You are correct. Zaygos is too cool for someone like Sendar. I also surmised as much. The other two players in the group, seeing only the previous adventure, immeidiately jumped to the conclusion that Sendar was behind the whole thing. But that's not so, and we know it.
Ahem, as I was saying before the pagebreak, Nurgo and Briggs weren't really very good characters anyways, and no one was too angered by their deaths. As Vader was about to lead us out a thick steel door, Zaygos told Roccooo Dillon to wait behind. And so, seperated from the intrepid pilot, the rest of us followed Vader into our new homes...homes until we were killed in some meaningless battle for the emperor's enjoyment. Our initial conclusions about Dillon's absence were that he was either working for Zaygos, or Zaygos wanted to torture him. In any case, Vader showed us our quarters. They consisted of a small dinning area, a training room and five bedrooms, with two bunks in each. He then left, securely closing the thick door behind him. Of course, the first matter of buisiness was dividing the rooms. Thinking to recount each other old war tales, Dalamar and Kenobi decided to share a room. Shrawn and Vardos also paired up. Naturally, Lyreelia and Myreelia decided to go together. At this point, Bane grew rather worried. It appeared that he might have to share a room with Black Heart, a prospect which did not appeal to him in the least. Fortunetly, Ordrus offered to share Bane's room, and so that left Black Heart and Solo. Black Heart examined Solo closely and nodded approvingly. Solo, meanwhile, did not look nearly so pleased.
The Battles Begin
After our exhausting capture, everyone sought their beds to be fresh for the next day, and whatever came with it. And so we all emerged from our rooms the next morning and headed into the kitchen for breakfast, which is where we met Chef. He already had the food ready, which turned out to be his specialty, gruel. It was quite good, actually. Dalamar, Bane, Kenobi and Lyreelia with her sister Myreelia listened sympathetically as Solo recounted a horrible tale about a night alone with Black Heart. After breakfast, Vader came in and told Bane that he had been selected for the first battle. Bane was led into the arena, and as the emperor watched, he fought a bunch of monsters. When he easily won, Zaygos called others to fight more petty monsters. I won't go into detail here-there's not much to say. Suffice to say that Solo couldn't miss with a single attack. A couple of useful discoveries were actually made during these battles, such as a small hole in Myreelia and Lyreelia's room which allowed the rest of us to watch the fights in the arena.
Another peep-hole was discovered in Ordrus and Bane's room which allowed one to observe and listen in on a small bar where the Zelzakian soldiers sometimes gathered to talk. When listening once, we discovered that Zaygos was growing impatient with these monster battles and that soon we would have to battle one another. This news did not make anyone happy. Throughout the first day these monster battles continued. Between battles, we managed to discover that Vardos was infact hunting Solo, though we still did not know why. We also spent some time training and lifting weights. Dalamar benched 1500 lbs, but we were all shocked when Lyreelia managed to life 2000!! And so, by morning the next day, the true fights were ready to begin.
First Blood
The first fight between us passengers was announced the next morning, and was to be Black Heart against Kenobi. We all hoped that Kenobi would win, although the prospect of one of our number dying was still not very appealing, except possibly for Solo. So we all lined up in front of the little hole to watch the battle. Kenobi entered the arena carrying both his thundersabres, and Black Heart followed him with a gun in each hand. From above, Zaygos looked on with obvious pleasure, and behind him was the ever-present form of Sendar. With a negligent wave of his hand, Zaygos ordered the combatants to commence. A raging battle ensued, but in the end, Kenobi overcame the Terrorian criminal, and spilt out her life on the cold arena floor. We were all horrified by our plight, and we realised that we absolutely had to escape. It was at this point that Bane called Foof on his cell-phone. Foof replied that he was on his way to save them, and that he would begin running the thousands of miles towards the nearest town.
It was now through the hole to the Zelzakian bar that we heard captain Vader speaking to one of his soldiers about something rather interesting. It turned out that two of his soldiers had been killed byb mysterious means. Infact, they had been killed by Kharak Veros, the warchon assassin who had picked Zaygos as his target, but we didn't know that at the time. Nevertheless, time moved on, and after a nourishing meal from Chef, the next fight was held. Shrawn VS Solo. This match was one of the most heart-breaking I've ever seen in my long career of role-playing.
Shrawn used his own brutal special technique, the Power Of Darkness, to kill the expert-marksman Solo. We had all pretty much mocked Shrawn up to this point, but now we realise our error. He was brutally strong, and dreadfully cruel as well.
Solo's death depressed us all, I guess. And so to relieve these dark feelings, Bane called to check Foof's progress. Well, it turned out that he had reached the nearest large city, but that he was going to have to steal a ship to bring him to Zelzakia. And so we were stuck still. Then Vader came to tell us that the next match would be Dalamar against Vardos. I was flabbergasted!!! How was Dalamar supposed to beat Vardos??? But my denial could in no way impede the match from taking place. And so Dalamar faced off against Vardos, who threw off his trench coat to reveal Zelzakian armor and that he was carrying a hammer of justice, the traditionnal weapon of the Arsan Judges. If any of you have ever seen the movie Battle Angel, Vardos looked exactly like Ido. And so we closed in for combat. It didn't take Dalamar long to realise that Vardos far outmatched him. But, when Dalamar was on the ground waiting for the final blow, Vardos instead leaped towards Zaygos and flew straight at him, his hammer glowing with mystic energy. The evil lord was so surprised by this attack that he didn't even attempt to block the mighty blow. But even though Vardos swung with all his might, Zaygos survived the blow and swung his fist which knocked Vardos to the ground. By the time his back touched the floor, he was dead.
The Plot Thickens
Zaygos was enraged by this sudden attack, but he didn't want to kill too many of his "guests" in one day, and so he decided to let Dalamar live. Once returned with the others, we all took heart in Vardos's example. Should worse come to pass, we could always throw ourselves at Zaygos. Even so, we recognised that the chances of us defeating all the Zelzakian Soldiers and their emperor at the same time were very slim. As we discussed this, Bane and Ordrus once again heard a short discussion through the hole in their room. It turned out to be Vader talking to Sendar. Vader was saying how he knew the emperor would come to his senses soon and stop this senseless violence. This gave us hope; evidently Vader wasn't a bloodthirsty murderer. To this Sendar replied that he didn't think so. The two began slinging insults at one another, and it became apparent that they didn't like each other at all. Finally, they both left, and we were left to our own devices for a few hours until Dinner.
Our first impulse, of course, was to give Foof a ring. Foof told us that he was lost in the asteroid belt which surronds Sphere, but that he would get here as soon as possible. However, time was something we DIDN'T have. After another excellent meal from Chef, Vader announced yet another battle: Shrawn VS Myreelia. Shrawn immeidiately began bragging about what he perceived to be an easy victory. We were all hoping Myreelia would win, but Shrawn's power of darkness was impressive indeed.
As the battle began, Shrawn toyed with the princess, while shouting inappropriate comments at her. Even as Shrawn made these rude gestures, Myreelia gathered forth a UNIVERSAL GLOBE (The most powerful attack in the game)with which she blasted Shrawn. We were all amazed by this attack. But suddenly, Shrawn rose up from the crater the globe had created. He was far from dead, and seriously ticked off now. He summoned the power of darkness to do away with the powerful princess, when suddenly something went wrong...the darkness closed in on him, even as he screamed in mortal agony. Thus are those repaid for dipping into the vast reaches of darkness. Exit Shrawn.
We were all growing rather worried by this point. A sizeable number of our party had been killed, and chances did not look good for the rest of us. Out of the ten passengers who had first arrived on Zelzakia, only six remained: Lyreelia, Myreelia, Ordrus, Kenobi, Bane and Dalamar. Thus ended another day of our imprissonement. The next day, we were startled when we entered the kitchen. Chef was gone, and in his place stood Captain Vader, clad in a Chef's hat and apron. He explained to us that something was wrong, and that he knew this madness had to end soon. He told us that he thought Zaygos was being controlled by Sendar, who was the true one with a taste for blood. He explained further that he could not personally cross his emperor, even to save him from Sendar, but that perhaps we could help with that part. Just then, Sendar's voice announced over the intercom that another fight was to take place: Lyreelia VS Ordrus.
A Daring Escape
Both of these people were our comarades, and so it would seem all the more depressing when one died than when Vardos, who had always remained aloof had died. Still, there was nothing to be done at this point. Lyreelia, wearing her full suit of armor and Ordrus with his blade-hammer stood ready, and at Zaygos's signal, attacked each other. Ordrus died. (Although we still occaisonally called him Hors D'oeuvre, which in French means appetizer) Still, we were all depressed by this death, and Dalamar resolved to make Zaygos pay for what he had done. Soon it was Lunch time, and once again, Vader had replaced Chef. He explained that he had a plan to defeat Sendar.
He felt confident that he could convince Zaygos to let us all into the arena at once, under the pretense of a battle-royal type affair. This way, we could all have our weapons and attack the shadowy Sendar. Further, Vader added that he could take a dozen soldiers with him on their ship, which would only leave about ten to face us in battle. The twins said they could deal with these 10.
And so the brave plan was hatched. We all prepare ourselves as best we could and then waited tensely for Zaygos to call us into the ring. Sure enough, Sendar's voice announced that we were all to come to the arena for a final battle. And so we were all equiped and entered the arena. Sitting on his throne was Emperor Zaygos, with Sendar standing at his shoulder. On the benches at the side of the arena sat ten Zelzakian soldiers.
Vader had actually kept his promise. Finally the killing would end. As the emperor signaled us to commence, Lyreelia and Myreelia spun on the startled soldiers and performed their deadly twin attack. Meanwhile, that left Dalamar, Kenobi and Bane to deal with Zaygos and Sendar. Kenobi and Bane both used universal globes, the afore mentioned most powerful attacks in the game, while Dalamar flew up towards the emperor's platform. As I stated before, the other two players of Kenobi and Bane thought Sendar was the true danger, and both fired globes at him. Sendar teleported one, and tried to teleport the other, but the mental concentration necessary wasn't there. The globe slammed into Sendar, sending him flying into a wall with crushing force.
Final Battle
First Blood
The first fight between us passengers was announced the next morning, and was to be Black Heart against Kenobi. We all hoped that Kenobi would win, although the prospect of one of our number dying was still not very appealing, except possibly for Solo. So we all lined up in front of the little hole to watch the battle. Kenobi entered the arena carrying both his thundersabres, and Black Heart followed him with a gun in each hand. From above, Zaygos looked on with obvious pleasure, and behind him was the ever-present form of Sendar. With a negligent wave of his hand, Zaygos ordered the combatants to commence. A raging battle ensued, but in the end, Kenobi overcame the Terrorian criminal, and spilt out her life on the cold arena floor. We were all horrified by our plight, and we realised that we absolutely had to escape. It was at this point that Bane called Foof on his cell-phone. Foof replied that he was on his way to save them, and that he would begin running the thousands of miles towards the nearest town.
It was now through the hole to the Zelzakian bar that we heard captain Vader speaking to one of his soldiers about something rather interesting. It turned out that two of his soldiers had been killed byb mysterious means. Infact, they had been killed by Kharak Veros, the warchon assassin who had picked Zaygos as his target, but we didn't know that at the time. Nevertheless, time moved on, and after a nourishing meal from Chef, the next fight was held. Shrawn VS Solo. This match was one of the most heart-breaking I've ever seen in my long career of role-playing.
Shrawn used his own brutal special technique, the Power Of Darkness, to kill the expert-marksman Solo. We had all pretty much mocked Shrawn up to this point, but now we realise our error. He was brutally strong, and dreadfully cruel as well.
Solo's death depressed us all, I guess. And so to relieve these dark feelings, Bane called to check Foof's progress. Well, it turned out that he had reached the nearest large city, but that he was going to have to steal a ship to bring him to Zelzakia. And so we were stuck still. Then Vader came to tell us that the next match would be Dalamar against Vardos. I was flabbergasted!!! How was Dalamar supposed to beat Vardos??? But my denial could in no way impede the match from taking place. And so Dalamar faced off against Vardos, who threw off his trench coat to reveal Zelzakian armor and that he was carrying a hammer of justice, the traditionnal weapon of the Arsan Judges. If any of you have ever seen the movie Battle Angel, Vardos looked exactly like Ido. And so we closed in for combat. It didn't take Dalamar long to realise that Vardos far outmatched him. But, when Dalamar was on the ground waiting for the final blow, Vardos instead leaped towards Zaygos and flew straight at him, his hammer glowing with mystic energy. The evil lord was so surprised by this attack that he didn't even attempt to block the mighty blow. But even though Vardos swung with all his might, Zaygos survived the blow and swung his fist which knocked Vardos to the ground. By the time his back touched the floor, he was dead.
Our first impulse, of course, was to give Foof a ring. Foof told us that he was lost in the asteroid belt which surronds Sphere, but that he would get here as soon as possible. However, time was something we DIDN'T have. After another excellent meal from Chef, Vader announced yet another battle: Shrawn VS Myreelia. Shrawn immeidiately began bragging about what he perceived to be an easy victory. We were all hoping Myreelia would win, but Shrawn's power of darkness was impressive indeed.
As the battle began, Shrawn toyed with the princess, while shouting inappropriate comments at her. Even as Shrawn made these rude gestures, Myreelia gathered forth a UNIVERSAL GLOBE (The most powerful attack in the game)with which she blasted Shrawn. We were all amazed by this attack. But suddenly, Shrawn rose up from the crater the globe had created. He was far from dead, and seriously ticked off now. He summoned the power of darkness to do away with the powerful princess, when suddenly something went wrong...the darkness closed in on him, even as he screamed in mortal agony. Thus are those repaid for dipping into the vast reaches of darkness. Exit Shrawn.
We were all growing rather worried by this point. A sizeable number of our party had been killed, and chances did not look good for the rest of us. Out of the ten passengers who had first arrived on Zelzakia, only six remained: Lyreelia, Myreelia, Ordrus, Kenobi, Bane and Dalamar. Thus ended another day of our imprissonement. The next day, we were startled when we entered the kitchen. Chef was gone, and in his place stood Captain Vader, clad in a Chef's hat and apron. He explained to us that something was wrong, and that he knew this madness had to end soon. He told us that he thought Zaygos was being controlled by Sendar, who was the true one with a taste for blood. He explained further that he could not personally cross his emperor, even to save him from Sendar, but that perhaps we could help with that part. Just then, Sendar's voice announced over the intercom that another fight was to take place: Lyreelia VS Ordrus.
And so the brave plan was hatched. We all prepare ourselves as best we could and then waited tensely for Zaygos to call us into the ring. Sure enough, Sendar's voice announced that we were all to come to the arena for a final battle. And so we were all equiped and entered the arena. Sitting on his throne was Emperor Zaygos, with Sendar standing at his shoulder. On the benches at the side of the arena sat ten Zelzakian soldiers.
Vader had actually kept his promise. Finally the killing would end. As the emperor signaled us to commence, Lyreelia and Myreelia spun on the startled soldiers and performed their deadly twin attack. Meanwhile, that left Dalamar, Kenobi and Bane to deal with Zaygos and Sendar. Kenobi and Bane both used universal globes, the afore mentioned most powerful attacks in the game, while Dalamar flew up towards the emperor's platform. As I stated before, the other two players of Kenobi and Bane thought Sendar was the true danger, and both fired globes at him. Sendar teleported one, and tried to teleport the other, but the mental concentration necessary wasn't there. The globe slammed into Sendar, sending him flying into a wall with crushing force.
Zaygos was enraged by this sudden attack, but he didn't want to kill too many of his "guests" in one day, and so he decided to let Dalamar live. Once returned with the others, we all took heart in Vardos's example. Should worse come to pass, we could always throw ourselves at Zaygos. Even so, we recognised that the chances of us defeating all the Zelzakian Soldiers and their emperor at the same time were very slim. As we discussed this, Bane and Ordrus once again heard a short discussion through the hole in their room. It turned out to be Vader talking to Sendar. Vader was saying how he knew the emperor would come to his senses soon and stop this senseless violence. This gave us hope; evidently Vader wasn't a bloodthirsty murderer. To this Sendar replied that he didn't think so. The two began slinging insults at one another, and it became apparent that they didn't like each other at all. Finally, they both left, and we were left to our own devices for a few hours until Dinner.
Both of these people were our comarades, and so it would seem all the more depressing when one died than when Vardos, who had always remained aloof had died. Still, there was nothing to be done at this point. Lyreelia, wearing her full suit of armor and Ordrus with his blade-hammer stood ready, and at Zaygos's signal, attacked each other. Ordrus died. (Although we still occaisonally called him Hors D'oeuvre, which in French means appetizer) Still, we were all depressed by this death, and Dalamar resolved to make Zaygos pay for what he had done. Soon it was Lunch time, and once again, Vader had replaced Chef. He explained that he had a plan to defeat Sendar.
He felt confident that he could convince Zaygos to let us all into the arena at once, under the pretense of a battle-royal type affair. This way, we could all have our weapons and attack the shadowy Sendar. Further, Vader added that he could take a dozen soldiers with him on their ship, which would only leave about ten to face us in battle. The twins said they could deal with these 10.
Final Battle
"You thought that I did YOUR bidding? You are a fool, Sendar.
I only allowed your game to continue because it amused me. Now, however, it has grown dull." Zaygos laughed once more, and then fired a bolt of pure energy from his hand. The bolt slammed into the cringing Sendar, killing him instantly. Kenobi and Bane looked at each other, and then in unison, swore angrily. They had both wasted their universal globes on Sendar, and now Zaygos was still full strength. Nevertheless, we had no choice. It was time to fight. The battle began in earnest. Lyreelia and Dalamar charged forward with their weapons aloft. Bane and Kenobi did the same. Meanwhile, Myreelia began to concentrate and form a universal globe. But Zaygos was far too quick, and most of the attacks found nothing but empty air. Zaygos laughed, and did a couple nirvana strikes (very powerful Zelzakian attacks) which knocked out Lyreelia and Myreelia and sent Dalamar crawling for cover. Bane was pretty much out of mental energy, and so was Dalamar. That left Kenobi to face Zaygos alone. The odds weren't looking good. Zaygos had hardly been touched by our valient attacks.
Suddenly, Bane shouted "Psi-Globe!!" For reasons unknown, we found this hilarious. Psi Globes were the weakest mental attacks, and the thought of throwing them at the all powerful Zaygos was ludicrous. Nevertheless, Bane persevered and fired one...which slammed into his chest. After a few more such globes, the group remarked that these Psi-Globes COULD NOT miss. And so Dalamar began hurling them as well. As Bane and Dalamar lay down cover fire, Kenobi continued his assault...until he was knocked out by one of Zaygos's vicious attacks. Zaygos then turned on Bane and Dalamar, who didn't even have the power left to do a Psi-Globe. But suddenly, Roccoooo Dillon leaped through the door and grabbed Zaygos in a headlock. We took this opportunity to beat on his struggling body. It was a tough battle, but thanks to Roccooo Dillon, we were victorious in the end.
Surprisingly, Sendar was still up, and before Dalamar could reach them, he and Zaygos fled through a door at the back of the emperor's platform. Meanwhile, Lyreelia and Myreelia had finished with the soldiers, and so the heroes climbed up to the platform to follow the emperor and his flunky.
Unfortunetly, both Kenobi and Bane had expended huge amounts of energy using their universal globes against Sendar, and as such, were very weak. It couldn't be helped. Our heroes ran down dark hallways which abounded in the Zelzakian compound. Eventually, they came upon a small torture room. Strapped on a table in the center was the one, the only, Roccoooooo Dillon. It turned out that Zaygos had been using him as a chopping block. We untied Dillon, but Roccooo said he was very weak. He said we should go after Zaygos and he would catch up to us later. And so we at last reached a huge throne room. Zaygos and Sendar were waiting for us. Dalamar shouted "You're finished, Sendar!" Sendar looked terribly weak, and we looked terribly angry. In desperation, he turned to Zaygos and stared at him in blazing eyes. "Zaygos," he said in an oddly compelling voice, "these people are threatening me. Please defeat them." It was at this point that our characters, and Sendar, discovered that Zaygos was no pawn. The evil emperor laughed manically. "Why should I do what you want, Sendar?" he asked in his deep voice. Sendar cowered backwards, realising he had been horribly duped.
As Zaygos fell, suddenly a new voice spoke from the doorway. "I had made it my task to kill Zaygos, but since you people defeated him..I will have to defeat you instead." Sure enough, it was Kharak-Veros, the...ahem..intriguing..Warchon assassin. And to put it bluntly, only Roccoo had any strength left. But we couldn't give up. So Roccooo charged the Warchon, taking a few sword blows along the way, while Bane and I debated what we should do. Suddenly, a universal Globe smashed into the Warchon's back, and sent him flying into a wall. Walking in was none other than Jean Chretien, but in Spherus, he is called Foof. We were all relieved to see him, and he told us that we had better get out of the base. We asked him where his ship was, and he said that he had crashed it when landing. As we returned to the hanger room where we had first arrived, we met Vader and a dozen Zelzakians on their way back inside. When he saw us, Vader asked: "Is it over?" We nodded, and boarded our silver dust. Roccooo jumped into the pilot seat and said: "Time to take off, boys and girls.
We will be reaching Chalchak shortly. Thank you for flying Speedy Airways, and please do so again." "Not likely." Dalamar muttered.
The REAL Power Chart
If you look at the real power chart and then go back to Dalamar's, I'm sure you'll find I made a few mistakes. Hey, nobody's perfect!
Zaygos = Foof > Roccooo Dillon = Kharak Veros > Vardos > Vader > Myreelia = Sendar > Lyreelia > Shrawn = Dalamar = Bane = Kenobi = Ordrus > Black Heart > Solo = Chef > Briggs = Nurgo
The Truth
Zaygos = Foof > Roccooo Dillon = Kharak Veros > Vardos > Vader > Myreelia = Sendar > Lyreelia > Shrawn = Dalamar = Bane = Kenobi = Ordrus > Black Heart > Solo = Chef > Briggs = Nurgo
The Truth