Overlord's Orders II

[Redwall Musician]

"I don't know what was going on while I was gone. ToR or Tammo must have done something. Nobody suspected anything before we left," Musician added.

[DanielofRedwall]

Daniel shrugged. "I'm not sure how we blew our cover, maybe they saw our faces from the TV before and knew us from there. I doubt that, though, I made sure everyone wore a mask so nobody would know we were the people from the TV. I believe it must of been something Tammo or ToR did at the hotel while we were dog sledding that blew it, as Musician said. They must have shot at us as they knew ToR had blown it.
Why I knocked the camera from ToR's hands, well, that is simple. The camera was on fire, it was crawling up closer to ToR's hand, and if he kept holding it, it would have permanently burnt his hand. As in, serious, for life, the fire was really hot. It was white in colour, the hottest possible, so I was protecting him. He didn't notice that, as it was white and almost blending in with the smoke, but I noticed it. I have good eyesight, and I felt the heat from it. Also, thank you for the holiday, and I'm sorry I failed you once again, oh lord, but I was protecting my fellow servant of you, as he needed to be in 'good condition' to serve you, master."

[Taggerung_of_Redwall]

"Why the hotel guests were shooting at us, it was because Musician had previously taken a photo of them, and they seemed mad at it, and wanted to get revenge. Me, Daniel and Tammo all got out safe, though we saw the five shooters take off in a helicopter afterwards, taking several millions of photos of the hotel and the surrounding area."

[Matthias720]

Matthias720 then spoke up, "Sir, this all sounds bad, but it was nothing compared to what happened when we got back to the hotel. As soon as we got back, we quickly noticed that the ninja police from the last mission were crawling over the whole building. We had to sneak in through the back to avoid detection. Daniel took the film to be developed, because he insisted he knew how. Meanwhile, the rest of us packed up our gear in preparation to leave. Then Daniel came back with the, surprisingly well developed, photos. At that point we were ready to go, we only had to leave without being detected by the ninja police. That's  as far as I know, because the next thing I know, we're on a plane headed home. Somehow I was knocked out by luggage falling on my head, or at least that's what I was told."

[Redwall Musician]

"I accidentally took a photo of them. But they wouldn't have seen it if Matthias hadn't been waving it around in the lobby," Musician said, "And ToR is the one who made a copy of the picture. I was going to delete it."

[Taggerung_of_Redwall]

"I made a copy of it as I made a copy of everything on that camera. I feared ninjas might cause us problems, so I made backups of everything I could, so as you'd have your photos for certain, sire. All were destroyed in the end. And I think the luggage that knocked out Matthias720 was a shapeshifting lion in the service of death-defying beavers."

[James Gryphon]

"Interesting story. It seems to have as many holes as a block of Swiss cheese, but that's not the point.

The point is that, regardless of how you managed it, you failed me. Again.

I think the time has come for some more motivation. You won't need a spotlight to see this one."

The hum in the background increased, until it drowned out everything else in the room. Suddenly, one of the capsules -- the one Captain Tammo was standing in -- began to glow. Right before the other servants' eyes, he disappeared, right into thin air.

The room fell dark again.

"He had various opportunities to help salvage this situation, and as far as I can tell did nothing. I trust that his fate will serve the purpose of inspiring the rest of you to better things.

Now then. My plan to end the beavers' influence on my territory, which was completed shortly after your return from Sweden, is complete, and I want a memento to go on my trophy case. Go to a store and buy a plush beaver toy, and bring it back here to me. I don't care whether it is life-like or not; it will still suit my purposes.

My patience with you is waning. If you fail again, the consequences will be even more dire than they were for your companion."

---

Some time later, four submarines docked with the base. This time, entering the central room, the servants were surprised to see that it was well-lit. A single elaborate control panel was in the center of the room, below the viewing portal. Nothing else was in evidence except for the gray floor. The Overlord was nowhere in sight.

The room abruptly went dark, and a moment later, the Overlord's voice came out of the black.

"I got a receipt for ten thousand dollars expenditure, plus tax, and got nothing back in return. That would be bad enough by itself, and that alone would have required this meeting.

However, that isn't all. According to all the news reports, the new "infamous terrorist group" that is responsible for several attacks around the world recently incited a riot inside a popular mall that led to the destruction of a million dollars' worth of property.

Your shared fate is looking bleak, but if someone can adequately explain this failure, I might consider sparing some of you."

[Matthias720]

"Well sir, let me start off by saying that this was not entirely our fault. The death-defying beavers were partially to blame for this fiasco, but more on that later. It all started very simply; we decided that the Mall of America was our best chance at finding the toy you requested. After going through several stores we happened across the perfect plush beaver. We purchased it without delay for a mere $17.50."

"It would have been over at that point, except that Musician mentioned that she was hungry, so we stopped to get some soft pretzels before leaving. As we ate, I noticed that something was wrong with the food court we were in. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but I knew that somehow, there was a death-defying beaver watching us. I made an excuse to leave the group, and went off to find it. The beaver took me on a merry chase through the mall. Long story short, I wound up going around the entire mall, so that when I got back, there was a scene of complete chaos in the food court. ToR was fighting ninja police with a pair of katana, Musician was busy throwing soft pretzels at half a dozen beavers, and Daniel was trying to play keepaway with the plush beaver against three albino gorillas."

"At that point, I rounded everyone up and we made a hasty exit. Somehow the toy got last in the fray. I apologize for any incompetence on my part, m'lord."

[Taggerung_of_Redwall]

"I was not eating when the beavers, ninja police and gorillas showed up, I was staying on guard. When Matthias arrived, I soon lost track of the toy's location, though I distinctly remember it being blown up by a laser gun as we exited. I believe it was fired by Musician for some reason or other."

[Redwall Musician]

"I got shot at by the beavers I was throwing pretzels at," Musician started, "Let me tell you what happened after Matthias left.
"I was hurrying to eat my pretzel. Daniel said I looked like a pig eating it. So I told him eating was serious business. He then reached over to grab his drink, and knocked it all over the table. I fell onto my blue jeans, and I sat up, soaked in soda. ToR started laughing at me. I used napkins to dry myself off. Daniel and ToR thought it was funny, so they kept laughing. I got annoyed at them, and went off to the bathroom to dry myself off.
"When I returned ToR and Daniel were playing Angry Birds, and they didn't noticed that there loud yelling at the game was bothering the other costumers. One lady told them to be quiet, and ToR started arguing with her for some reason. Before I knew it all the people at the restaurant were fighting with Daniel and ToR. So the authorities were called on them.
"I stood there, and the beavers took the chance to gang up on me. That's why we were fighting when Matthias came back," Musician ended.

[James Gryphon]

"...interesting, to say the least.

There's a lot I could say right now, but first, none of you have finished explaining what happened. If you bought the beaver, fine, but where did you spend the additional nine thousand, nine hundred and eighty-two dollars and fifty cents that are on this copy of your receipt that I have? I checked my secret bank accounts and it was withdrawn, so what did you allow to happen to it?"

[Taggerung_of_Redwall]

"Musician did it, to buy some weapons and transportation that we needed to fight off the beavers and return to you, lord. She can explain her thinking, assuming she did any of that."

[Captain Tammo]

Ooc: hey guys I'm really sorry I took so long to say something. I never got any notifications in my email and I haven't been on in a while.

Ic (in character): captain Tammo, as all knew, was completely crazy (though sometimes he seemed normal). Nobody knew what gave him this condition however. He put on a serious face and spoke: "as we were being attacked, I decided to prepare our escape hot air balloon. Unfortunately, as I was blowing it up with the fan and torch, monkeys from "ABUBU temple" came out and ambushed me, I took down as many as possible, calling on my walkie-talkie to the others for assistance. They were too slow and I was overrun. I did manage to save the hot air balloon though... Well, part of it anyway..." he held out a scrap piece of balloon fabric.

[James Gryphon]

OOC: Well, buddy, I'm sorry... but I killed you off between yesterday and today.

This one is going unusually fast, though; there's only four people left and we're getting close to the finish, so I suspect you won't have to wait long for a new round.

[DanielofRedwall]

"First of all, it was true I had the plush beaver in my hands when exiting, but as ToR said, Musician shot at it for some reason or another. She also spent all the money on the weapons. They were toy weapons, like plastic swords and water pistols, but lots of them. She must have gotten a bit muddled. And, while I was playing Angry Birds and the shouts were going on at us, I had my earphones in, so I didn't hear them. ToR was looking over my shoulder. I needed to go to the toilet, so I passed my iPod to ToR. When I got back, he was in an argument with someone. I tried calming him down and telling him about the Beavers on the way, but he didn't listen. We got told off by the authorities, thanks to ToR's yelling, and then the beavers struck.
Also, this time I'm sure it was our faces that gave away who we were and lead the people to believe we were a terrorist group. I told Matthias to get the masks, as they were in his bedroom, but he obviously forgot them.
Come to think of it, that must be why everyone in the shopping centre his behind things when we walked past. Even the person at the counter when we got the beaver was shaking uncontrollably."