[ We find Our Heroes gathering in the Flying Couches home's common room around breakfasttime. Last night was a late night of rescuing people and making sure they had somewhere decent to sleep for the night. Today, rebuilding starts. ] [ Session Start! ] * Patrick is makin' breakfast. * Patrick is makin' breakfast for himself anyways. Mmm, bacon and eggs. * Max is grinding his teeth as he makes lists on loose leaf paper. "I can make at least 6 temporary houses a day... that will take care of 6 times 12 times 17 is 1224 people..." That should house everyone whose here, even after we've gotten them all ressurrected. I can pay for the materials for at least one True Ressurection, if there's a cleric or other potentate that would be best raised at full strength... The dragon. * HKenji walks into the kitchen, his top still loose, sniffing at the air hungrily. That won't be necessary, Max. 'sup Kenji? The dragon? What won't be necessary? Me. Whatever you are making smells excellent. * Istvan is actually asleep on one of the couches, his armor splayed out on the couch next to him, holding his war pick in one hand. He was, as far as you know, out all night either on patrol or getting patrols organized. Bacon and eggs. Nobody can resist it. ^_^ I would hardly stoop to calling yourself unnecessary, Kenji. And what dragon, Patrick? The giant one that was skinned in the fountain. Nothin' short of a true raise will work on him, really. * HKenji looks down at Max from his spot behind Max. * Max nods. "He needs one, then. We need, as well, to prioritize raisings with high-level clerics. That will hasten the raisings overall." * Max makes a note of that, not having eyes in the back of his head with which to see Kenji staring down at him. * HKenji clenches his teeth, then grabs some tea and sits down at the table for a nice drink to regain his calm. * Will comes into the kitchen rubbing his eyes. He looks terrible with all the symptoms of one who did not sleep last night. * Max looks up. "Hi, Will! ...oh, my. You look like the nine hells warmed over." * Will waves listlessly. "Mornin..." Didn't sleep too well, did ya? Don't be glum. We'll get things set aright, but we'll need your help. ^^ * Istvan snores. In fact, you'll be very important. We need someone who can spend twenty-five thousand gp very very quickly. ^_^ How do ya like your eggs done? The first order of business is to return the headmistress to life. Everything else comes second. Hm. Good point, Kenji. *scribbles that down on top of the list* * Will smiles weakly and nods. "I'll do what I can." Does she need a true res? We do need to be as sparing as possible with those; they're not cheap. And we need to spread the funds around as much as possible, to maximize reconstruction. I'm putting together a preliminary budget right now. * Max holds up a piece of paper that is...probably indecipherable to anyone who hasn't taken one of Max's classes on mathematical notation. This will necessitate a delay of several of my pet projects, but I think we can arrange for the items you wanted, still, Kenji. Max, the school will likely have the resources set aside for just such a case as this. That is why we must raise the headmistress. They do. Remember Vall? Of course. We should all do our part to help, even aside from that, though. Will, you going to be up for some spell casting after breakfast? No sense delaying it. Our part to help is getting this matter taken care of as swiftly as possible, preparing for our next trip, and leaving as soon as possible. * Alcinoe comes walking in, wearing jeans, a faded t-shirt, and boots. Her hair's tied back, and she looks... tired. She walks right for the pantry and pulls out some bread and jam. * Istvan rolls over on the couch, mumbles a bit, then falls quiet. We also must contact other adventuring groups out there from the school and let them know what's up. * Max looks at Kenji as if he had just stated that grass was green and Sherincal was evil. ...you okay, Alcinoe? * Alcinoe sets them on the counter and looks for a knife. She finds one! "Nah." 'sup Alci? ...sorry. * Alcinoe shrugs. She starts spreading peach jam over untoasted toast. * Will fidgets uncomfortably as Alci walks into the kitchen...and freezes when he sees Alci holding a knife. * Alcinoe totally ignores Will freezing, assuming she noticed. * Max doesn't notice! * Seylin finally makes her way into the kitchen. Her hair is loose and a bit unkempt, and her eyes are red. She looks like she didn't sleep at all. 'Morning, Seylin. ^^ Hi. * Max looks like he did, in fact, sleep, for the record. He looks tired, but more emotionally than physically. Hey Sey! * Alcinoe finishes jamming up a pair of slices of bread, slaps them together, and puts her impliments of breakfast away. She turns and starts to walk out, by Seylin, then stops and eyes Will. "Ya okay?" * Will jumps a little when Alci speaks to him. "No..I mean yes..um.." * Istvan shifts again, and rolls over... off the couch, landing face- down with a THUMP. He doesn't wake up, however, and just sorta lays there. * Seylin jumps when Istvan falls off the couch, then walks into the living room and tentatively pokes him with her toe. * Alcinoe nods at Will's words. "Ya wanna talk about it?" * Istvan snores. * Seylin silently walks back into the kitchen. * Patrick puts his arm around Sey's shoulder, speaking quietly to her. * Seylin says something softly back to him. * Max sighs. And then decides against saying anything. * Will gives a barely noticeable nod. All right. C'mon. * Alcinoe walks out of the house, jam and bread in hand. She munches. * Will takes a deep breath and follows Alci out of the house. If you are making breakfast for everybody, Patrick, then surprise me. And please refrain from telling me what it is. I probably don't want to know. * Istvan opens his eyes at the sound of the door closing behind Will and Alci. "... why am I on the floor?" Nothing for me, please. I'm...not hungry. You rolled there in your sleep, Istvan. ^^ Ah. *pushes himself up to his feet; rubs his nose* Ow. * Max studies his notes. "...one of these days, I will be able to bring people back without those shortcuts. For now, though..." He pushes his glasses up his nose, sighing. * Patrick makes bacon and eggs! Over-easy for Kenji, if he wants to know. With a *hint* of tobasco sauce. Kenji, after you eat, would you care to help me prepare the headmistress's vestments for her ressurection? * Seylin peers at Patrick. "Anything I can do to help?" she asks softly. If you wish. Patrols are up and running on six hour on, six hour off shifts. Got about two dozen people willing to keep at it until we get more people in fighting shape. I must talk with you later about a necessary device, in any case. Sure. ^^ What goes with bacon and eggs? Oh? Very well. Last I heard, no reports of any further contact with drow, or anything else similarly nasty. They will not be likely to return. A basic doctrine of war is to strike where the enemy is weakest. * Seylin goes to the refrigerator to get juice. She casts a glance at Kenji while she does so. * Patrick was talking to Seylin, by the way. The school is at its weakest now, save for the presence of groups like ours. They might not, but it's worth patroling just in case. Exactly. Unfortunately, we don't know where this particular drow force came from, so a punative strike is not feasible. And wouldn't do much good, anyway. Sherincal is still out there. She sent them. Can't we figure out something from that? That she probably has influence over many tribes of them. * Istvan eyes Kenji. "She definately is." We cannot afford to chase them, regardless. * Seylin nods. "Ah." Alak said she doesn't actually rule his group; they just did it because she asked it of them. Her influence extends to an unknown distance. And I don't have enough equations in this system to solve for all the unknowns. Just say you don't know. I will, though. Because we must. * Max pushes his glasses up his nose. "So. Today, we need to bring back the headmistress. It would be nice if we could get the dragon back, too. Then, we need to help the headmistress with any plans of reconstruction she already has in place, or draft some if she needs or wants help along those lines." Anything else anyone can think of? Oh! We need to bring back the treasure hoard; those funds will be useful in helping rebuild. I should get started on doing those upgrades on our equipment if we wanna go out again soon. S'gonna take some time to do all the work. * Max nods. Where is the next piece, and how long will it take to get there? Rokugan. It will take a significant amount of time to travel there. * HKenji looks very, very grim as he says this. * Seylin turns to stare at Kenji, juice pitcher in hand. "...really?" That's your homeland, isn't it? I assume it still won't be in friendly hands. Sounds fun. Technically, the third piece of the altar is outside the borders of the empire. If you can give me an...adequate description of someone liable to be there I can scry upon, we can be there with a single spell. Oh? So just nearby, huh? Enemy kingdom, or wild lands? Both. * Max blinks. "Heh. Barbarous kingdom. Gotcha." Regardless. You don't happen to have any momentos from any of your friends or relatives back home, do you? No. The situation is worse than you can possibly imagine, Max. And... I do not. Further, instantaneous transit to Rokugan, in this case, is undesirable. Oh? Then you'd best explain it as best as you can. * Seylin sets the pitcher down on the counter and moves to get some glasses. "I can imagine a *lot*." Why? Because you are gaijin. * HKenji uses "you" as the collective Crypticism ill becomes you, Kenji. Do not condescend, and do not hold back information. * Max pushes his glasses up his nose, and stands on his Book to raise himself up to eye level with Kenji. Technically, the presence of non-Rokugani within the borders of Rokugan is still punishable by death. What? Traveling the long route will allow my superiors to arrange for your safe passage. Ah. So we need to stay outside of it. Such a xenophobic people. * Max shrugs. "Very well. I imagine there's no means of scrying accurately on the actual target destination, the barbarous kingdom you have yet to name." The Shadowlands are not a kingdom. Oh. Shadowlands. Sounds promising. *rubs neck* They sound unfriendly. Deeper in the canyons, or actually underground? Sounds like some badass evil. The Shadowlands are, for lack of a better term, a slice of hell. ...I see. *makes a note in his Book* * Seylin lets out a small gasp and spills some of the juice she's been pouring. Then she goes to get something to clean it up. Sounds great. ^_^ One does not simply walk into the shadowlands, and travel magic results in the corruption of all using it either within its borders, or using it to pass those borders. * Patrick throws down some eggs and bacon for everyone. Over-easy and extra-crispy, if you didn't bother specifying. In order to get there, we must pass through the greater part of Rokugan, to the lands of the Crab, whose ancestral duty is to guard the empire from the unspeakable horrors beyond the Kaiu Wall. Really? I think I may need to have a word with some of your homeland's scholars regarding this. I will need to account for the extraneous energies in my calculations for my own spells. So demons and stuff run around there? Or just really nasty monsters? It would not due for my spells to act unpredictably due to a failure to incorporate all relevant variables. Demons, you could call them. Goblins, samurai and commoners who have been lost to the Shadowlands Taint... all manner of creatures may be found there. All horribly twisted. Shadowlands Taint? * Max has his Book open to a clean page, just waiting to take notes. ^^ Twisted? The Taint is spiritual and physical corruption caused by remaining unprotected within the Shadowlands. Once you the taint has even the tiniest grip on your body and soul, it will never let go. Man, that's gotta suck. Hm. How do you protect against it? * Seylin shudders. It will grow, slowly at first, then accellerating, twisting your mind and body into horrible reflections of what you were, all the time giving you great power as a constant temptation. * Max mutters something about yet another god. So we go in, hit who needs hittin', get the alter piece, and don't stick around to sightsee. The taint recognizes no god, unless it be Fu Leng, who is as twisted as he was beautiful. So we don't pray to this taint, and we're fine. Or is more protection needed? Pff. anything that offers power for no apparent cost may as well be a god, for mortal purposes. It's all the same. Shortcuts. While you are within the Shadowlands, you will need to carry jade, the tears of Lady Sun. It protects you, taking the taint upon itself, and crumbling in the process. Jade. Gotcha. As much as we can obtain. Even then, if you are wounded, you can still be tainted if you body or soul is weak. * Max looks down at his small body. "I'd best not be wounded, then." ^^ Many of the shadowlands demons can taint you even as they die, as well. Does taint apply seperately to body and soul, or will I need contingencies against both if either is touched? There are no contingencies. If you are tainted, you are doomed. I imagine amputation of the soul is incredibly unpleasent, but preferable to having infection spread. * HKenji shakes his head sadly. But, as you say, it is best to avoid it at all. I shall see what I can do about it. In a thousand years of history, Max, the taint has never been completely removed. Its growth can be retarded, even suspended for a time, but it cannot be removed. * Max makes note of that. "There is no antithesis? Some factor that, when brought in contact with the taint, yields a null answer?" Jade. But jade is not a cure. If you are tainted, the touch of jade will burn you horribly. Sometimes fire is the only cure for a plague. The jade does not burn the taint out. It kills the tainted one. As I said, there is no cure. I will ensure that we have a more than ample supply of jade. And ... well. I will do everything in my power to preserve us from this faux-god. I only know the most common of facts about the shadowlands. THe Crab will doubtless have many more instructions and warnings for us when we arrive. Guess this means playing meat shield'll be more fun thn usual, hmm? While in the Shadowlands, we will endeavour to avoid all battle. Hm... there exists a spell called "Heart of Iron". I wonder if I could find it and adapt one to 'Heart of Jade'... I'll do some research. Shall we go prepare the Headmistress for her return to the lands of the living? ^_^ We can't really get started on preparations for this journey before things are well and truly in place to repair and defend our home. * HKenji looks down at his food and quickly eats the eggs, mixed with a bit of bacon, and just about coughs it all up as he feels the spice. * HKenji stares down at the table as his eyes water. ...are you okay? * Max sounds genuinely worried. * Seylin hands Kenji a glass of juice. * Istvan hrms. "I'm gonna go down to my forge, see if I have enough supplies to at least get started on the forging I need to do. I know I'm not gonna have everything I need, but for now I ain't got access to more supplies." * HKenji grabs the juice and drinks deeply. * Seylin eyes Patrick. * HKenji whispers hoarsely, "Hot. Too hot!" What did you do? I said to surprise me, Patrick, not attempt to kill me. Oh... Um, here. *casts Prestidigitation, and tones down the flavor by a lot* Try it now? What? I didn't put anything too bad in there. Very spicy. Very spicy? That stuff's so diluted I can barely taste it. * HKenji stands up. "You must remember, I have dined for my entire life on fruits, rice, and fish." I think it shouldn't be there anymore... Rokugan has none of your exotic spices. I imagine the Scorpion would pay many koku for a recipe for the poison you call "sauce" Though I don't know how sensitive your tongue is, or how much flavor Patrick added. What, no roots? Everyone's gotta eat roots at least once. * Istvan eyes the others, looks out the window, mutters something in dwarven, and heads down to his forge. No significant spices. You will doubtless consider our food extremely bland. * Max holds up his hand, showing off a ring. "I probably won't eat much." I gotta bring some deathsauce with us then. ...is that the stuff you put on that ice cream you gave me, that looked like chocolate sauce? I was still tasting it a week later. No. This is the stuff that made me lose my voice for a week. * Max makes a disgusted face. Oh. I wasn't ehre for that one. It's worse? * Seylin nods. ...remind me not to try it. Okay. * Patrick grins. I told you you couldn't take it. ~_^ Next time, try not burning Kenji's tongue off. We don't really have time to waste on practical jokes. Kenji, you gonna be okay? Quite. We have things to do. Good. As soon as you're ready... I am ready right now. * Max floats to the door. "Then let's go." He smiles as he pushes up his glasses. Lead the way. * Max does! First to a shimmer in the air, which opens into a Magnificent Mansion where he's keeping his stuff, to retrieve funds and supplies his notes tell him are needed for a True Ressurection, thence starts floating a much longer distance - i.e. more than 100 feet - to wherever the headmistress's corpse probably is. What was it you wanted to talk to me about, aside from this task? * HKenji follows after Max, and begins outlining in uncertain terms what he wants. * Max nods, making notes, and doing some calculations, making more notes, getting some clarifications, and has quoted Kenji a price for materials by the time they get where they're going. [ Finding the Headmistress' corpse is not difficult, especially since Seylin told them where it was earlier. It looks as though her head was cut off, and not cleanly, either. Two ragged gashes mar her chest, as well, making the decapitation appear gratuitous. ] * Max wrinkles his nose, but speaks with clinical detachment bordering on callousness. "Okay. We should get her onto a table or bed, to serve as an altar for Will's spell. Probably best to put the head approximately where it should be in relation to the body, as well." I can get the setup mostly done for him; it's all on this page, here... *turns to an appropriate page in his Book* [ Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, Pat is up to something! Well, probably. He could be. Er, let's find out, shall we? ] * Seylin is sitting at the kitchen table, picking at her breakfast. * Will comes back into the kitchen and grabs himself something to drink from the fridge. * Istvan comes back upstairs. "Well, good news is that I have enough supplies to do a lot of the work. Gonna need to see what survived at the school's forge, though, 'fore I know how long it's all gonna take." * Seylin looks up. "Is there bad news?" * Istvan points out the window. Other than what we already know? Not likely. Well, yeah, besides... everything. * Seylin turns her attention back to her food. * Istvan goes to the fridge, grabs a piece of some sorta meat or another, slaps it on a plate, and sits down at the table with it. "Kenji and Max go to start with the raisings?" Yeah. Good. Wasn't sure I could be around Kenji much longer without starting some kinda fight. * Patrick downs the rest of his breakfast. "So what are your plans now?" (Bah, Isty, you just need to learn to handle it like Max does. Just treat Kenji with as much respect as he's earned.) Take out my anger on the steel I need to forge, mostly. Only reason I haven't already slugged him is that we need to be workin' like some kinda team to get through all this. * Seylin takes a sip of juice. "Not just some kind of team... we're going to have to work *very* well together." (Hmm. I probably should have put single quotes around 'some kind of team.') (Insert portentious music of doom here.) And my throttlin' Kenji won't help matters. Much as I might wanna. Noooo, I would say it wouldn't. That said, I'm going to see about what else I can make. I've already got a meathod to apply alchemist's fire to a blade, giving it fire for a short duration. Will it damage the blade? Not a magical one. Which is the important part. Good. 'cause I can do basic repair jobs on the road, but fixing a melted blade would be an issue. * Patrick snickers. "Wouldn't want to ruin your handiwork, no." Forget ruining my handywork. Hitting someone with a melted blade wouldn't work very well. Unless that blade is still liquid metal, yes. * Istvan rubs his head. "I shoulda just killed her when I had the chance." We all should have. Can't look back and change it, though. ^_^ * Seylin sighs. * Istvan stands up. "Gonna go see what survived at the school forge. Mood I'm in, all I'll do is depress you guys if I stick around." No, it's okay. * Istvan looks back as he heads out the door. "It really ain't." * Seylin sighs again. "Okay, it's not. Whatever." * Patrick thinks. "Hold on there Istvan." * Patrick gets up and heads to the kitchen. * Istvan waits at the door. * Patrick returns with a couple quarts of ice cream and grins. "Here ya go, for those who are still workin' on things. That includes you." He throws the two quarts one at a time in Istvan's direction. * Istvan catches them, none too gracefully, but it works. "I'll gets this to the guys on patrol before I go to the forge. Thanks." *heads out* [ And so they went off to help with rebuilding the campus, each in their own way. Session End! ]