[ We find Our Heroes in the common room of the Flying Couches home! ] [ It's the day after your talk with the Loremaster. There are things to think about, things to do, and people to talk to. ] [ The week after this is an off-week for the summer solstice, which sees the world getting more blessed light than on any other day, which is celebrated muchly with fairs and carnivals. ] [ That's everything I can think of. Session Start! ] * Patrick smiles as he works at his alchemy stuff. * Ariake is crouching inside the quiz machine once again, hammering on some new component. * Istvan wanders up from his forge, wearing his usual t-shirt and jeans, and looking soot-stained as usual. "'ey Ariake." * Ariake waves a hand from inside the machine. "Hey, Istvan. Anything interesting going on?" * Alcinoe has claimed a couch for herself. She's sprawled, half-awake, and watching Ariake. * Tia trails after Istvan, looking a bit sooty herself. She grins, as usual. * Seylin was apparently sleeping in today, which is rare for her, as she enters the common room clad in a light, short-sleeved tunic in pale blue, light grey leggings, and sandals. "Morning, everybody." Hi, Seylin! * Alcinoe half-waves to go with half-wakefulness. "Howdy." Finally got enough cash together to get a mage to beef up the enchantment on my pick. I just finished doing the preperatory forging work... the mage is workin' down there right now. Oh, excellent! That's going to be awfully powerful. Oooh, nice! Awfully expensive, too. Ate up just about all of my adventuring supply money. [ Meanwhile, the mage works on Istvan's pick in the hallway because Istvan's forge room is too dirty for their tastes. ] Hey Seylin! ^_^ s'the going rate, though. More magic you got in the weapon, more magic it takes to power it up. Plus more in materials. * Will sits up from his chair (He was dozing off appearantly). "Morning Seylin!" * Ariake nods. "It takes an awful lot." * Seylin waves at the guys, then says, "Yeah, it's expensive. I was hoping I could get mine done, but I need to save up some more." Meanwhile, Tia was practicing carving butterflies into a broken chunk of breastplate I had laying around. We're gonna see if she can do the designs on her breastplate herself. * Tia grins. "Yep!" * Patrick smiles. * Ariake grins. "Way to go, Tia!" * Ariake erks as a particularly violent clang results in a small explosion. "Damn." Thanks! Isty and Mr. Axe gave me lots of help. You okay, Ariake? * Tia blinks over at Ariake. The key, of course, being to create enough of an indentation so the pattern's visible without punching a whole through the armor. Tia only did that twice. * HKenji pushes his way through the front door, looking... somewhat distracted. I'm fine, thanks. Just a minor setback. * Tia grins sheepishly. "Heehee." ... and you really gotta stop resting your tail IN the forge, Tia. I know you're fireproof and all, but that just can't be healthy. Okay. And congratulations, Tia. Sounds like you're almost there! [ It's gotta be bad for everything else in the room when she starts flipping around a red-hot tail she doesn't know is red hot. ] * Tia giggles. "Sorry. I forget sometimes." * Alcinoe wakes up. Guess she really did doze off. * Will listens to the conversation w/ interest. "That reminds me Istvan. When you have time, can we talk about how best to improve my armor?" * Alcinoe sits up to keep herself from falling asleep again. * Seylin looks over at the door. "Oh! Morning, Kenji!" Sure. Off the top of my head, I'd say boosting it to three inches thick would be a good idea. *grins* * Tia glances at the door and waves to Kenji. * Seylin hears Istvan's last remark and giggles. * Ariake strikes once with her hammer, and there's a loud "CLICK!" "All right!" * Patrick grins. "Hey Kenji, what's up?" [ There's a knock at the door! ] * Will looks a bit red-faced. "I'm being serious here!." * Alcinoe chuckles and reaches over to grab Will's hand, pulling him to the couch. * Tia jumps up. "I'll get it!" * Tia runs to the door and flings it open. She obviously hasn't learned. Hi! * Will sits down by Alci's side on the couch. I'm going to go get a snack, since I missed breakfast. I'll be right back. * Seylin heads off to the kitchen! * HKenji seats himself on a chair and stares off into the distance. I know, I know Will... we'll figure somethin' out for ya. * Anastasia is standing there, clad in her shapely armor, and looking self-satisfied, which becomes subtly modified by a snerk as she sees Tia at the door. "Well, hello there." * Will smiles. "Thanks Isty." * Tia drops her smile as she recognizes Anastasia. * HKenji snaps out of his almost-trance as his fiancee enters. * Tia backs away from the door and wordlessly takes a seat somewhere on the far side of the room. * Anastasia breezes right past Tia into the room, or at least makes it look like she does, since breezing past Tia is Really Hard. She plants herself more or less in the middle of the room and looks around, finally leveling her gaze at Kenji. "So, _dear_, how did it go?" * Patrick keeps working. * Ariake doesn't even acknowledge Anastasia's entrance, as she's busy adjusting screws inside the machine. * Alcinoe scratches at the back of her head and watches. We destroyed the necromancer's holdings and drove him into hiding. Whether he will become a problem again remains to be seen. More importantly, we have learned that there is an invasion coming, to your lands and Brighthome. * Seylin walks back in with a glass of juice. She stops short and blinks upon seeing Anastasia, then sits down near Patrick and gives him a "what does she want?" look. * Will holds Alcinoe's hands as he watches what's going on. * Tia picks up a book from the floor nearby and doggedly tries to read. I have already sent for help from my clan, they may be sending a team of Kaiu Engineers to properly fortify your lands. * Anastasia puts her hand on her hip and raises her eyebrow. "Oh?" Yes. * Patrick shrugs, and whispers to Seylin. * Seylin wrinkles her nose slightly and nods. * Istvan leans against a wall and watches the Kenji/Anastasia interaction. * Anastasia smiles a little. "Well. That is certainly interesting news." What sort of invasion?> * Tia purses her lips, turns the book the right side up, and continues pretending to ignore the conversation. * Seylin takes a sip of juice and tries to keep her expression neutral. From the underworld. Which you rather conveniently have a gateway to in your lands. * Anastasia gains a small sparkle in her eyes. "Hmmm." Then she snaps her gaze back to Kenji. "I want a hand in the fortifications, too. A room for me and housing for my troops wherever your clan builds. And maybe, because I like you, Kenji, I'll see if I can decrease the taxes. I'll have to put in the good word, though." She smirks. Where, exactly, is this gateway? You forget. We are to be married. What is mine is yours in any case. * Anastasia deftly ignores that. I could not deny you such even if I wished it. * Tia 's brow wrinkles, and she appears to concentrate even harder on her book. * Alcinoe twitches her ears a little. * Seylin sips juice and fails her keep expression neutral roll, as she frowns at this. * Patrick looks over at the two, and holds Seylins hand, giving Seylin a smile. * Seylin smiles back at him, then eyes Kenji and Anastasia again. In any case, in light of the quest I must undertake to soften the invasion when it does come, the marriage will simply have to be delayed. * Anastasia tosses her hair. "Ah, what a shame." She's smiling. "I'll just have to wait for next year, then." Yes. Such a shame. If we all survive until next year, that is. If you think you won't, have fun. ^_^ * Ariake pipes up, "I'm just about done with this project for now. It sounds like I have some intensive planning to do." * Anastasia continues smiling. "Oh, and Kenji, if you need it I can offer funds for the fortification." It would be most helpful of you. Even though much of the necessary material can be taken from the site, there will still be a great cost associated with fortification of a new opening. Of course. Don't look for me, just get in touch with someone from my house, and they'll handle it. So be it. * Anastasia looks around again. "Well, I'm sure you're all incredibly busy, with... whatever it is you're doing, and I've got an invasion to plan for, so if you don't mind..." She sways toward the door. "Toodle- oo!" * Anastasia waves her fingers and ducks out the door! * HKenji relaxes immeasurably as his fiancee leaves the room. * Ariake mutters something uncharitable, though not obscene, under her breath and gives a panel a particularly final hit with the hammer. * Tia is still frowning at her book. * Seylin drinks the last of her juice and sets the glass down unusually hard. * Alcinoe twitches her ears again. "That was fun." ... there's something very, very creepy about that woman. * Will nods slowly. "I don't get what she's thinking." * Patrick grins. "I don't know what you're talking about." She seems incredibly unworried about a potential invasion. * Tia finally looks up, her tail lashing agitatedly. "I don't like her!" Yes, something is odd there. * Ariake climbs out of the machine, and closes up all the panels. She's got the soul of a Matsu. What does that mean, exactly? Ah dunno about Matsu, but probably that she thinks gettin' inta a war is fun. That means she's got all the naked agression of a hunting tiger, and has no wish to be tied down, especially to me. Basically, she don't want to get married either. And she's itching for a fight. * Tia buries her nose back into the book. * Seylin just shakes her head. I feel like we should be planning or something. But I'm not really sure where to start. [ There's a knock at the door! ] [ It's a much harder knock than Anastasia's, tho. So don't worry about it being her. ] * Tia springs to her feet, hesitates, then runs to the door and flings it open. * Seylin blinks and looks towards the door. [ On the other side of the door is an especially stout Dwarf with a beard in his axe. "Hail, ye great, scaly lass." ] * Tia sees no one, then looks down. "Oh, hi!" She moves aside to let him in. "You have a beard in your axe, Mr. Dwarf." * Will looks towards the door warily, then blinks as he sees that it's a dwarf. "Er Hello." [ And that should be 'an axe in his beard', but it works out about the same, really. This clearly marks him as a member of the Beardaxe clan. ] * Seylin blinks again, then waves. "Good morning!" (Hehe. I was wondering about that.) * Istvan recognizes the sound of a dwarf, and stands up, saying in Dwarven that sounds like a greeting. (But it so very much works to have Tia say it the way she did. ^_^) (Haha, true!) * Patrick chuckles. "Hey, whazzup?" [ "Aye, that I do, lass. And I got questions for ye an yer friends, by which I mean my friends, an' the friends o all me clan." ] * Ariake waves cheerfully. "'morning!" [ The dwarf calls back in something that sounds greeting-like, although it's hard to tell with dwarves. ] Hello, Beardaxe. Enter and be welcome. * Alcinoe waves. "Howdy." What kind of questions, sir? Wow! Are you a Beardaxe like Mr. Axe? Mr. Axe says he's a Beardaxe. * Istvan switches back to Common, for the sake of the others in the room. "Prolly to do with the stuff we found at the Beardaxe outpost." * Tia seems instantly revitalized and is now prancing around the Dwarf in excitement. [ The dwarf thuds his way in. "Well, to be straight an' honest with ye, we've been distributing the platinum ye brought us, and it's been quite a bit. We've come to wonder if there's some way we can share this great fortune you've brought us, as it's too much ter keep ter ourselves." ] * Seylin ponders. Well. We are in need of a certain amount of funding. We've discovered a new portal to the underworld, and it needs to be fortified for the coming invasion. I have sent for whatever aid the Lion can send, and may succeed in obtaining help from the Crab as well. Mr. Axe says he's glad you're keeping the Beardaxe tradition alive, Mr. Dwarf! And my Fiancee's family will be providing some portion of the necessary funds, as well. * Patrick nudges Seylin and whispers. [ The dwarf vlinks. "Comin' invasion?" ] * Seylin whispers back. * Tia dances circles around the Dwarf. Yes. Forces are gathering in the underworld. The invasion is not due for some years, and we will be doing what we can to prevent it entirely, but the fact remains that it IS coming, and this portal must be fortified. * Patrick nods. * Will nods. "And you guys should prepare too!" * Tia blinks and stops. "What are we preparing for, again?" Definitely. Invasion from the underworld. Man, sounds like a bad movie. Of the bad men? Yep. [ "Aye, it must! A worthier cause I couldnae've asked for. My clan would be daft not tae volunteer funds, men to build, and axes tae slay the invaders." ] * Tia nods and brandishes Mr. Axe. "Right! We're preparing to defend against the bad men!" * Seylin grins at Tia. * Tia grins back at Seylin. * Patrick nods and smiles at Tia. [ "Hm. An' is this a virgin entrance tae the Underworld? If so, I'd have tae ask permission for my clan tae mine it. Being a dwarf, an' all." ] I may have to promise partial rights to the Crab in return for their help. We shall have to see what is there before apportioning such thing, but you can be assured that you will have some rights. What's a virgin entrance? A new one. * Seylin looks at Kenji, as she doesn't know the answer. But apparently he does. Yay! Oh, okay. [ The dwarf nods, his axe bobbing up and down as he does so. "Of course, of course. An' we can work out the particulars later, but for now I'm sure we can volunteer quite a bit for yer cause." ] [ The dwarf holds out his hand to shake. "I'm glad I came tae talk ter yeh, I am." ] * Tia takes the dwarf's hand and shakes vigorously. * Alcinoe smiles a little. * Seylin giggles quietly. [ Tia shakes the dwarf. "Oi, careful there, lass." ] * Tia puts the dwarf down gently. "Oh, sorry, Mr. Dwarf!" Good mining, Beardaxe. * Will smiles. "We're glad to have met you too!" * Ariake bows. "Thank you!" [ "An' good forgin' ter ye, sir." ] Yeah, thank you! * Tia grins. "Thanks, Mr. Dwarf!" * Istvan nods. [ The dwarf nods to everyone present, and thuds out the door. ] * Patrick smiles as the dwarf leaves the room. "Well, we have defenses coming in order now, it seems." Yep! But we need to make plans, too. * Ariake nods. "The first thing I can think of would be maps." Maps. We must plan for our trips to locate the rest of this artifact. Yes. I sketched a few when we were travelling last summer, but they're not all that detailed, I'm afraid. They look nice, though. ^_^ Thanks! I can go get them, if you think they'd help. We also need to figure out how we're gonna get that troll king to not join in on the attack. * Ariake nods. "While we prepare and travel, I can start planning out some magical defenses." I drew maps too! * Tia grins. * Alcinoe clears her throat. "Ah think we should leave the hunk a' rock with Beatrice while we look for the rest 'a the pieces. I think they will. Could you Seylin? * Patrick nods. * Will nods. "Good idea, Alci." Best to wait for planning the fortification until we have assembled engineers, Ariake. * Tia takes a piece of paper out of her pocket. Her "map" seems to include a few illegible scribbles, some childish doodles, and a couple X's. It's altogether unreadable. Definitely a good idea, Alcinoe. And I'll be right back. * Ariake nods. "All right." * Seylin heads for her room to retrieve maps! * Tia shares her map proudly with everyone. * Tia points. "Here's where we found Mr. Axe. And here's where Mr. Troll lives..." Because, frankly, we can't take on an entire army of well- trained, well-armed trolls. * Ariake nods. * Will takes a peek at what Tia drew. "Er...good job, Tia!" Thanks, Will! * Tia beams. * Seylin returns to the common room with several rolls of parchment in her arms. She sets them down on the table. Here they are. Thanks. Hmm... I think we might have picked some up in the troll city, too, but I don't remember who ended up with them. * HKenji withdraws said maps from his sleeve. * Alcinoe shrugs helplessly, then Kenji pulls out maps. * Seylin smiles. "I should have guessed." * Ariake grins. * Ariake shrugs, and sits back. "I'm not so good with planning, really." * Patrick looks over them. Me neither, but the Loremaster said the trolls are gettin' involved 'cause they think they can just stomp all over us. And we should practice fighting together, too. Improving our teamwork would be a big help! Is there anybody who knows enough about trolls to advise us on how to change their mind? Show them our strength. Or show them the weakness of those they would call allies. * Alcinoe nods. "It's about the same thing." So it's beat the trolls up or beat the drows up? Essentially. I'd rather wipe the floor with drow than trolls. * Tia listens carefully. But first, we need to find this artifact. And do what we can to sabotage that priestess. Which means we're gonna have to go through the troll kingdom, unless we can find another way. This should not be a problem. * Will frowns while thinking. "I wanna beat the drows up. We have more than one score to settle with them." * Ariake nods. Could also find and trash some patrols from the troll kingdom... let 'em know we're not pushovers. Might be easier than sneaking through, taking on a drow city, and sneaking back through. * Seylin nods. "Good idea! I don't want to have to take on a whole city of anything, really." * Tia nods along, thoughtfully. We ambush a few patrols, whittle down their numbers a little bit... maybe the trolls start to think twice. No. ... or we don't. * Istvan turns to Kenji. "Why don't we?" No? That is the way to show them that we fear open confrontation. * Patrick nods. They'll know that we can't take them all on in that case. We do fear open confrontation. And we can't them all on. But we dont' want to take them all on... do we? At least, if by "we" you mean "this group" * Tia nods, but she looks like she's zoning out. Aren't there Drow patrols that we can take out too? * Seylin frowns, because she's not good at tactics, and she's far better at sneaking around than direct confrontations. * Ariake is pondering gadgets, for the most part, as she also isn't too useful here. Anything that we as a group do will have little bearing on the matter. It would be best not to trigger outright war with the trolls, if such can be avoided. All we need plan right now is how to get the second fragment. * Will nods. So really, we're thinking too far ahead and in too large a scope? * Tia nods. "Right. Avoid war!" Precisely. * Ariake nods. For now, all that can reasonably be done is to notify appropriate parties that an invasion IS coming. They will put fortification into progress, while we assemble this artifact. * Alcinoe shifts, slightly, and watches Kenji talk. As for people who need to know... we must make sure that the government of Brighthome is informed. * Tia zones out again. Then, we must use our own contacts. * Ariake nods. We probably all have people we can call on for help. * Seylin nods. "Makes a lot of sense. But I don't have any contacts, I think." Do you have parents? Can they contribute anything at all? If there is one thing you learn from me, Seylin, let it be the power of Family. * Seylin looks down at the table. "My mom used to be a cleric. I think. That's all." I have parents! I've got some connections back in Morradin's Deep. Used to be? I...have no idea. I could possibly get my family to give somethin'. But they're really big on, how should I put it... Let's just say my mom might help with defense, but in her own way. Well, she still prays and all, but I don't think she's been active in a while. * Seylin wingtwitches and looks slightly uncomfortable. If nothing else, Seylin, you can call on your "fanclub" for help. * Patrick puts his arm around Seylins shoulders and gives her a reassuring hug. ^^ Mama and Papa said they were going to co-- Sey? Are you okay? Will'n Alci, you guys could prolly pass word on to your churches, get them to spread the word. * Seylin leans into the hug. "My what?" Then she turns to Tia. "Oh, I'll be fine." * Will nods. "I can do that." Good. ^_^ * Tia nods and looks slightly reassured. "Okay." Might even be the best way... if the churches know, all the churches'll know, and they can pass the word on whereever they are. Precisely. Further, the Church of Bahamut has a vested interest in seeing this artifact reconstructed. * Patrick nods. * Ariake nods. Definately. I shall have to speak with the higher ups for advice too. Might mean that, whereever we have to go to find these things, we might be able to turn to the churches for some info on the areas, if nothing else. * Alcinoe nods. "All the curches got an interest in it. Ah'll pass the word." The guys back'n Moradin's Deep might not be able to help with the building near your Anastasia's lands, but they can at least get themselves on war footing, and alert the other Dwarven settlements. They can. Having another force on the enemy's flank would be a great aid in itself. * Patrick nods. * Patrick grins. "Flanks, seperation... I like this." * Alcinoe rolls her eyes. "Ya just want someone ta shoot at, Patrick." Oh I'm hurt Alcinoe. To think I'm only concerned with shooting things? * Seylin giggles. "She might have something there." Or giving them hotfoots. * Patrick grins. ... what do you think the odds are that the various artifact pieces are going to not be guarded by various large and hungry things? Extremely low? Slim to none. Why? Large and hungry? Not you, Tia. * Tia's stomach growls. * Seylin giggles. "Or maybe it is you, although I don't think you're guarding an artifact piece." What I figured. Guy can hope, though. I'm not? Nope. If we get another, you can guard it while we get it back here. Okay! Mmm... m'gonna go check how those mages are doing. For what I paid them, they shoulda cast a time travel spell and had it ready for me a week ago... *muttermutter* * Istvan wanders out of the common room and down the hallway. [ And so after planning, they went and did something! Session End. ]