She wouldn't want to try out any teleporters with Doctor Disaster not present to fine-tune them, and not reliably able to help after being rescued; but they could always unfold one of the folding catapults on-site and fling themselves out of the area.

Nobody is ever totally out of ammunition!  There's always, you know, more boxes of ammunition that you can... find... places.

A plan is definitely starting to form in Opalyn's mind, but first, just to double check... it's bad, if they don't get the Doctor back, right? Like, things get even more chaotic, Sparky machinery breaks down and can't be repaired, some worse Spark swoops in and captures this territory? Are Opalyn's models correct here?

Yes, obviously if they don't get Doctor Disaster back at some point, some other Spark will march in with an army and take over the city of Little Damar.

Though it's not that unlikely that, even if they do nothing, Doctor Disaster will charm one of Professor Predicament's lieutenants with his sheer earnest good-naturedness and show up back at the Castle of Disaster with a new lieutenant in tow.

Indeed.  That has happened before.

Twice.

But not to the point where he'd want to rely on it.

It is her own personal opinion that this outcome has its own disadvantages and should be avoided if at all possible.

Opalyn is more and more confused about whether this is an emergency and what bad outcome they're trying to fend off!

"What's the 20/50/80 on number of hours before irrecoverable catastrophe?"

Opalyn does not expect them to understand this question but wants to see what happens if she doesn't explain it at first. She's also curious what they'll fill in for 'catastrophe.'

"I've never seen him charm a lieutenant in less than two days or more than a week, if that's what you mean?"

"I think she's asking how long before another Spark marches in, or they finish playing with Doctor Disaster and do something permanent to him."

"Yeah. That, more or less. By 20/50/80 I meant, how long until there's a 20% chance of some kind of takeover, how long until 50%, and how long until 80%. But if that feels complicated then just give me one best guess."

"Sounds like Spark-talk to me, honestly.  I don't see how anyone would get that kind of knowledge unless they brought it back from the madness place or built some sort of inscrutable machine --"

"Five days, twenty-three days, seventy-one days."

Opalyn is surprised that Dame Fleur is here! She was not on the original invitation list for this hastily assembled meeting! Though it's actually kind of good she came, if she's going to be making costumes!

Anyway! Opalyn doesn't totally trust crazy-guy's estimates!

"Does that sound right to everyone else? Like it's equally likely that we'd have some kind of invasion sooner than 23 days vs. later than 23 days?"

"It... doesn't sound wrong."

(His estimates are UNBIASED because he ATE HIS OWN BIASES.)

All right! Here's the plan!

They don't need to rush right out in the next hour to try to rescue the Doctor. They have a little time to figure things out. Also, if they wait a day or so, he might just wander back on his own! For that reason, Opalyn intends to mount the counter-invasion the day after tomorrow. Are there any objections to this timeline, before she starts getting into details?

It's acceptable.  She'll go on providing her Supremacy with clothing.

So long as her plan works, anyway.

Great! In that case, they'll use the time to prepare.

Zoltan: Determine how many people to bring if it's meant to be a stealth operation and make a shortlist of people who would be good on the team. Consult with the two military chiefs to see if they have any good people for this. Also make an even shorter list of who should lead the expedition.

Dame Fleur: Make some outfits in the appropriate Predicament colors.

Male chief of security: Obtain the passwords. Good luck and godspeed.

Somebody find Map Guy and see if they have maps to Professor Predicament's Special Spark Storage, and if they don't, maybe they can draw some up from individual knowledge of people who have ever been to Predicament's castle, or using Male chief's tickle-victims.

Female chief: Develop three additional non-catapult-based methods of retreat that are less likely to squish the retreating team. With two days to plan, it's better to come up with more options and then pick the best one, rather than just going with the catapult thing.

Crazy guy: Find some ammo. And the weapons that fit with the ammo. Consult with Zoltan and the chiefs to make sure you've got enough of all of it.

Any questions?

NOPE.

He'll try to do it first, and then see if he has questions.

He'll get those passwords one way or another, and everyone will be happy.

Some people will be very, very happy.

People wouldn't use catapults if they just squished their users!  She's traveled by catapults plenty of time and not been squished once!  At most, like, one-quarter of a time!  If they can't retreat by catapult and don't want to rely on teleport, she doesn't actually have a better idea.

Huh! Opalyn did not expect catapults not to squish their passengers! Can she maybe see a demo and maybe try it herself because that sounds rad