freezes him.

The Beast roars again.

“None of you are fit to pass, I shall devour you all.

Rockhopper lad stood next to The Inquisitor. They were the only ones left standing. Rocky had just seen some of the heavy hitters of the LMBP taken down with depressing ease.

With an audible gulp, Rocky stood forward and placed himself between The Beast and his fallen comrades.

“Well” he starts in a low voice “I suppose in these circumstances some noble speech would be in order, but to be honest I am a little bit too scared to think of anything, so I suppose I have to fall back on the old favourite – you will only get to my friends through me ugly”

To Rocky’s surprise The Beast does not attack immediately. It raors with frustration.

The Beast paces, then stops. So you try but I know you and your secrets. I was there when you looked in the mirror on the path to this point I know what it is you fear.

And from out of the depths of the beast came the voice of the mirror

Eudyptes of the Pyngwyn Colonies, known as Rockhopper Lad, this is who you will become if you allow yourself to be ruled by your self-doubts. Unable to serve with your Legion. Unable to acceed the throne. Unable to find love again. Unable to help your precious Adelie and Hyvvie. Follow the Path and this may not come to pass.


“No” cries Rocky covering his ears, but the moment is past and The Beast is upon him. The fight is terrible for it is once of Ice against the fire of truth and retribution.

Slowly the Beast is beaten back. “Can it be” wonders Rocky, “can it be I am winning? But why? Why me am I worthy to win here when other have fallen”

Then the Beast twisted and struck Rockhopper Lad a telling blow, Rocky too fell.


The Beast prepared to consume him.


When a stone hit the creature on the back.

Sitting cross legged on the path was The Inquisitor.

“Leave them alone vile thing” he says calmly and quietly, “look at my soul and tell me if that will feed your hunger”

The Beast does so and sees all of the Inquisitors past. Its eye flicker greedily and it nods its head.

“Then a bargain with thou I offer” says Sir Roy slowly standing. “Take me and let my friends live……

Take me and let my friends live...devour my soul if you must.

<lays down axe and sits cross legged>

I will not raise a fist against you, vile thing. At last I see...only now do I realize what change must truly come to mean. For too long have I been willing to pick up weapons and fight for what I believed in.

But a peaceful offering is all I have left to give. I have found love, I have found a home, and I have found...friends. But perhaps in death, I shall find myself.

Devour me beast if you must. For my soul has ever been poisonous to myself and others, and I see no reason for it to be otherwise to even you.

<lowers head, as if to accept death>

Lard Lad, foolish as ever, follows. My enhanced senses tell me so. He'll now learn that there is no teleporting in the Tower. You must earn every step.

<flies to the top at super-speed>

For the Tower is the very center of multiverse. All time and space bends here, all doorways lead here. To go outwards is to have one hundred trillion choices. To go inwards leaves only one. And with it--I shall conquer Legion World as my own.

Sir Roy, head still bowed, awaits the Beast to devour him. But nothing happens.

The Beast staggers, confused. It cannot attack Sir Roy if Sir Roy is not afraid. Sir Roy looks up to see the Beast turn back toward Rockhopper Lad. In the next instant, the Beast is encased in a block of solid ice.

Sir Roy: Rock--My Lord?

RhL: We did it, Sir Roy! The Beast is stopped!

The others begin to get up.

RhL (looking at the tower): But, as I said before, the main enemy is still to be defeated.

<now safely on the top level of the Tower>

Here, at the epicenter of the multiverse, can one truly control both space and time.

While my four allies destroy Legion World from within, the Tower itself will be our greatest weapon.

For even now, a million soldiers of the Dominion await my signal to march once more on Legion World to get revenge for our defeate last year. And hundreds of thousands of similar armies exist throughout the various multiple universes, eager for a place to raze. They are numbers too large for even the LMB to defeat.

But it will be I who rises supreme. Because now I shall go back to the very founding of Legion World itself...and poison the Legion there.

<looks at water-well and uses laddle to scoop out water into a bowl. It begins to glow. The Tower begins to shake...>

Ohmygod!... I'm in time! I Made It!

Metternich watches the tesseract portal open, unable, even with all of his stolen power, to affect what happens next...

I've been beating myself up for ten years over not reaching you in time...

An older version of Everyday Girl steps out of the portal, guns drawn. She is dressed in worn black armor and one side of her face is horribly scarred. A single shot shatters the water bowl.The tower stops shaking.

I'm the last one you murdering bastich... The only one your armies could never kill...

<click-click><span style="font-size: 30px;">BLAM!! BLAM!! BLAM!! BLAM!! BLAM!!</span>

Outside the tower, Hrun, Abin, and Everyday Girl whirl and stare at the tower as the sound of gunfire echoes through the valley.

Ohmygod! Those are MY guns...

INSIDE

<hit by blasts, begins falling back>

This is unforseen...<uses telepathy, scans Everyday Girl's mind>...ah, from the future...or perhaps a future--but one that benefits me!

It is too late!

<uses Durlan powers to create large blade arms, slices at Everyday Girl>

And I am far too powerful!

<super breath blows EDG out the windows>

The Tower is mine!

<pours water in bowl over self>

I can feel it! Legion World shall be ours!

Here, in the Path, we are no longer on the planet you all call home! But now the Tower shall appear in the middle of Legion World's capital city! And the connection the Tower shares with the Variable Realm shall act as the shackles that keep you all prisoner!

As armies march through time and space to conquer the planet, I now use the Tower to conquer the Variable Realm itself!

And by doing so, I now control reality on Legion World!

AT LAST! I SHALL HAVE MY VENGEANCE ON YOU! WHILE I, A COMPOSITE DURLAN, CAN HARNESS THE POWERS OF EACH AND EVERYONE OF YOU, I NOW USE THE POWER THE TOWER HAS GIVEN ME TO STRIP YOU ALL OF YOU POWERS! SO LONG AS THE TOWER IS OURS, YOU WILL ALL LOSE YOUR ABILITIES!

<dives into the well, rushing into the Water...at once outside, the Tower begins to crumble, until it nothing but dust...>

<Metternich absorbs the control over the Variable Realm...and feels the power...and bends it, using it to hinder the LMB in every form, stripping them of their special abilities, power rings, connections to forces, and making Legion World a prison which they cannot escape!>

At last--the PATH is no more! The Legionnaires are plunged back to Legion World, and the Tower stands anew--as Legion World's new capital!

CONTINUED IN The Tower!