* Alcinoe breathes easier once they're out of the house. She heads for the 
Temple of Galahad.
<Robin> ( The little one on campus? )
<Alcinoe> (Yeah, well, I know he's not a BIG GOD like Bahamut. ;P  But he's 
hers.)
* Will catches up and walks next to Alci.
<Will> ( Hee.  Wanna convert? :p )
<Alcinoe> (Heck no.)
<Robin> ( Er? All the campus temples are fairly small. The bigger ones are in 
the city proper, is what I'm saying. )
<Alcinoe> (Ah. ^^  Um...)
<Alcinoe> (Well, which would you suggest, Robin?)
<Robin> ( Whichever one you brought him to. It'd be best to put him in one of 
the larger temples, tho. A small one would be too much like a prison cell full 
of holy energy that's bad for your undead health. )
<Robin> ( A big one would give him room to wander about and stuff. )
<Alcinoe> (Gotcha.  The one in the city, then!)
<Robin> [ After a considerable walk, you reach the principle church of the city. 
Fortunately, it's on the same side of the river as the campus, so you don't have 
to go *too* far. ]
* Alcinoe heads on up to the doors. She doesn't look like a cleric, really, but 
that sure doesn't stop her.
* Alcinoe pulls one open and waits for Will to enter. Talk about your reverse 
chivalry.
* Will nods thanks and enters. He doesn't seem to notice anything going wrong. 
^^;
* Alcinoe nods with a little smile and walks in after him.
<Robin> [ The church is large, although not as large as some. There is nobody 
waiting for you as you enter, but that's to be expected. Alci knows where the 
offices are. ]
* Will glances around the temple. "Where do we go now, Alci?"
* Alcinoe places one hand on Will's arm, looks around, then lets her hand slide 
off as she heads down a corridor to the right. To the offices, no less.
<Robin> [ Through a door, then into the corridor. Alcinoe arrives at a door 
whose label says it belongs to one Ekim Stombar. ]
* Will reads the label. "Who's Ekim Stombar?"
<Alcinoe> The head priest.
* Alcinoe knocks politely on the door.
* Will nods.
<Robin> [ "Come in," says a deep, slightly gravely voice. ]
* Will opens the door for Alci this time.
<Will> After you, Alci.
* Alcinoe chuckles. "Thanks, Will." She walks in.
* Will grins and follows her in. Closing the door behind him as he enters.
<Robin> [ Inside, sitting at a desk, poring over a religious text. He looks up 
as you enter. "Ah, hello, Alcinoe. Who's your friend?" ]
* Will offers a hand. "Hi. I'm Will. Pleased to meet you."
* Alcinoe smiles and does a little bow. "Howdy." She waves Will in. "That's Will 
Schneider, Cleric a' Bahamut. Will, this is-" She laughs a little. "Yeah. Ekim 
Stombar. He's high priest a' this temple."
<Robin> [ The man stands. He's tall, and was probably taller in his youth. He 
has the look of one who was once covered in muscle, but has sense stopped 
exercising, possibly to focus on exorcising. He wears robes, but he still 
carries a battered-looking sword at his hip; the pommel of the sword is engraved 
with Galahad's holy symbol. ]
<Robin> [ "This is about our new friend, I'm assuming. I think I have just the 
thing for curing him. But there's a problem. I'll get to that in a bit." ]
* Alcinoe nods. The smile's gone, and she's in business mode.
* Will nods and listens attentively.
<Robin> [ He pulls up a map of the Brighthome are. North of the city is a 
pleateau, with elevation markers showing it to be roughly halfway between the 
floor of the canyon and the frozen surface of the world. "In this area is a 
cave. Deep within the cave is a pool of water blessed by Mara, that is said to 
be capable of curing any affliction with just one drink. I've been looking into 
some research that was done on the pool a few centuries back..." ]
<Robin> [ "...And I'm fairly certain you can include vampirism as an affliction 
in this context. Certainly our friend thinks of it that way." ]
* Alcinoe nods. "It'd be worth a try."
<Will> So all we need to do is bring back some water from this pool?
<Robin> [ He shakes his head. "No. The water is only miraculous if you lift a 
double handfull of it to your mouth from the pool directly." ]
* Alcinoe nods. She rather expected that.
<Will> Oh.  That makes it a bit more difficult then.
<Robin> [ "And there's a complication, of course. Shormaganahar, the Great 
Silver Wyrm that used to guard the pool, passed away recently of old age, 
leaving her young daughter, Braghana behind to guard it. Braghana, however, 
hasn't been seen in weeks. It isn't because she's shirking her duty; silver 
dragons don't do that. We don't know why she's gone." ]
<Robin> [ "We sent a scout to investigate, but they found nothing in the cave. 
Nothing at all, except the pool blessed by Mara. He did, however, have the 
feeling he was being watched, but all attempts to discover by whom were 
thwarted." ]
* Alcinoe nods slowly. "So, someone'll have ta go with 'im. In case a' trouble."
<Robin> [ "Oddly, the area around the cave seems to have been inhabited by a 
pack of troll-like creatures carved of ice. Weather they regenerate or not we 
don't know - our scout wisely decided not to pester them - but either way, 
bringing some alchemist's fire would be wise. That or a flaming weapon." He nods 
sagely. ]
* Will nods. "Definately trouble."
* Alcinoe nods. "All right."
<Robin> [ "Also bring a light source, since, obviously, you'll need to do this 
at night. We've tried giving our friend protective clothing, but it doesn't seem 
to help." ]
<Alcinoe> Yeah.  Anythin' else about it?  Do ya have it mapped?
<Seylin> (I AM the light source. ^_~)
<Will> ( We need a light source that doesn't harm our vampire friend. ^^; )
<Seylin> (Drat.)
<Robin> ( I think Alci's set on doing this alone, Seylin dear. ^^ )
<Will> ( Alone? :/ )
<Alcinoe> (Her player is, at least.)
<Seylin> (I know. ^_~)
<Alcinoe> (I need to justify it IC. ;P)
<Robin> [ "The cave? No. The area is on this map, here. The cave, again, is 
right here." He touches a spot. "I can have a rough copy of the map scribed for 
you in an hour, if you want." ]
* Alcinoe nods. "If ya could? Uh, and can Ah visit 'im?"
<Robin> [ "Certainly. He's in one of the inner rooms. One without windows, you 
see. He's been playing with the piano we have there since he arrived." ]
<Robin> [ "And I'll go to tell our scribe. Please excuse me," he says, and 
strides out of the room. ]
* Alcinoe nods. "Thanks. Ah'll... go visit 'im." She watches the priest walk 
off, then smiles sheepishly to Will. "Wanna come?"
* Will smiles and nods excitedly. "Of course!"
* Alcinoe chuckles a little. She heads off! To go talk to the vampiric bard.
* Will follows! :p
<Robin> [ Alci finds herself to another room, and in it you can hear the sound 
of a piano. Inside is the vampire drow bard, doing his best to tickle the 
ivories. He's not bad at it, having had almost a week to practice. ]
* Alcinoe knocks lightly on the doorframe before entering. It's poor form to 
sneak up on people.
<Robin> [ The undead thing looks around, and smiles toothily. "Ah! Hello to 
Alcinoe", he says in thickly accented Common. "I am being happy to see you! Are 
you wanting to hear me ...er... piano?"
* Alcinoe smiles. "Sure, that'd be nice. Ah just wanted to see how you were 
doin'." She heads on further in and has a seat nearby, waving for Will to come 
on in, too.
* Will walks in and grabs a seat next to Alci. "Glad to see you doing well 
here."
<Robin> [ He turns back to the sheetmusic. "You are being very pretty when not 
in armor, you know." He plays the song arranged before him, a hymn to Galahad. 
Every now and then he glances at the sheet music in a "THAT can't be right" sort 
of way. ]
* Alcinoe laughs. "Thanks." She sits back and listens. Better than *she* could 
do in a week, that's for sure.
<Robin> [ It's a short hymn, and before long he's done. He's pretty good, and 
yet it's still obvious he's new at using this particular instrument. "Not bad, 
gya?" ]
* Alcinoe smiles. "It's good. Yer gonna become very good at it."
* Will claps. "Yup. And it's only your first week playing?"
<Robin> [ "Great thanks," he says. He turns in his stool to face Alcinoe. "So, 
what you come to speak for? And, mind you if we speak in... you call it 
'undercommon'?" ]
<Robin> [ "Or do you know it? I forget." ]
* Alcinoe shakes her head. "Ah don't know it. Sorry."
<Robin> [ He shrugs. "Then I am making due with 'common'. But, with the other 
question?" ]
* Alcinoe folds her hands. "Well... Ah came ta ask about you, actually. Ya 
remember when Ah said Ah'd try ta help ya to the light..."
<Alcinoe> Seems like they already asked you what you thought.  'Bout the cave 
an' the water."
<Robin> [ He blinks. "About the what and the what?" ]
* Alcinoe blinks, too. "Ah, okay." She reaches up to rub the back of her neck.
<Alcinoe> Well, y'know about... the light.  An' Ah know ya don't quite believe 
in it, but hear me out.
* Alcinoe lowers her hand again and leans on her elbows towards the drow. "The 
priests did some research. There's a cave connected to this canyon, an' in the 
cave is a pool blessed by Mara. It's s'posed ta be able ta cure any illness and 
affliction. Maybe even you bein' a vampire."
<Robin> [ He frowns. "Why would your Mara do this thing?" ]
* Alcinoe smiles a little. "Well... Sometimes, Ah ask that question, too." She 
glances to Will, then looks back.
* Will shakes his head slightly. "I don't know why either."
* Alcinoe nods. "She might do it just 'cause you can be saved. Nobody's out of 
reach. Not me, not Will..." She indicates the bard. "Not even you."
* Will nods in agreement.
<Alcinoe> Ah believe ya can be saved.  An' Ah'm just a mortal.  But, like Ah 
told ya before, it's not an easy thing.
<Robin> [ He keeps frowning. "You surfacers are always so confusing?" ]
* Alcinoe laughs a little. "Naw. Ah didn't always think that way. A lotta people 
with us... they didn't think that way, either."
<Robin> [ He blinks. ]
* Alcinoe turns the laugh into a slight smile. "They mostly believe in doin' the 
right thing. Ya can always argue what the right thing is. Kenji killed ya, 
remember? I was angry at 'im for doin' it, because the right thing isn't always 
the easiest or shortest. Not to me."
<Robin> [ He shrugs. "If you are saying so." ]
<Robin> [ "Perhaps I will be figuring you out with the time. I do not know." ]
<Alcinoe> Well, it's not a thing that happens right away.
* Patrick has joined #Canyonmini
<Robin> [ "Seems so." ]
* Alcinoe coughs into her hand. "Anyway, the cave's got a problem with ice 
trolls or somethin', and a missin' guardian. So it'd be a bad idea for you to go 
by yerself."
<Robin> [ "So, I go to cave, take bath? ...ice trolls?" ]
* Alcinoe snickers. "Well, you can take a bath if ya want, but it seems ya get 
cured if ya drink the water."
<Alcinoe> Yeah, ice trolls.
* Will chuckles. "Just need to get past bad guys and take a sip out of that 
pool."
* Alcinoe chuckles. "Basically. We can hope it's that simple."
<Robin> [ "Sounding good to me. Surely, you will come along? I am drow, I am 
needing strong woman to cower behind." ]
<Robin> [ He grins at that, so it must be a joke. ]
<Patrick> (Hell, I'll back you up on this one.  I'm bored as hell.)
<Robin> ( No, Pat, you won't. ^^ )
<Patrick> (Awww. ;-;)
* Alcinoe smirks. "That was the idea, yeah. Ah wouldn't leave ya stranded even 
if ya didn't need someone ta cower behind."
<Alcinoe> (I'm sure Robin will come up with something appropriately life 
threatening and/or embarrassing for the rest of you. ;P)
<Patrick> (Well, there is always fending off the Seylin Fanclub.)
<Robin> ( ...Seylin gets kidnapped and taken to a temple where the fanboys 
worship her and make sacrifices of chocolate and plushies. )
<Robin> ( "Seylin has been kidnapped. Are you bad enough to rescue Seylin?" )
<Robin> ( ...anyway. )
<Robin> [ He nods. "That is good. I am musicer, am not fighter. I will help if 
can, but is not likely." ]
<Alcinoe> Well, might as well make sure ya got a weapon an' such ta defend 
yerself with.  Armor, maybe some alchemist's fire.
<Robin> [ "Have good rapier and chain armor, but they are losing magic in 
surface world." ]
<Alcinoe> Yeah, that happens.
* Alcinoe thinks. "Well, uh... maybe we can get ya some new stuff. Ah'll check 
was we got lyin' around, or Istvan can make somethin'."
<Alcinoe> (Heck, I have no idea what we have. :P)
<Robin> [ He shrugs. "Still have items. Just no magic." ]
* Alcinoe nods slowly. "If they're still good without magic, then." And not 
evil, she doesn't add.
<Robin> [ He nods. "They is... adumat-something? Good metal." ]
<Robin> [ "I am not knowing what you call it in strange surface world." ]
<Alcinoe> Ah, adamantine?  It's almost unbreakable.  Ah used ta carry a sword 
made out of it; gave it ta Will.
<Robin> [ Will nods. ]
<Alcinoe> (Hehe!)
<Robin> [ Vampire-boy nods too. "Yes, that." ]
<Alcinoe> So, what do ya think?  Worth a try?
<Robin> [ He nods. "Anything that is making me live once over." ]
* Alcinoe smiles. "It's a start." She gets to her feet and walks over to him, 
holding out her hand. "What's yer name, anyway?"
<Robin> [ He blinks at the offered hand and takes it. "Tebryn." ]
* Alcinoe shakes the drow's hand. "Alcinoe. Ah don't think we ever did the 
proper introduction. It's nice ta meetcha, Tebryn."
<Robin> [ "Is good to be meeting you, too? Why you shaking hand?" ]
<Alcinoe> That's how we greet each other up here, the first time.  We shake 
hands.
<Robin> [ "I see." He shrugs. ]
<Robin> [ "So, when are we going on trip to pool?" ]
<Alcinoe> Soon as we can, Ah'm thinkin'.  Ah have ta explain this ta everyone, 
so they know where we've gone.
<Robin> [ He nods. "Let me be knowing when we go, yes?" ]
* Alcinoe nods. "'Course Ah will. They been treatin' you okay here?"
<Robin> [ He nods. "Mostly, yes. Some argument, but otherwise fine." ]
<Alcinoe> Good.  Ya tell me if there's any trouble, okay?  Ah've gotta go get 
that map now.
* Alcinoe pats the drow on the shoulder and turns, looking to Will. "Ready ta 
go?"
<Robin> [ Will nods. ]
<Robin> [ And so Alcinoe collected the map, and she and Will went back to the 
campus! Session end. ]