[ We find two of Our Heros going shopping. Yay, shopping! The dwarven captain is accompanying them on their trip, to help them find the hottest deals in town! It's time to save, save, save! ] [ Session Start. ] ( You know, if you save too many times, the game resets. ) [ The city isn't quite so teeming with people, now. Perhaps it was rush hour when you arrived. This allows you to better admire the architecture around you. In fact, even the cobbles on the street are exceptionally well done. ] (Dude.) ( Wanna try to reset CW, Ard? :P ) ( ...was there a game that actually did that? ) ( Probably. ) Excellent stonework. I can see why the Kaiu are willing to work with your people. * Alcinoe looks at Kenji curiously. "Kaiu?" [ "Aye, lad," says the captain. "Dwarven stonework is the finest around. Only the gnomes come close." ] One of the great families of the Crab. They built the wall that keeps the Shadowlands from invading Rokugan wholesale. * Alcinoe nods, thinking. If we're gonna go ta Rokugan, Ah guess Ah should try ta learn the language. Six hundred miles, from end to end, and built from the ground up in forty days. * Alcinoe whistles. ( *snicker* ND, remember that Rokugan is now in a canyon. And that the Shadowlands are at one end of that canyon. ^^ ) ( The canyon is prolly not 600 miles wide. ^^ ) ( SHH. ) Musta taken a lotta people. The entire clan. * Alcinoe nods. "Ah gotta get used ta how big these clans are, too." [ The dwarven captain seems impressed. "Quite an impressive feat, fer humans." ] * HKenji laughs. "I wish I could show you Kyuden Hida, Captain. Especially the head of the Maw hanging over the gates." [ "The Maw?" ] An oni lord. He led the army that caused the building of the Kaiu Wall. In the end, the Crab destroyed his army, took his head, and hung it over the gates of Kyuden Hida. The head is... * HKenji pauses for a moment, translating units. ...twenty feet across? Is that quite a long distance? * Alcinoe blinks. "Kinda like four 'a you." [ The captain laughs. "That's a head tae rival the greatest dragons. Must be quite a sight, hangin' over some gates." ] Yes. You remember the dragon, the red one that captured Seylin, Alcinoe? About that size. * Alcinoe shakes her head. "Ah was paralyzed." * HKenji frowns. Well, no matter. He fell, and so did Akuma after him. * Alcinoe smiles a little. "How 'bout the dragon that fell on my head?" A little larger than that. * Alcinoe nods. [ "A dragon fell on yer head? That must be the end o' quite a story." ] Uh... Ah kinda fergot that it'd fall over once Ah killed it. Yes, it was flying at the time, you see. [ "Ah. Easy mistake tae make in th' heat o' battle, sure enough." ] * Alcinoe snickers. "Well, Ah woulda tried it anyway. Ah was a little more concerned about it dyin' than me livin'." [ "So, how'd ye get out from under the great thing?" ] Tia an' Istvan pulled me out, Ah think. * Alcinoe looks to Kenji for confirmation. * HKenji nods. Tia is quite strong enough. Smelled bad, though. The stench of rotting corpses. [ The dwarf nods, and then stops outside a shop set into the base of one of the city's towers. "This is a good place. Rugdar'll have what ye need, sure enough." ] * Alcinoe smiles at the dwarf. "Thanks." Thank you for your service, good sir. [ The dwarf leads in, and speaks to a robed dwarf at the counter of the store. All around you are magic trinkets of all sorts, and on one wall is a shelf of books. ] * Alcinoe idly looks around. She's good and doesn't touch anything. * HKenji quickly scans the titles of the books. [ The books all have odd names like "Of Reason and Intellect" and "The Manual of Gainful Exercise." ] [ There are spectacles, earrings, headbands, necklaces of all sorts, bracers with intricate patterns and runes on them, a few sets of boots, you name it. ] Max'd love it here. Probably ask 'em a lotta questions. * Alcinoe looks over at Kenji. Yes. Exactly the sort of thing we don't want. * Alcinoe chuckles. "It worries ya?" Max worries me. That's why I took the headband off. * Alcinoe blinks. What's that gotta do with wearin' the headband? I can't be certain, but I believe that Max made five headbands in the link. * Alcinoe furrows her brow. "Ya only asked fer four." Did he say he'd only do four? Yes. After I specificially told him I wanted four, no more and no less. * Alcinoe nods slowly. "An' he... that makes sense." She looks a bit upset. I can't be certain. Yet. Ah can just ask 'im. * HKenji reaches over among the spectacles and pulls out a long black cloth with odd embroidery on one side, almost like a stylized pair of eyes. There's one thing. * HKenji frowns. [ The dwarf speaks in dwarven to the store owner, and recieves a response. "Aye, thas' a blindfold o dragon senses. Gives ye sight beyond sight, it does." ] * Alcinoe nods at what he says, then looks to Kenji, who's holding the cloth. I have one much like it. Very useful. You'll be needing it. Ah hope Ah don't need ta tie it over my eyes. That'll look pretty silly. You do. * Alcinoe laughs. The senses it provides are unnatural, and somewhat disorienting at first, but during the times you'll need it, you won't have to worry about being seen. All right, but if Ah could be seen, Ah'd still look pretty silly. * HKenji smiles. "Some things are more important than looking good." * Alcinoe brushes her hair back. "Ah like lookin' good." She grins. "Think it's a sin?" * HKenji turns away. "No, not at all." * HKenji turns to a series of pegs holding cloaks. * Alcinoe blinks. "Ya okay?" Quite. * Alcinoe watches Kenji go to the cloaks and frowns. "If ya say so. Was gonna say that lookin' like Anastasia's still kinda weird, now that Ah know about it." It's a good look. Very striking. Was born with it. Ah'd guess she was, too. Don't miss the pale skin, though. No comment. * HKenji reaches into his right sleeve and pulls out a small monacle and earpiece, and quickly dons them. * Alcinoe opens her mouth, then she gives up and tries to look interested in various trinkets. IF you don't read dwarven, the trinkets Max made will help. Let me know if you find anything interesting. * HKenji looks down and starts reading the labels. Ah'm bad at readin' *Common*, Kenji. * Alcinoe pulls out the earglasses, though, and puts them on. * HKenji smiles. "I'm bad at reading dwarven. The spirits of the air don't care." All information is one, as far as they are concerned. Or so I am told. You'd know better than me. * HKenji laughs softly. Me? Know spirits better than you? I have certainly never talked directly to a Kami, or even a Fortune. * Alcinoe looks over at Kenji, confused. She might have said the blindfold would look silly on her, but the monocle's pretty up there on the silly meter, too. Kami's a god, right? It ain't too hard ta get one ta hear what ya have ta say. Much harder to get an answer. At least, a direct answer. * Alcinoe snerks. "Direct answers. Ah think Ah only got that once, and Ah wasn't even askin' fer it." [ Kenji finds, amongst the cloaks, one labeled 'To resist assorted effects'. ] * HKenji frowns at the colors, but pulls it gently from the peg anyway. [ Alci sees a large crossbow made of purple wood and strung with what looks like hair. ] [ The cloak Kenji selects is garish. But it's also been marked down in price several times. Probably because nobody wants to wear it. ] * Alcinoe blinks at it a few times, then points it out to the captain and clerk, asking, "What's that?" ( "It adds +5 to your saving throws." "To my what?" ) (She's asking about the bow.) * HKenji folds the cloak carefully over his arm, drapes the blindfold over it, and goes on to look at a collection of sashes and belts. [ "Crossbow. Called 'The Pacifier.' Not sure where it came from, an' nobody's come along that can pull it yet." ] Sounds like a job for Tia. * Alcinoe nods. "Ah jus' wonder what it does." [ "We're not sure, but it could prolly put a dent in a castle wall, from all we know." ] ( "It's for baby purple worms to suck on. Keeps 'em quiet, ya know?" ) * Alcinoe nods again. She goes about looking at whatever else is lying around. [ Kenji finds a yellow belt with many pockets (labeled 'Utility Belt'), a black sash with blue tips (labeled 'Black Belt'), and a belt that seems to be made of smooth, thick, blue-white hair, labeled 'Belt of Storm Giant Strength'. ] (Kenji goes back, gets a cape and cowl, and becomes Batman! XD) ( *snerk* ) ( I can see it; he'd take 'I am vengeance, I am the night, I am Batman!' and turn it into a haiku. ) (I just hope he doesn't try to dress Max up in green tights and a red shirt. >_>) * HKenji reaches out and slowly strokes the odd blue-white belt. "Interesting." (Vengeance shall be found / In the darkest hour of night / For I am Batman) ( Ard wins. ) * Alcinoe gets distracted from looking at a crystal with pretty colors, but she has no idea what it does. "What?" (Woot!) [ Alci also sees what looks like a crystal ball with ping currents of electricity emanating from the center and running up against the exterior of the ball. A sign next to it says . ] (Ooh, can she play with it?) ( Yes! ) (Cool!) ( The sign continues: "We're not sure what this does. Some guy with frizzy white hair mumbling about 'Adam Bomz' bartered it for a Gate scroll." ) * HKenji slides the belt carefully of its peg, then crouches and swiftly snags a pair of slippers off the ground beneath it. * HKenji straightens back up. "Having fun, Alcinoe? Ah don't know what Ah'm s'posed ta be lookin' at, but Ah found something that'd keep Tia busy fer hours if it was for sale. Impressive. What is it? * Alcinoe waves for Kenji to look at the ball thing. She puts a finger on it. * HKenji watches the ball warily. (THE BALL ATTACKS KENJI.) [ All the pink electricity goes to Alci's fingertip. It feels slightly warm, to her. ] * Alcinoe smiles a little. She swirls her finger along the edge of the ball, and the electricity follows it. Then she puts down another finger - her middle finger, this time, and the electricity splits into two lines. [ Neato! ] (It is!) You're right. It probably -would- captivate Tia. * Alcinoe walks the two fingers along the end of the ball, light going to one fingertip, then the other. "Yup. Maybe fer days, not hours." * HKenji steps back over and grabs a wonderful deep green, almost black cloak he'd been eyeing for a bit, then steps over to the shopkeeper. * Alcinoe removes her hand fron the crystal and watches Kenji. * HKenji carefully lays out the items on the counter, then watches the shopkeep carefully, one eyebrow cocked. [ The shopkeeper nods, and says "Ye knoo what ye'r lookin' for. I like that in a customer. That'll be," and then he names a very large sum of money. ] * HKenji nods slightly, then reaches into his right sleeve and withdraws a crystal rod with a ball of flame burning brightly on one end. "I wonder, sir, what you think of this." [ The shopkeeper holds out his hand for the rod. ] * HKenji turns it slightly so the flame is toward himself and offers the grip. [ The shopkeeper takes it, tests it's heft, and then pulls from his belt a rod with a stylized eye at the tip. He mutters something under his breath, and a moment later his eyebrows go up. "Impressive. This'll lighten yer price by quite a bit." ] I thought so. Your reaction was roughly parallel to our own examiner's reaction. * Alcinoe walks over and asks, curiously, "What is it?" It's the mace I sent with you for your little... quest. (Unless it's the mace of FIERY DEATH. Oh. ;P) * Alcinoe blinks, then nods. "It's a good weapon," she tells the dwarf. ( It's the mace of FIERY DEATH. ) * HKenji reaches into his sleeves and begins pulling out small bags, two at a time, and setting them gently beside the mace. * HKenji stops when he gets to ten bags. [ The dwarf raises a single eyebrow, this time. ] Emeralds. Ten per bag. Each one roughly as large as my thumb. [ The dwarf hefts the bags. "This'll do." ] * HKenji lifts the green cloak off the counter and motions to Alcinoe. "Come here." * Alcinoe tilts her head, then takes a few steps so she's standing right by him. * HKenji reaches out and swirls the cloak around Alci's neck, fastening it on two little clasps on her armor that must have been put there specifically for that purpose. * WorkDebugger is now known as HKenji * Alcinoe looks down at that, then at the cloak behind her. Beautiful. It is pretty. Gonna take some gettin' used to. I'm sure you'll adjust quite well. * HKenji grabs the blindfold, reaches up and quickly ties it around her forehead as a headband for the moment. * Alcinoe laughs. "Now Ah got five eyes." The more eyes you have, the less likely you are to be taken by surprise. No point in dying just yet. * HKenji quickly slips his own parcels into his left sleeve and heads for the door. Just as long as you don't. We're in this together, right? * Alcinoe clanks after Kenji. Yes, we're in this one together. * HKenji looks back at the castle where the others are likely still kibitzing over silly details, then turns away and starts walking, slowly. * Alcinoe glances at the castle, too, and walks alongside Kenji. "You all right?" she asks again. For certain values of "all right." * Alcinoe nods. "Wanna talk about the ones that don't work?" Mm. I wish I felt better about the chances of them actually obeying orders. * Alcinoe frowns. "What'd they do instead?" They can't leave the pick there. They could come back for us. * Alcinoe shakes her head. "We can just come up with a way ta get outta there right away. Comin' back fer us is pointless." I know I can get out. I won't leave you behind. * Alcinoe smiles a little. "Ah know. It ain't in yer nature." * HKenji smiles a little. "Yes, well... foolishness is in THEIR nature." * Alcinoe snickers. It's somethin' a lotta us have in common. I don't even know if they have what it takes to get the onyx in the first place. Bah. Enough time to worry about them later. * Alcinoe chuckles. Ah think they can do it. We'll just have ta make a lotta noise. That won't be hard. Your armor alone can wake the dead. Yeah, jus' think about mah old set. I'd rather not. This set is much easier on the eyes, at least. * Alcinoe sticks her tongue out at Kenji. Ah liked it. It was good armor. I'm no judge of armor. I shall have to take your word for it. I'm still not sure how you can stand to be covered in that... skin constantly. * Alcinoe smiles weakly. "Ah'm actually still gettin' used ta it." A lot of adjustment to be doing at once. I'm sorry. It's all right. Ain't such a big deal, in the end. * Alcinoe takes a breath and sighs. "Mind if Ah ask ya somethin'?" Of course not. What are ya tryin' ta do with Anastasia, again? Ya don't love her. * HKenji doesn't look like he's going to dispute that at all. "I'm trying... to make friends with her. Maybe more. If she falls in love with me, maybe I could fall in love with her. That would be lucky. Really, though, I'll be happy to settle for an average marriage. Better by far than a bitter one." * Alcinoe tilts her head. People don't just fall in love 'cause someone else fell in love with them. No. But I can try. * Alcinoe shakes her head. "Didja tell Anastasia this?" No. Ah think ya should. She doesn't trust ya as is. She doesn't? Not really. Ah think she thinks yer tryin' ta get at her somehow. ...well, technically, I am. * Alcinoe nods. "Technically, ya are, but Ah think she meant in a different way." Ya know, how people can be nice while plannin' somethin' awful at the same time. ...of course. Nice like a Crane. ( Or a Scorpion. ) * Alcinoe looks vaguely puzzled. "If ya say so? Crane's like the court or somethin', right?" She'd be used ta that. Yes. The Scorpion, you know that there's always something in it for them. But with the Crane... it is always difficult to tell. * Alcinoe nods. That's why Ah think ya should just tell 'er. What yer doin' isn't... bad or anythin'. Maybe not flatterin', but bein' honest is the most flatterin' thing ya could do. Very well. It means ya care enough about her ta let her in on what yer doin'. And Ah think she might believe it. I certainly hope so. * Alcinoe smiles. "Well, it's the truth, so Ah hope so, too." Sometimes the truth isn't enough. After all... I have never tried anything like this with one of you insane gaijin women. * HKenji grins widely. * Alcinoe laughs. "Maybe you're the insane one." That is simply not possible. Name one insane thing I have ever done. ( ...oh! oh! Let me! ) You wouldn't like it, Kenji. * HKenji frowns. "Probably not. But you'd say it anyway, wouldn't you?" If ya really wanna know. There were a couple 'a things. Do your worst, fair maiden. * Alcinoe nods, losing the smile. She looks over at Kenji. "How 'bout ya wantin' ta push up the marriage an' give her the altar as a weddin' present?" * HKenji laughs. "A foolish bluff. Too bad she called it." It was foolish, wasn't it? What if she didn't? If she didn't, I lost nothing, and got one up on her. Which put me even further behind, though I didn't realise it at the time. * Alcinoe nods. "How 'bout ya goin' out with Tia?" And then she looks slightly puzzled. "Why *did* ya date Tia, anyway?" She looked more mature than she was. Acted more mature, for some time. I didn't have the heart to tell her she wasn't ready. I don't think she really understood what was going on in the first place. But even if she was, ya shouldn'ta done that. Perhaps. * Alcinoe shakes her head. "No perhaps about it. If ya pulled that stunt on me, knowin' what was gonna happen, Ah..." She chuckles. "Well, it wouldn'ta been pretty." Knowing what was going to happen? * Alcinoe nods. "Ya did, right?" Knew ya'd probably have some sorta arranged marriage. Eventually. I'd no idea they were intending to marry me to a gaijin. Or so soon. But she didn't know it was gonna have ta be overridden. She was supposed to. Why? Didja tell her? I trusted Seylin to tell her. In retrospect, that was a big mistake. ... Why didn't she? I don't know. You'd have to ask her. Or better, don't. She's beaten herself up quite enough over it. * Alcinoe sighs. "Kenji, ya still shoulda told Tia in the beginnin'." * RobinGone is now known as Robin There is no sight so clear as hindsight. Maybe not, but it was still a bad idea. But insane? * Alcinoe waves her hand with a small grin. "Okay, not totally crazy. Ah can see where ya were comin' from. Was stupid, and it made me pretty angry, but yeah." Are you still angry with me, then? * Alcinoe shakes her head. "Nah." Ah don't hold grudges forever. * Alcinoe pauses, then adds, "Well, most of 'em." Good. If there are two people in this world I don't want angry at me, it's you and Patrick. Ah'd be more worried 'bout Patrick. I'm not. You're harder to kill. What, yer gonna kill me now? * HKenji looks away and says softly, "I'm not sure I could." * Alcinoe blinks. "Ah'm sorry?" Don't be. You, of all people, have nothing to be sorry about. Well, Ah'll be sure ta not give ya a reason ta think about killin' me. * HKenji chuckles a little. "I need something to drink. Do you think these dwarves have decent wine?" * Alcinoe thinks. "All Ah hear about is their beer." Ah s'pose we can find out. ( 'Sides, Ah can't pass up on a chance ta see a drunk Kenji.) Well, perhaps one grain is as good as another. * Alcinoe nods. "Ya wanna ask the captain where ta go, or should we try somethin' on our own?" I think we lost the captain somewhere along the way. Probably back at the shop... * Alcinoe looks around. Come ta think of it, where are we? * HKenji shrugs and pulls aside a passing workdwarf. No idea. * Alcinoe laughs. Excuse me, sir dwarf. [ The dwarf eyes the two of you. "Aye?" ] Where do your people keep the best alcohol? [ "Any pub will have good beer an' mead. There's one two streets east o' here, in th' basement." ] Ah. Thank you. * HKenji looks at Alcinoe. * Alcinoe smiles. "Thanks." She looks to Kenji. "Shall we be off?" she asks, doing a decent job of pushing her accent out of her voice. ( Dwarves can always be counted on for strong beer and extremely strong mead. ) ( Aww. But I *like* Alci's accent. ;_; ) Certainly. (Me too. She just felt like it.) * HKenji offers his arm grandly to Alcinoe, just like he's occasionally seen the lords do. * Alcinoe sets her hand on it lightly and nods to the dwarf with a smile. Now she's paladin armcandy. ( Haha, armcandy. That term is wacky. ) ( ...the world is DOOMED. ) * HKenji steps grandly off to the place where everybody knows your name. * Alcinoe walks by Kenji's side. [ And so they went and had some drinks and then returned to the rest of the group. Upon returning to the rest of the group, they found them a great deal funnier than they had when sober. Session End! ]