Insane Cafe 3: The Curse of the Haunted Hotel

[Serris]

J.T. and Rime cheered as Stripetail finished.

"So you up for a duet?" Rime asked.

J.T. shook his head as he sipped a martini. "I need some time to let my voice recover," he said.

Rime then turned to Dixie. "Care to try a duet?" he asked.

--------------------

Zachary, Clive, Anton, Paul, Jose, Kurt, Dirk and Al were playing poker in the back of the room.

Mr. Bigmouth was mopping up a puddle of seltzer that ended up on the floor after an overly enthuiastic guest accidentally spilled their cup.

"Rime's singing talent has always been a mystery to me," he said as he worked.

----------------------------

Haresh sat near Ms. Swimmer. "If you'll excuse me, I need to prepare the snacks for the party goers to eat while they watch the performances," he said, entering the kitchen.

Ms. Swimmer looked at the two torches she had stacked up by the wall and decided with such a huge crowd and a somewhat small area, a fire-dance was not a safe choice.

[Nick22]

Certainly" dixie said ' You pick a song, and hopefully you can give me the lyrics..in case it isn't a song i've sung before" She said to Rime.
 We'll do back up Agumina and Tigress chimed in..
_ Stripetail took his seat as Dixie took the stage.. " Roncore Roncore!" scooby said coming to him. " I'll need to let my voice rest. I don't sing everyday, especially such high notes as that last song..it will be a bit before I sing again ..

[Kor]

Jason and Guilmon walked into the ballroom entrance and looked around to see what the place looked like.

"Lots of folks here." Guilmon said.

"indeed." Jason said.

[Serris]

Rime pulled out his PDA and bought up the lyrics of Diem Ex Dei. "It's  Diem Ex Dei by Globus," he said. He placed the PDA on stand. I've highlighted the parts that we're each singing, the male vocalists are signing, what we're singing together and what everyone is singing," he said.

Some of the ghosts readjusted the microphone for a duet. The ghostly choir reappeared and a ghost dressed in very nice tuxedo floated alongside J.T., who was standing on the stage alongside Rime and Dixie. J.T. and his spectral companion were to sing the male section at the end.

"And now Dixie and I will perform Diem Ex Dei by Globus," Rime said into the microphone.

The crowd cheered wildly.

Rime took a sip of water and cleared his throat.

The orchestra started playing a gentle tone which was then followed by Rime singing a sustained vowel tone while slow drums and a gentle electric guitar played alongside him.

After a few more seconds of the slow drums, Rime began to sing. His airy voice matched perfectly with the song's lyrics.

Umbra Dextras, Prima Orbis
Templa Prospice, Diem Ex Dei

Fides Sponsa, Fides Per Dei
Missaes Can Ta, Mistrae Lingua

The choir then joined in as Rime began to sing the next piece. Even though the singers were long dead, their voices sounded like they did in life. Even the Pie Lady was singing.

[Umbra Dextras, Umbra Crucis
Umbra Deus, Lucius Dei

Fides Sponsa, Fides Per Dei
Missaes Can Ta, Mistrae Lingua]

-------------------------

Zachary, Clive, Anton, Paul, Jose, Kurt, Dirk and Al and Mr. Bigmouth stopped what they were doing to listen to the amazing singing.

Ms. Swimmer got out of the kitchen and sat by Cynder. "Care to try a hand at singing later?" she asked. "I would try but I can't sing at all. And more pressingly, I can't really read," she said. "Also, the fruit salad I worked on is ready."

(OOC - This is what appears on Rime's PDA.)

[Nick22]

Dixie sang her lyrics as they appeared over the PDa her natural talents coming through and highlighting the contrasts between male and female voices. Dixies singing had earned good reviews from Stripetail before but this was to be her best performance yet.
 Sure I'll help you sing" Cynder replied "I'm not as good as Dixie or some of the other singers who have performed already, but i can sing.. and I'll try some of that  Fruit Salad
 Bulk and Skull ate at thier table while Genki and Mimi watched the singing..

[Serris]

Ms. Swimmer entered the kitchen and returned with a big bowl of fruit salad. She dished some out to Cynder, Spyro, Stripetail, Briggins, Scooby, Tiger, Tigress and Augumina.

She kept the small amount at the bottom for herself.

--------------------------

Dixie's deeper, richer and distinctly feminine voice served as an amazing counterpoint to Rime's airy and andryogenous singing voice.

It was now time for Rime and Dixie to sing this part together.

Ave Vitae, Rex Promissa
Ave Vitae, Rex Veritas

There was no clapping nor cheering as everyone was mesmerized by the hypnotic singing of the duo.

[Nick22]

Dixies voice blended well with Rime as the solosended and the backups blended back in..
 Scooby helped himself to a large portion of fruit as Briggins Stripetail and the girls each helped themselves. " very tasty" briggins said " You've done a great job. try and record the recipe for some of the other cooks to emulate.'
 Not bad Tiger said after trying some of the fruit " so whats the plan for tomorrow..
 We;re invading Cobia Bay, its the closest of the towns chong and Dragonstorm control.." stripetail said taking a sip of water..

[Serris]

"Erm, I really can't write that well," Ms. Swimmer said sheepishly. She ate some of the fruit salad. She then changed the subject. "About that invasion, I really don't know how to use the ranged weapons like Mr. bigmouth, Ceela or the other do," she said.

-------------------------

J.T. and his fellow singer joined in as Rime and Dixie's part ended. To everyone's astonishment, J.T.'s voice was now very deep and rich - quite unlike the voice he used for the previous track he sang. His spectral singer's voice was equally resonant - not surprising since he was the ghost of an opera singer who had died in the hotel nearly 100 years earlier.

Ave Vitae, Rex Promissa
Ave Vitae, Rex Veritas

As they finished, the choir began the next line. The medley of ghosts provided an ethereal but hypnotic and pleasing tone to the words.

(Missae Magnus, Fides En Dei)x2

Again, the crowd was totally silent. Even the normally loud and foul-mouthed Deimos was silent.

[Nick22]

well we'll have Dixie help you with that " Briggins replied as for using ranged weapons we'll ran you through a quick training course, enough for you  to hold a weapon and fire it, at least.
_ stripetail clapped appreciatively as the song ended and Dixie joined them Scooby greeted her with a  long kiss on the lips which caught her off guard for a second. she broke the kiss ' Rou rere rarazing Rixie1 Ri've rever reard rou ring rike rhat!' Scooby said, the words rushing out of him, he had even forgotten to bring up the chat he had had with Tigress and Agumina earl;ier, it was just as well, he figured, for him to drop the matter.
 Excellent woirk Dixie, that was the best work you've done yet.
 I wasn't as good as you. Dixie protested.
 Dixie, you were outstanding, you were intune pitch was excellent and your voice was clear and strong. that is the time of singing that makes one a star.." Stripetail said.. " Now I suggest the each of us get your partners, or at least a girl or guy to dance with..
 Agumina went up to join Cynder onstage
 Biyomon danced with Gabumon as agumon was busty playing the sax, and was doing ok by this point
- Great music huh Velma..Shaggy said to her as they danced.

[Serris]

Rime and J.T. both paled. "Oh, no. I can dance for s---!" J.T. said.

Rime shuddered. "The last time I tried dancing, my partner needed like 20 stitches," he said. He then turned to Dixie. "You were wonderful!" he exclaimed.

"I have never heard anyone sing with such richness as you," J.T. said.

--------------------

Mr. Bigmouth returned to his cocktail bar and resumed making cocktails.  

"Actually, I think a magic staff or something might be better for Ms. Swimmer as she is already trained to use melee weapons and it would should take her a little while to learn to launch spells from it," he said.

[Nick22]

Dixie turned red with embaressment ' Gentlemen, you flatter me. you two were.. were. magnificent! I have never heard gentlemen hit such high notes and go it in tune and pitch..
 Very well. I have a few staffs in my room, if Briggins didn't take them downstairs earlier' Stripetail mused " It depends on what ability she wants to weild. Which would you prefer: Ice, Fire, or Shadow? shaddow makes the caster invisible to the enemy for a time and blinds those that it hits..

[Serris]

"I guess fire, I mean I already deal with it a lot in my fire dances," Ms. Swimmer said, finishing off her fruit salad.

A bellhop handed her a pale red wooden staff. It was capped by a brillant red diamond-like gem at the top. Though it looked like diamond it was actually a magically augmented gem that was nearly indestructible and can deliver a fiery blow, allowing the staff to be used as rather nasty melee weapon.

"Ms. Swimmer, shadow offers lots of tactical advantages. Sabotage is a powerful tool in warfare," Mr. Bigmouth said from the nearby cocktail bar. He then turned to Stripetail. "Does shadow offer any lethal capabilities?" he asked.

[Nick22]

yes it does, prolonged exposure seeps into the enemy and chokes them. its not a pleasant way to die either.. " stripetail replied
 Dixie is just being modest' Spyro said She really is a great singer..
Spyro! Stop! Dixie said as scooby took her out to dance and recover from her singing " ri Rove rou, ro ruch" scooby said holding her close to him.. ' i know.. Darren is getting close to finishing the dresses for the wedding, I ran into him while taking a short break from working in the kitchen.. he showed me some designs, its going to be a marvelous wedding Scooby, the kind I wil remember the rest of my life.. it will be the prooudest day oof my life
 Reven rore rhan rinning ra Roscaar, or raving rids?' Scooby said as they twirled around..
_ Thus far, I doon't expect to win an Oscar, first I'd need to have someone in Hollywood notice me, perjhaps Cousin dee could help there. as for having kids, wweell, remember we;re shooting for 2 years before trying to have them.."

[Kor]

"yes, it is good music." Velma said as she danced with Shaggy.  

--

"nice." Guilmon said nodding in time to the music.

"Indeed.  Let's look for a seat." Jason said looking around.

[Serris]

Two Cobalt soldiers entered the ballroom. They were clad in digital amoflauge ACUs but not armor. They still had their weapons with them and they flanked a massive Bison dressed in a photographer's vest and cargo pants.

"Commander Briggins, Commander Stripetail, this man is from ABC News. His camera crew are in the lobby. They are here to do a report on the war and they request permission to follow troops," the first soldier said.

[Nick22]

permission granted. have them come in..Stripetail said. However, if they broadcast there will need to be some proscriptions. They cannot reveal our exact location, obviously, nor how many troops we have, we don't need the enemy knowing our exact number of forces.."
_ but does chong watch TV? Brioggins said As Stripetail headed out of the ballroom. "Chong isn't an idiot Briggins. " "Wizard he probably has a good idea of our strength already. " but we don't need to give everything away.."
_
Will volunteers be coming to help  if we do the broadcast? Briggins asked the Bison "because we do need assistance, we've been fighting a numerically superior enemy for 3 months while being outnumbered at least 10-1. We need all the help we can get..
-

[Serris]

The soldier nodded and left the ballroom.

A few minutes later, the camera crew arrived.

The reporter turned to Briggins. "Commander, I am not allowed to use this news report as a recruitment ad but I can say with near certainity that people will enlist out of patriotism," he replied.

"Do you have anything besides propaganda to contribute to the war effort?" Deimos asked.

The reporter nodded. "All of my crew and myself are trained in battlefield trauma first aid, advanced defensive driving, basic small arms proficiency and basic armed and unarmed close quarters combat," he replied.  "And no, we will not enter combat unless in a very desperate situation."

[Nick22]

Stripetail is the one you should be going to, really, but that is good to here. if we could get our strength up to five figures we might have a shot..the enemy controls much of the region , including Neptune city and is moving to the East.all cities that are in vincity should evacuate as soon as possible, if they haven't  done so already.
 Briggins said " Stripetail bade the reporter and his crew be seated. 'We are going on the offensive in the morning " he gestured and a image of the region appeared in the air. "the areas we control are blue, which are rather limited to areas in the north. the areas in red are controlled by Dragonstorm and Chong they took Neptune City a few days ago, the city is in complete ruin. we will be moving towards the south and aiming to retake the region city by city..my current estimation is that we  are out numbered in troop strength by about 7-1, however when this war  started the difference was more like 30-1.we have suffered many losses for instance the Surf Point Volunteer defense force started with more than 1200 men, less than 100 remain alive. this does not include civilian losses which are well into the tens of thousands. Dragonstorm has used mustard gas entensively in thier operations, at a scale not seen since the first of the "World Wars". i am not sure how much of this the viewers back home already know, as we have had no contact with the outside since this war began." stripetail finished.

[Serris]

"With us live is the leader of the Seaboard Coalition, Commander Stripetail," the reporter said just before Stripetail began speaking.

A Raven filmed Striptail as he began speaking.

When the information session was over, the reporter introduced himself. "Sorry for not introducing myself earlier but I am Jan Yaltsin of ABC News," he said.

"Commader, if I may, may I serve as the liason and press officer?" Mr. Bigmouth asked. "To ensure that we do not inadverdently leak information."

Deimos apprached the crew. "I'll tolerate you as an embed just as long as you stay the hell out of my way," he said.

Jan then turned to Stripetail. "Commander, which unit shall I be embedded with?" he asked.

--------------------

Inside the lounge of the Sang-Heili barracks,  some of Chong's soldiers were watching the news.

"Chong!" a mage called. "The enemy forces are planning to push south tomorrow!"

A mechanic entered the lounge. "Commander, our aircraft and wyverns are fully armed and fueled we await your orders to attack Sunberry," she said.

[Nick22]

Certainly.. through i fear I have already disclosed our plans if the enemy was watching..' stripetail sauid " oh well, its not as If I haven't made mistakes in war before.. Mr Bigmouth will now speak with you..
-
 send reinforcements to cobia Bay.. problem is that will take several hours..'Chiong replied.. "they have much less distance to travel. Once we take sunberry then we will refocus on gaining unquestioned control of the area we now control..
 _ Mr Yaltsin  you will be embeded with Scooby's group.. Scooby is currently in the ballroom.. Stripetail said.. turning to head towards the ballroom..