Roll Call!
Freddy the two legged, winged dragon with jet-like engines and napalm breath, currently squashing the octopus King up into a corner
Vladen, the violent medical ghoul
Rex Brachium, the Octopus King, Currently being sat on by a dragon, and demanding sushi and calamari
Gak, the metallic murder doll from hell,
and
Kongor the Awakened Gorilla
Alrighty then, a five person mission, for now.
Magicomechanical carts for traveling convenience!
So, each of you will begin, mounted on a magical cart laden with supplies. Except Freddie, who has been trained up on pulling his cart instead.
Your carts are magico-mechanical. They have three modes (wheeled, flying, and walking/climbing), and are controlled by levers and pulleys and dials and buttons from the driver's seat. You are trained on how to move about, how to switch between the modes, how to park your cart in a variety of terrains.
The Octopus King takes to the carts with ease and style, and can switch it between flying, wheeled, and walker modes on the run. Kongor and Gak do reasonably well, but Vladen struggles a bit overall. He's passable, but you don't want him trying any complicated maneuvers, or driving the thing into battle or something. Now, Freddie is rather ignorant of carts and stuff, so he needs to be harnessed by one of you others, and directed, lest his comical lack of general knowledge end in a rather typically bad failure. Freedie needs protected from himself in regard to the carts. He can follow along, or alongside, the other carts well enough - but you'll probably want a stash of treats (stored out of sight and smell of course) so you can coax him along when his attention wanders.Or, you can leave that cart behind.
One more piece of equipment!
An officer comes striding up to the group at a pace that would suggest some urgency. A less dignified being would have been described as trotting or running. He looks around with a strange energy, like a child about to unwrap a holiday present. Or perhaps more like an engineer about to unwrap a fortress by liberal use of explosives.
"I have something that might come in useful for you. Here, He gestures at a set of boxes being carried by less dignified beings, who are only just arriving at a trot, and panting, "are some summoning devices. Eac his in the shape of the being it will summon. Now, be warned: these beings are Omega prisoners. these are beings that we do not let out on missions. Some of them are rather bloodthirsty, insane maniacs, others maybe have lost control of their magic, some are simply too foreign to interact with the world as we know it, and a few are just plain evil. Even more so than someone like yourself, Gak."
He pauses for a long moment, looking at each of you in turn, drawing your eye and holding your attention.
"Nevertheless, there may be a time, a desperate time, when you need the assistance of one of these beings. I suggest you use these summons with care, and do try not to let them eat your souls. Best, probably, if you are nowhere nearby when the beings come forth. ... for that purpose, the summoning fetishes do have a time delay setting."
With that, and with whatever other preparations, you are left to decide on where Omega will put you:
1) a relatively safe and open landing site at one of the poles, but outside. safe, but the longest trek inward
2) near the edge of Lathal, but inside, where you will probably experience some environmental trouble.
3) deep inside, in an unknown location, where you may end up scattered, wrecked, or surrounded by hostiles upon arrival, but will be significantly closer to the objective
4) other? (flying through Sky, in an alternate dimension that runs parallel to Lathal and has many crossing points, or maybe just safe at home in bed with your chew toys)