Space Adventure! [IC]

[Sliver]

Chapter 1: The Only Chapter
Space Bobs in Space


Petugla, Human District, Stillwater Inn

Today The Guild has settled in its entirety in the Stillwater Inn. In not entirely unrelated events, a few days ago The Guild's guildhouse has been put under lockdown. The Guild's resident imbecile, Glimraw the Tinkering Gnome, has decided that his PAC could benefit from a working nose. The poor thing was so overwhelmed with the new sense that it could not help itself but smell everything it could lay its nose on. Incidentally, it sniffed out a whole case of Magic Crystals that Bradinlo had acquired. Bradinlo had insisted that his name is pronounced Brad-en-lo, and not Bread-in-law, as many others insist on calling him to their amusement and in spite of his protests, even though it made no sense. It did annoy him, and that was enough. Breadinlaw had recently repossessed a shipment of stolen Magic Crystals and was resting in the guildhouse, but Glimraw's PAC got his hands on the crystals and did what any reasonably suicidal PAC would do and ate them. Keep your PACs from Magic Crystals, folks. It's like nobody reads the user manual...

The magical explosion that scattered the little bugger around the guildhouse left such intense magical residue that the entire Guild evacuated. Now they were almost alone in the Stillwater Inn. It's not that they kicked out the civilians from the inn, but while the members weren't strictly adventurers, they thought and behaved like them. And as such, they attracted a lot of attention to them, so if you didn't have something that needs to be done or sold, you would rather be as far away from The Guild's members as possible.

The temporary quest board that was set up by the inn's wall was mysteriously lacking in the space missions department. After the incident, nobody is too enthusiastic in entrusting The Guild with a spaceship. After all, if they managed to blow up their own guildhouse, what would they do with a fragile, sensitive, spaceship? That fact caused a lot of people to be upset with Glimraw, especially the sort that disliked dealing with the people of the city and liked the open Space. Needless to say, when they had to deal with people, they weren't too pleasant. They almost managed to force Glimraw to sort out the guildhouse without a protective suit, but they were convinced that losing his PAC was harsh enough of a punishment. After he sorts out the guildhouse, of course. The people felt odd after the explosion to the magical blast. Some tried to convince them that it was just in their heads, but when Magrit came with blue hair, everybody almost lost it. She nearly didn't live to regret her prank after she started laughing. People didn't like strange hair colors in the best of days, and these weren't that kind.

Losing one's PAC wasn't a minor inconvenience. You had to get a new one, and that meant to deal with the government. The fee wasn't too harsh, not for a member of The Guild, but the paperwork… The thought of all the bureaucracy caused even the bravest of the fools to shudder. Besides, nobody would even speak to you before you pay the required fees, and when you consider that your PAC is your only way to access your money, things start to get all… Tangly. It's not like you can show someone your identification papers so they can take money from your account, because your PAC is also your identification. And nobody respects a good ol' IOU anymore.

Getting a new PAC is so troublesome that when the thieves steal someone's PAC and drain his money out of it, they turn back and return the PAC. Because while they are thieves, they are not heartless enough to force someone to deal with… *Shudder* Bureaucracy. Many petitions were started to get some alternative means of payment and identification in case of a stolen PAC, but all were rejected. Coincidentally, the thieves were the ones who pushed for the change the most, just so their job becomes a bit easier, especially with the guards lying in wait by the victim, waiting for the thieves to come back with the PAC.

Among the various adventurers are you guys!

Vael'Kerym, the doubtfully legendary daring outlaw rogue! Maybe? What is under that mask?!

Ventose, the one who thinks highly of himself! He is very... Popular.

Servius, the righteous ghoul! People say that when he was alive, he liked to see things burn. But he's good now. He really is! Probably... Well, undead can't feel the heat, can they? So he won't go burning... Well, only if you are wicked. Right?

Zaklinan, that bald dude that I swear I saw two floating heads talking to him while he was researching that piece of space rock that came a while ago. I swear he would rather be floating in the void rather be around us... How many hats does he own, anyway?

Aster... That petal? She is constantly talking about flowers! What is she looking here for, really? Well, she is pretty jolly and her singing isn't as horrible as the usual bards, so she can stay.

In the corner, the poor excuse of a quest board stands.

Note: It is common courtesy to write your name under any quest you actively undertake.

Mah precious sword has been stolen! I demand the bastards who stole my sword pay dearly and my sword is returned to me! Great wealth and favor upon those who retrieve it! Great favor! Small wealth...

-- Crate of House Ricketyline, Noble and an avid collector.

Required volunteers to test out a new method of travel. The Teleportation Fields! With this method, traveling between the cities will be fast an easy and this is your chance to be part of modern history!

-- Mellillally Mallistall, Wizard of High Velocity.

**This note carries the mark of a red crown, the stamp that symbolizes great risk. Undertaking tasks stamped with the red crown carries high risk of death and the Guild classifies it as suicide.**

Richard Martigony has gone missing. Despite what his name suggests, this is not usual of him. For further detail, visit the Alchemist Guild in the [Mark Appropriate] Human District/Elven District/Dwarven District/Guildhouse under construction, see _______.

**A few names are written on this notice**

Residents complain that a house in their neighborhood can't be sold for a long time due to a bad case of ghosts. According to them, anyone who comes to check it out is quickly chased out and refuses to talk to them. During some nights, they claim that barks can be heard. The Guard is too busy to deal with it.

-- Fross, the landlord.

A recent accident caused my skeleton assistant to break. I need someone to go to Imcuru and fetch me a new one! Come to me for the gold for the skeleton. Any other expenses can be covered by your rich guild or something!

-- Gallif the Smith

**Guild will take travel fees out of the reward**

My son is really lonely so I'm trying to organize him a party to cheer him up but he doesn't have any friends. Can you send a few nice folk over? I can only offer a few silvers and cake, but it would mean the world to him!

Larice Froth, mother of Scotty Froth

**The date is for today!**

[miinstrel]

Ventose sits uncomfortably among the ruffians and vagabonds choking the inn with the stench of the unbathed. He'd only recently joined The Guild and hadn't been as fond of the old building as some of the others who lamented its untimely demise. The inn, while smaller, was close enough to the original for functional purposes, though he didn't enjoy having to watch where he placed his hands... so many sticky surfaces here.

Wine in hand, Ventose sauntered over to the job board, his furs and robes swaying with each step and obviously out of place in such an establishment. A sigh escaped his lips at the lack of jobs off this rock. Wasn't that the whole reason he'd come? Maybe he should just return to SECS and bide his time...

The page stuck to the board listing a missing alchemist caught his eye. The elven district was one of the nicer parts of town; perhaps that would make a good starting point for this new venture. Drawing a quill from his pack, he makes his mark upon the page.

[Archmage1]

Aster was rather sad at the loss of the old guildhouse, because it was her prank that had caused it. She had purchased some genuine PAC bait from one of the merchants that set up along side the big clear areas, and she had put it in the box, hoping to switch everyone's PACs around, something that was sure to lead to a good time, but instead of all of the PACs coming, only Glimraw's PAC had shown up, and, without company, he decided to eat the crystals, and it made Aster feel terribly guilty at the waste of a good prank. Plus the Guild house had to be evacuated, but it was boring anyway, so that wasn't an issue.
She did keep quiet about her involvement, as she was embarrassed at the failure of her prank.
When they had arrived at the new guildhouse, she had eagerly explored it, before deciding that the roof was the best place, so she planted a few flowers, just to keep her company.
Still, she hadn't found any flowers lately, so she decided to take a look at the quest board. She waited for someone to open the door so she could come in(No one heard her knocking), and with her came Sith, the winged cat that liked her, and Gem, the friendly hummingbird. Plus the dour, boring PAC she had been given, who was always complaining that she wasn't doing things properly, but what did he know about fun?
As she read the gigantic letters on the quest board, her mind kept thinking about that poor kid.
Aw, it's his birthday, and he's going to be all alone? Everyone should have friends, so maybe he could make some? I'm sure I could find some people who would come over for cake, and maybe I could even sing! The other ones all look much too silly, but this is important!

Aster flies closer to the notice board, and carefully draws her mark, an Aster, holding the pencil in two hands to manage it. That done, she flies over to the door, hoping that someone might be willing to let her out, so she could get started. Sith, Gem, and her PAC follow without comment, although Sith sits down, and Gem lands on the edge of the door.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Zaklinan returns from his usual post-breakfast stroll around the neighborhood (the only time he can hear himselves think, some days, with all the unruly chaos at the new headquarters) to find Aster and her entourage at the door. "Good morning Aster, Gem, Sith," he greets them with a tip of his hat--number seventeen, a tight-fitting gray derby, suitable for wearing in enclosed spaces--as he opens the door and slips through. "I take it you found a good quest today? Best of luck with that."

He wends his way through the room to the quest board and quickly scans the titles for anything related to space travel; not finding any, unfortunately, he goes back to read them more closely. Hmm. This teleportation field experiment could be interesting, he thinks to himselves. The guild gives every quest involving teleportation a red crown, but the latest research we've read suggests that the targeting process has been improved dramatically in recent years. Perhaps it could even be adapted for space travel, one of these days. Thoughts? The general trend in targeting may involve increased accuracy, his collective responds in clipped tones from somewhere in the back of his mind, but in the specific case of Wizard Mallistall, seventeen and one-half of the subjects in her nineteen most recently-published papers suffered irreparable damage due to off-target arrivals. ...and a half? Yes. Ah. Pass, then.

Seeing no better options available, he adds his name to the list of names under the missing alchemist quest after Ventose adds his own. If no one else has found the alchemist yet, one more searcher couldn't hurt. "I see we both had the same idea," he says to Ventose. "Would you prefer to work together on this one, or split up to cover more area?"

[miinstrel]

'Would that we could split four ways, eh?" He replies wryly with a smile. "We may as well gather the preliminaries together and decide then. Besides," he lowers his voice, perhaps subconsciously, "it's been a while." He swirls his wine and takes the final sip, setting the glass down on the table nearest them despite it being occupied by a pair of swordsmen.

"Have you business to attend before we depart? Seems several others are already on the trail which means we need to catch up if we're to find him first."

[Archmage1]

Aster smiles happily as Zaklinan lets her out of the tavern, and waves as she flies past.
"Thanks, Zak! The door was too heavy. Good morning to you too! I'm going to help someone to have a party, and to make some friends! It's important!"
Sith nods his head regally as Zaklinan offers him his due, before he proudly walks out of the door, and Gem chirps before zooming out, chasing after Aster.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

"Splitting four ways wouldn't be a good idea, I need to stay focused. The last time I let my mind wander, it didn't come back for a month," Zaklinan responds, perfectly deadpan. For most people the statement would be a joke, and a lame one at that, but with a synad, who knows?

"I don't have anything else on my agenda today," he continues, "so we can depart whenever you're ready. Just a moment." He doffs his derby and delicately places it in the pack on his back, then withdraws another hat--number twenty-three, a black and indigo checkered deerstalker, suitable for wearing while seeking out obscure or hidden information--and places it on his head. "There. Shall we?"

[Sliver]

You leave the Stillwater Inn and head towards the address written on the notice. There are clouds above you, which is unusual for Petugla. In Ignima, sure. There are bodies of water there and they go up and dance high above... But In Ignima, water is created by magic and distributed as needed. Your PAC says something behind you, probably describing what is going on with the clouds, but who listens to that?

You see a small house, quite shabby looking. Outside, a woman with streaks of graying hair among dull brown sits on a chair and prepares colorful decorations for the upcoming party. A skinny cat is lying under the chair, batting lazily at the moths that fly around.

You leave the Stillwater inn. Above, fluffy things gather. "Clouds!" One of the PACs calls out. "They create water above us that will fall on our heads. They say that Terrum used to have that. It's called... Climax, I believe. The Old Ones must have been quite odd, to call falling water that..."

[Archmage1]

Aster and friends head over to her, with Aster smiling cheerfully, Sith looking aloof, and Gem looking around nervously.
"Hi! Are you Larice Froth? I saw your notice on the board, and I thought that no one should have no friends, so I was hoping that I could help! Does he know anyone? Maybe I could convince them to come! Everyone likes cake! And Parties!"

[miinstrel]

"Well that sounds entirely unpleasant! And it will just ruin these furs," he complains, holding an arm out to admire the softness of his gown. "Let's hurry before we're soaked through; this isn't Bloop..."

As they move quickly along the busy streets hearing other PACs expounding upon these 'clouds' every few steps, Ventose considers the strange, fluffy things. So this is what Terrum was like? Running for cover from falling water? No wonder the gods decided to start over...

[PairO'Dice Lost]

"Luckily for me, I waterproofed most of my clothes and all of my hats after an unfortunate incident with a careless gnome in a potions laboratory," Zaklinan says with a grin. "You can borrow a coat if you'd like, or Syn can just dry you out once we get there if my humble coat doesn't suit your lofty wardrobe."

He listens to the chattering PACs as they near the Elven District guild house, frowning at their explanations. "I'm fairly sure 'clouds' are part of a climate, not a climax," he says, pronouncing it cly-MAH-tay like someone who'd only ever seen the word in some old dusty tome and never heard it said aloud, "but Ancient History was never one of my favorite subjects. I hope this isn't a byproduct of yet another crazy magical experiment from which one of us will need to rescue someone."

[Sliver]

The woman looks up to you and smiles with surprise. "Oh yes, yes. That's me." She giggles awkwardly. "I have never seen anything like you!" The woman must not leave her neighborhood much. "Excuse me!" She says and blushes. "Where are my manners?!" She looks around, as if actually trying to find them. "Oh no, Scotty wouldn't like that. He and the kids around don't really like each other..." She shakes her head. All her movements seem very exaggerated. "I'm still getting things organized, ready for the party... You know how it is! Do you want anything to drink? We have... Water! Yes, we have lots of that." She says, motioning to a table. On the table is a jug of what is probably the promised water, a few, but not many, cups, and on a plate what seems to be a loaf of bread that is kinda cake shaped, but you doubt kids would be too excited to come to that.

"Is that all?" She says, tilting her head. "Nobody else from the guild will come?"

"Climate, sir?" Syn asks. "Are you certain? The wizards seemed quite sure. They said that sky-water must be called Climax because the sky stores water until it can't, and then it's wetness pours out and... They seemed very embarrassed when they explained."

You reach the white stone bridge to the Elven District. The smooth structure is very long, taking an adult about half an hour to cross, and there is nothing quite like it anywhere among the known cities. The bridges are also the only areas where the Air Field is so narrow that a very tall man on stilts will not be able to cross. Fortunately, it's rarely an issue. They can just get off the stilts anyway.

You notice two men talking quietly by one of the homes. Normally, it wouldn't attract too much attention, but they stop talking as soon as they spot you and glare at you, trying to look intimidating enough that you wouldn't want to approach, without being too intimidating that you might call the Guard. It's a very specific level of intimidation and their faces redden in an attempt to maintain it, somewhat ruining the effect. They are probably not masters of the field.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

"I'm quite certain," Zaklinan replies to Syn, his voice taking on a very enthusiastic I-know-something-about-this-and-am-dying-to-share tone that Ventose would probably recognize as Zak's collective mind bubbling to the surface and taking over his speech centers. "During our term at iSail, we dabbled in environmental psychology--you know, how Bloop residents think in three dimension more easily because they move in a three-dimensional environment underwater, or how Ignima residents tend to be very uncomfortable in the dark because they're so used to the light--after reading Merrilen's paper Potential effects of alien environments on First Contact scenarios. Most of the research is purely hypothetical, of course, but in the reading there was mention of cli-ma-tes, and rock structures called 'vulcahnos' that are constantly on fire, and trees that grow so tall that the top would reach outside a planet's Air Field...."

He continues talking animatedly all through the trek over the bridge, only stopping to let the overmind take control again when he notices the two men glaring at Ventose and him. "Do you think those gentlemen would be worth investigating?" the synad murmurs to his companion. "They may be related to the alchemist's disappearance, but then they're so obvious that someone else would have questio solved this quest by now if they are."

[Archmage1]

Aster smiles cheerfully, pleased to be admired.
"Thank you! There isn't anyone else like me! Well, the other petals, maybe, but I'm looking for flowers, and they aren't!"
As she looks over the food and water, she smiles cheerfully.
"It looks wonderful! Maybe I could speak to Scotty? There must be someone that he would like to see at his party! Maybe someone he likes?"
When she is asked about the rest of the guild, she looks a bit sad.
"They all want to do things like finding people, or running errands... they never think of just having fun! The sillies. But I'm here, and so is Sith, and Gem!"

Sith wanders over, and says hello to the cat, clearly showing off a bit. Gem darts off, and examines the flowers.

[miinstrel]

Ventose listens with a genuine interest for a while as Zak's other self takes the helm. After several minutes, however, he finds himself more interested in the architecture of the bridge and wondering if enormous trees like that could be grown here. Perhaps he would try. That'd show those seelie fools.

"They are a bit obvious aren't they?" he mutters back. Then amplifying his voice enough for the two thugs to easily overhear as they walk past but not so loud as to be obvious, it's a very specific level of amplification, he says to Zak, "Still, we better hurry if we're to find that alchemist. I heard a ransom note was received at their Guild just a couple hours ago."

Watching for any kind of reaction or recognition from the intimidating pair, and I'm ready to chase 'em down if they bolt! Potential checks needed:
Bluff: [roll0]
Spot: [roll1]
Sense Motive: [roll2]

[Sliver]

"Well..." Larice says and taps her chin, indicating that she is thinking. "Oh!" She raises a finger. "He likes me! But I'm already here..." She frowns and then shrugs. As you look at her you realize that what you see with her, is probably what you get. There is nothing underneath, not with this one. Then she points a finger. "There Scotty is! Look at him, playing with his toys."

Scotty sits some distance away and creates an epic battle scene with a couple of dozen colored wooden soldiers and horses. He looks to be about six years old and he is clearly annoyed by the pointy party hat that usually comes with any party, because that one lays wrinkled and some toy soldiers use it as shelter.

The men continue to glare at you as you walk past, pretending to speak casually. They try to hide it, but a mix of relief and confusion shows on their faces.

[Archmage1]

Aster, the evercheerful petal, smiles, before speaking(In a cheerful tone)
"Ok, I'll go and say hi!"

And with that, she was off, flying over to Scotty, hovering nearby.
"Hi Scotty! I heard it's your birthday today! Do you want anyone to come? You seem lonely, and that's sad! No one should be lonely on their birthday! Not even that evil witch Grenla, who no one likes!"

[Sliver]

Scotty looks at you. "I'm not lonely. I have many friends!" He says stubbornly and motions at the toy soldiers. "And I've got Larice, too. Who told you I'm lonely? Was it Larice? What are you? Did you come from the Guild? Why are you looking for flowers?" He says and reaches out, attempting to hold you.

[Archmage1]

Ooh! Did you read my mind? Nifty! What am I thinking of now?
(A unicorn)

"Surely you have more friends than just your mother! Maybe a child next door? A cat? As for me, well, I'm me!"
She seems quite excited about that.
"And I'm here because I saw the message at the guild, so I thought I would come and say hi! No one should be alone for their birthday! And everyone should look for flowers! They're lovely!"
When he starts to reach for her, Aster darts over to the soldiers.
"Who are they? Are they fun? Are they like your flowers?"

[miinstrel]

Ventose continues past the two men until just after they breathe their sighs of relief before turning on a heel and rushing back to them, 1 finger in the air shouting "a-HA! I'm on to you, bubs! What do you know? Where's the alchemist?!? WHAT ARE THEY GOING TO DO WITH THE RANSOM MONEY?!?" as he draws uncomfortably close for yelling. He pauses a second, forgetting for a moment he made the ransom note up. "Wait. Scratch that last one, but ANSWER THE REST OF THEM!"

Intimidate if needed: [roll0]

[Sliver]

"No, they're lame!" Scotty says and pouts as you dart from his hand and into the miniature battlefield. Well, it is your size, actually!

You examine one of the soldiers and then you notice that a lot of them surround you, frozen with their swords drawn and pointing at you, forming a circle. Scotty claps eagerly.

"You came after me?!" Suddenly one of the soldiers exclaims and leaps behind another, grabbing it. "You'll never get me alive! Don't move or this one gets it!" It says and holds his sword up to the throat of the toy soldier. Well, it is the only one that is moving, at least.

"We don't know any alchewatshisface or whatever." Grunts one dumbly. "Get lost, fancy pants!"

The other one clumsily tries to fix something under his shirt and takes a few steps back.

[Archmage1]

Aster looks momentarily disappointed to hear that.
"I'm sure that the aren't all lame. The small giants are usually lots of fun!"

She looks startled to see the soldiers moving, and surrounding her. Especially the pointy swords, looking rather nervous about it.

When it becomes clear that they are playing, though, she claps delightedly, and sings, a high, clear tone. Soon enough, four dancing lights, shifting through the rainbow, start dancing around.

[jojolagger]

Checking over the quest board carefully, Servius considers his options.

Some noble whining about a theft? Maybe, but dealing with nobles is usually such a pain.
Oh! Something with magic?.. Mellillally ... haha no. Not worth dying again.
Missing Alchemist? Probably worth checking out, but it seems many are already looking into it. Ventose is on it, and he headed out with Zak. Between them those two should have it sorted out quickly.
Haunting? I am quite suited to deal with ghosts and other undead. And no-one else seems to want to. Best option so far.
A trip to Imcuru? With travel fees taken out of reward? Not worth my time.
A kids party? Aster's already on it, won't need my help. I could drop by and do a bit of a light show if I have time thought.
Looks like I'll head to the haunted house, then drop by the party if there's time.

Having decided on a course of action, Servius signs his name under the haunting quest, and heads out.

Sorry for the delay. Everything significant to be done before finals was due friday.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Zaklinan takes a few steps toward the man fumbling with his shirt, an expression of mild concern on his face. "Pardon my friend's enthusiasm, we're just looking for someone we know who managed to get himself lost. Do you need some help with that, sir?" He rests a hand close enough to the rapier on his belt to dissuade them from trying anything, but far enough away from it to imply that the position could be coincidental; he's going for a very specific level of threatening.

[Sliver]

The soldier looks deflated that you had seen through their play so quickly, but Scotty looks at the dancing lights, intrigued. "No, they are lame. They don't know how to play right. And before you start at it, there is a way to play right. You can't just prance about hoping to be entertained! Come inside, I'll show you!" He stands abruptly and motions for you to follow as he opens the door to their little home and waits.

"We ain't no lost and found!" Says one, seemingly proud at his joke.

"N-no sir, I'm m-m-m-managing jus-ju-just f-ff-ffine..." He stumbles over his words as he trembles, inching backwards and looking at your hand. His own hands seem satisfied about the placing, so they tuck the shirt in place and nothing is sticking out or anything. Except he looks a bit more rounded than when you saw him a moment ago.

You leave the Stillwater inn. Above, fluffy grayness gathers. "This is a creation of the wizards' guild." Your PAC says. "They say these are called clouds. According to their research, the sky collects water from the land and stores it until it can hold no more water, and then it lets it out on those below. They say that the scriptures called it Climax, because many dramatic things end in wetness."

As you approach your destination, you notice the tension rise. People hurry away from you and you overhear a little girl asking her mother, "mommy, is that the ghost fro-" she can't finish the obvious question due to being shushed.

You see a small house, it's entrance is boarded up with rotting planks. Not too far away is a nicer-looking house, at least compared to the poor ones around you, which is probably owned by Fross.

[Archmage1]

Aster looks vaguely insulted. Her not knowing how to play? It was what she was best at! But... two people do make it much harder.
"Of course you can't just wait around, hoping to be entertained! That's boring! There are so many games that could be fun to play, but... More people would be needed to make them fun! Like petal in the middle, or hide and seek, or name the flower! You do know those, right? Ooh! Inside? There could be all sorts of things in there! Fun!"

She smiles, and follows him inside, Sith and Gem following(Along with the boring, unmentionable PAC).

[miinstrel]

Ventose turns his attention to the man with the stutter and flips on his feyish charms, dropping his hostility. "Terribly sorry if I frightened you. Been a bit on edge lately with this job. What do you say we buy you a round of drinks as an apology? Plenty of fine Elven establishments nearby."

Using my Charm Person SLA (Will DC 12) on the stammering one with something in his shirt.

[jojolagger]

Deciding to not head in to the 'haunted house' blind, Servius heads to the nicer house, knocking on the door and informing anyone who answers "I'm looking to speak to Fross about the haunting."

[Sliver]

Zaklinan and Ventose

The man shakes his head, resisting the charm. "Ugh, I feel s-s-sss-strange... Stop that!"

"Watcha doing?" Growls the other man. "Enough with words. We ain't talking to you so get lost before things go bad."



Servius

The door opens to reveal a little human girl, well, mostly human. There is something sharper to her features... She sizes you up and down before shouting. "Daddy, the ghost is here. It wants to talk to you about the house. Maybe it's ready to pay up rent for all these years!" She turns back to you, grabbing you by the arm and dragging you into the house. "Daddy and I are playing!" She explains as you enter the living room.

In the living room sits a bearded man on a stool, in front of a rather small table. Around the table are dolls and all of them have cups in front of them. You also notice that the man, staring wide-eyed at you, is wearing a pink dress.

Deciding that the only way to salvage what is left of his dignity is to act as if nothing is out of order, the man places his cup of pretend-tea unto the table and examines you. "You look too real to be a ghost, but I'm not one to judge appearances." He coughs. "Well now, you were there before my time, but it's still money you owe so be straight with me. How long have you been haunting that place?"



Aster

You fly into the house and Scotty closes the door behind your friends. You hear something creek from above and as you look up, you notice tied to the ceiling, is a man. Or something that tries to look like a man?

"That's Cringe, the Doomed Clown." Explains Scotty.

"That's right." Says Cringe, his voice is gloomy and dreadful. "I'm the best clown around. Kids seem to hate clowns, so I come with suffering built-in, so to speak. I'm just getting ready for the act, hanging around in the meanwhile, you know?"

"He is very good!" Says Scotty's PAC as he climbs up and sits on the boy's shoulder, shifting his tiny shoulder hat.

"He is absolutely wonderful." Says Scotty in a nonchalant voice that might be an attempt to mimic Cringe's tone. "Forget about him! Let's go down to the basement!" He says and opens a door.

[Archmage1]

As Aster comes inside, she looks around, taking in the dilapidated state of the home. To her surprise, there is a man tied to the ceiling, but when she starts to fly up to investigate, Scotty notices, and speaks up. Soon, Cringe is introduced, and Aster looks delighted.
"You're a clown? I saw a clown once! But he looked sad, not like you! Do you have a good trick planned? I like tricks! They're lots of fun! But sometimes they aren't, but other than that, they are!"
At this point, Scotty mentions the basement.
"There's a basement! This house is a palace! It's gigantic! Much bigger than mine, and nicer too! Although the gardens need a lot of work. You must love living here!"
The cavalcade of Petal, tressym, hummingbird, and serious looking PAC continue to follow Scotty around the house, all of them looking around as they go.

[miinstrel]

Ventose looks to Zak with a quirked eyebrow, seeing what he thinks they should do with the obviously-up-to-no-good street toughs.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Zaklinan gives himselves the mental equivalent of a quirked eyebrow after Ventose gives him one. What do you think?
I believe they are more scared than threatening, his oracle mind opines.
I could've told us that, grouses his collective mind.
Yes, we're all very proud. I was saying?
I estimate a seventy percent chance that they are involved with the case of the missing alchemist, a twenty percent chance that they will attack us preemptively, and a forty-six percent chance that they will be inclined to talk if presented with overwhelming force.
We aren't really a fan of "overwhelming force."
But they do not know that.
True. Do I see any problems on our end?
I do not foresee any serious injuries in any of the likely immediate futures.
All right then. Thank me very much.

The whole mental exchange only takes an instant, and once it's concluded Zak gives the toughs a slightly threatening smile. "On the contrary, my friends, you are talking to us, evidenced by the fact that you have to talk to us to threaten us. Talk is all we're asking of you, and if you tell us why you seem so nervous about this missing friend of ours and why you felt necessary to hide something under your shirt, we'll leave you alone and go about our business. If you don't...well, you know how crazy we Guild members are. The voices in my head might tell me to do something...unfortunate."

I certainly would not! I merely told me that the most likely--
It's just a figure of speech.
Ah, right. I always forget about that one.
Well, I don't know about me, but I'd tell you to do something to him. I hate playing detective. Can we get on with it?

Intimidate check to persuade the toughs, including his daily Intimidate use of Cunning Knowledge:
[roll0]

[Sliver]

Zaklinan and Ventose

The thuggish looking man steps back, raising his hands. "We don't know anything about an alchemist, honest!" He says, his dumb act suddenly gone. "We were just doing business. Don't call the guards on us..."

"L-l-l-look... We are ho-ho-honest ffffolk." The other man speaks. "I j-j-j-jujust wwwwanted to tttry this stu-tuff..." He raises his shirt slightly, revealing a brown package covered in childish stickers.



Aster

"I can move my vitals around." Says Cringe. "Very useful when the kids want to take a stab at me. All in good spirit."

Scotty looks amused at how impressed you are as you fly down into the basement. It is dark, but your dancing lights light the room and reveal many wooden figures. They are similar to the toy soldiers the boy played with, except they are "giant" (human) sized and the wooden clothes they wear are fancier. Not for battle, but a ball.

"Your games sound dreadful, little one. Name the flower? You must know them all by heart! Where is the fun? Hide and seek? So pointless. Everything that you want can be found right here." He motions to his head. "Close your eyes."

[Archmage1]

Aster looks at Cringe a bit oddly as he says he can move his vitals around.
"That sounds fancy! I wonder if I have vitals... But I don't want to be stabbed, that seems like it would be no fun at all!"

After she heads down, she looks around the basement, noting that there are even more giants here, but only until she realizes that they are wooden.

She looks offended when he says that her games are no fun.
"Name the flower is lots of fun! You need to figure out who has what flowers, and then name them! It's really tricky, because everyone passes the flowers around all the time! But it's really fun, since there's dancing, and singing, and honey! Hide and seek is lots of fun too! You never know who you will find! They're fun because you never know what the others are going to do!"

When he motions, though, she smiles.
"Ooh! Is this one of your games? Yay!"
She flies over, and lands on his head, before closing her eyes.
Sith, who had followed them down, just lies on the stairs, watching, and Gem settles between his wings. Both of them are observing silently. The PAC stands nearby, waiting for a command.

[miinstrel]

Ventose steps forward slowly and purposefully, grabs the package off the man's stomach, opens it, and peers inside. He rolls his eyes and and a sigh escapes his lips as he shows the contents of the bag to Zak, his eyes up in the air in the opposite direction obviously annoyed at the waste of time.

After giving the thug a stern look, he tosses the bag back. "On your way then; we've no quarrel with you." As they're leaving he turns back and says over his shoulder, "And you may want to work on acting natural when doing business. Try to have a normal sounding conversation ready to switch to instead. And don't stare at people as they pass. It gets them wondering."

[Sliver]

Zaklinan and Ventose

"It keeps normal people away..." The thug mumbles as you walk away and head over the bridge to the Elven District. You are in luck, since the clouds let out their content in a grand climax, water pouring into the streets of the Human District. The thug and his customer curse and stalk off to find shelter.

The Elven District is much more impressive than the Human District, that is for sure. There aren't as many stalls and traders, nor is it as filthy. Houses are less packed together which allows for private gardens, some of which even have fruit-bearing trees in them! The houses are made off different kinds of woods, mainly, giving quite a natural feel to the place. Nothing like the Fey District, but it still makes the place feel warmer, even if the actual elves make anyone else feel unwelcome. It's a good thing that Alchemists tend to be too busy to notice.

It doesn't take long to find the Alchemist's guildhouse. Not with the random explosions and the distinct chemical stench.



Aster

You close your eyes. Nothing happens at first, but the sudden music startles you and you open your eyes by instinct. You are not on Scotty's head anymore.

The giants are no longer wooden, instead they spin and dance around you to the sound of the music. Your pals fly between them, trying to not get hit or swallowed by the crowd. Your dress is different, it's all purple and lacy... And the people aren't as giant as they were. No, that's wrong. It's you! You are their size.

The ceiling is high above you, but in the way that ceilings are meant to be high and not in the manner of you being so small. A giant crystalline chandelier scatters light over the ballroom, creating an almost magical effect.

A man in an impressive black suit approaches you. It's not normal black, not the dirty color of clothes that you see sometimes people wear. No, this is pure black, like the space around you. Whenever you aren't focusing on the suit, you feel like stars are born in it, sparkling in the unexplored void. The man bears a cunning resemblance to Scotty, if Scotty was twenty years older, perhaps. But then the man speaks up, and the childish voice cannot be disguised. It is Scotty.

"Why search outside, when Imagination can give so much more!" He says, and you can hear the capital I in Imagination. That's the real stuff, it says.

He bows and holds out his hand. "Shall we dance?"

[Gunhaven]

Roph woke up late. While his hummingbird, who he called Yug, had been busy attempting to wake him up since the sun shone upon the inn it was a hummingbird and he was human enough. It was his symbiont, Nayo, who finally woke him up with a little mental prodding just shy of Noon. After a little tidying up with the help of Yug and a reminder from Nayo of the needs of the three, Roph left the small area of the commandeered inn he called his own and headed to the hall proper. He ate a light lunch, feeding the occasional bit of bread to Nayo and getting a thimble of sugar water for Yug, before he finally decided that now would would be a good time to get to work.

He headed to the notice board and hummed quietly as he looked over the jobs. He dismissed the sword, research, alchemist, and party quests as soon as he read over them. Researching spells didn't suit him and neither did finding some sword for a nobleman while the alchemist quest and party were already tended to and most likely under control. After another moment he decided to go with the haunted house with the hope that a new quest would open up and he could get the other paladin he's heard about to aid him in some further quest. He left the inn and stretched out his wings before taking off. He closed his eyes briefly as he felt the wind through his hair, smelling the scent of the city below him, and briefly recalled his forested home. With a sigh he adjusted course and headed for where the haunted house was listed as being, guided as he was by Yug.

He plummeted to the house in question and pulled up just in time to not crash into the earth, leaving a puff of dust from his landing. Yug chirped in his ear angrily and set about cleaning him up while Nayo surveyed the area. The trio headed to the better kept house nearby and knocked on the door. As he waited for an answer he casually surveyed the area with the help of Nayo and Yug for any lingering evil or anything that stood out.

[Archmage1]

Aster's eyes are wide with shock as she looks around the vastly changed room, clearly admiring it. A couple of seconds after she opens her eyes, she is smiling, and clapping, clearly very impressed with the change. As she takes in the changes to everything else, she realizes that everything else got smaller, just for her, giving her the illusion of not being tiny, and she realizes that the world is very different when you aren't small. She looks over her clothing, taking in the changes, admiring the dress, still smiling.(Although she does hope that her dress is around somewhere. She loves her beautiful dresses). Next, she spreads her wings, and spins in a circle(Nearly falling over as she brings the spinning to a stop.), enjoying everything else being small too.
This is amazing! I never thought things would look so different if I was the same size!

When she sees the strange man, she just stares in amazement, starting when he starts talking, swiftly realizing that it is an aged version of Scotty.
"This is... it's amazing! I've never seen anything like it! But... Other people are what makes things truly fun."

When offered to dance, she smiles even more cheerfully, and takes his hand, wondering what sort of dancing he was thinking of.

[Sliver]

Aster

Scotty bows to you and takes your hand, moving closer to you and putting his other hand around your waist. He leads you around the dance floor, spinning with the music. "To invite those ugly beings into such beauty?" He asks, but his words flow right through you without settling in. "No... But you... You are prefect. You think wrong, but I can teach you..." The words only hang there for a moment, but they are gone before you can grab at them, their meaning slipping past you with barely a ripple.


Servius and Roph

The girl leaves her father in the awkward position and goes to open the door, looking at Roph. She looks at him, confused.

"Oh... Ummm... Are you about the ghost? Come in! It just came to pay rent..." She says and shoos you inside, where Servius is stands in front of a man in a dress. He does not seem too pleased about how his situation becomes even more public.

[Archmage1]

As she is lead around the dance floor, Aster is smiling cheerfully, enjoying herself, spinning around merrily. She always had loved dancing with the other petals, even if that usually involved honey, and flying.

[Gunhaven]

Roph chuckled at the situation he was ushered into. He smiled at who he could only assume was a father playing with his daughter and said, his voice feeling like a summer breeze, "That's a nice dress you have there. I would ask if I could join as well but..." He unfurled his Draconic wings that seemed to span as wide as he was tall and shrugged his shoulders. He turned to the little girl, knelt before her so he was eye level with her, and sincerely said "I'm sorry I disturbed your tea time. Perhaps after we pay rent we can play?" He turned his head after her acknowledgement and said "Just how much is the rent? Can we go inside the house before we pay? I've never been inside and would like to know what we're paying for."

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Zaklinan steps up and knocks loudly on the door, then grins at Ventose. "Hopefully they hear our knock over all the explosions."

[Sliver]

Zaklinan and Ventose

You knock on the door the to alchemist's guildhouse and wait. That's weird, because people either burst inside or use a ten foot pole to knock. The door bursts open as a man covered in green and yellow powders is escorted out of the guildhouse.

"We told you twice already, Fuzzit, to test that stuff at your own lab before!" Says one of the two men escorting the supposed Fuzzit. He is tall and chubby, with a flat hat and ear protectors. The hat is armored, but not like a helmet.

"I did!" Claims Fuzzit.

"Did you?" The other man asks. He is about the same height and build as the other one. Actually, he looks the same as the other man.

"No..." Fuzzit admits. "But I was so exc-"

"Oh come on, Fuzzit." The first throws his hands into the air. "You know how it works so please don't take us for fools. You do this one more time and you'll be the one to redecorate the kitchen and take on chamberpot duty for a month."

Fuzzit seems horrified and stands there as the two men close the door to the guildhouse.


Aster

Scotty leads you around the dance floor. The music goes slower and slower, the room becomes colder and colder, but you do not notice the change as you are drowned by the sensations of the dream.

Scotty finally steps away from you and pulls you by his hand towards a grand table. In your head, you don't see the white mist that is covering the table, but an impressive variety of foods. Some you know as delicious, some that you only heard off and the dream fills in how you think they should look like, and some you have not heard off, but your mind imagined how delicious food should look like.

"Go ahead, try some." Scotty says, nudging you playfully.

Roll a Will save along with your post.



Servius and Roph

The man looks at Roph, confused. "Well, the ghost here needs to pay the rent for all the years he was staying at that home." He motions at Servius. "Then if he wants to move out you can check the house and decide if you want it. But I have other offers too, so you know." The man says and turns to Servius. "And don't think about not paying! I posted on the Guild's quest board, I tell you. If you cause trouble, they'll come in and kick you to the Other World and then you'll be sorry that you ever stuck around after your death!"

[Archmage1]

Aster continues to enjoy the dance, still smiling happily, clearly enjoying herself.

Gem and Sith, on the other hand, are not as happy. The shivering hummingbird had landed on Sith, and had tried to nestle herself in among his fur in an attempt to warm up, and Sith was staying near the fire, quite cold.

When Aster is lead to the food table, piled high with many types of bread, honey from every flower imaginable, and the finest milk, her eyes go wide with shock and surprise.
"It's amazing! Is it for me? Can I have some? Please? It looks so lovely!"
She looks at him, hope clearly in her eyes(And warring with good manners)
When he nods to confirm, she smiles, clearly quite pleased, and carefully selects some wheat bread, and places some lavender honey on it, before she collects some milk, and takes a bite, already smiling in anticipation of what it would taste like.

[roll0] will save(+3 vs enchantment)(Immune to fear)

[jojolagger]

"I'm not actually the ghost. I'm from the adventurer's guild, just like my friend here. I thought I'd be wise to ask about the haunting before walking into a potentially dangerous situation." States Servius, still somewhat surprised that he was mistaken for a ghost. "What do you know about the haunting?"

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Zaklinan takes a step towards this Fuzzit and moves to clap him on the shoulder, but his oracle mind pipes up: We should be careful. Given the others' attitudes and the scent of the powders, we estimate a sixteen percent chance that the yellow substance is powdered salamander tail, a potent explosive triggered by high pressures or impacts. We wouldn't chance it if we were us. Zak immediately takes a long step to the side and turns the shoulder-clap into an offer of a handshake.

"Good morning, friend. We're here to inquire about the missing Richard Martigony. Do you know anything about that, or should we ask the gentlemen inside? And while we're here, is there anything we can do to help you with..." he motions to the powders covering Fuzzit "...that?"

[Sliver]

Aster

Scotty looks at you expectantly as you are about to take a bite, but your hand freezes short of your mouth.

If you eat in a dream, you won't want to leave.

You look down into your hand as your eyes adjust to what is really there. Kinda there. To see the dream underneath the dream? The solid mist rests within your hand.

"Is something wrong?" Scotty asks, concerned.

The music is slow and the dancers stop, staring at you.


Zaklinan and Ventose

Fuzzit looks at you for a moment, just noticing your existence. "Richard? Oh, yes. Of course." He mumbles to himself, repeating the name a couple of times. "Yes, his place is around... He kept to himself so we had someone check on him daily. Usually it was me..." Fuzzit grumbles. "I know they were just trying to distract me from my own experiments." As he speaks, a spidery shaped PAC crawls out of a small door built into the guildhouse's door. It crawls up Fuzzit's robes and gathers the dust, cleaning him quite well.

"So you guys are from the guild? Yeah, I can take you to Richard's house, if you want to check it out. We can talk on the way..." He says and starts walking in the direction of the bridge. After a few steps he stops due to his PAC pulling at his robe. He turns sheepishly and begins walking in another direction without saying a word.


Servius and Roph

"You're not the ghost?" The man repeats, doubtfully. "Are you sure? You look..." He pauses under his daughter's glare. "Otherwise-alive?" He tries and sighs with relief as she nods. "Well, if you are certain... Every time we tried to get into the house, stuff begins to shake and there is a terrifying howl... You know, I heard that the ghost took over right after the last man that lived there died? My father told me that they couldn't even clear his remains! We went to the temples but they laughed at us, saying that ghosts can't exist. The Church of Misplacement used big words at us, saying that anything without a body couldn't cling on to the rock..." He says, annoyed.

[Archmage1]

Aster looks over at him, and smiles.
"Of course not! It's just that I'm not really hungry, but it all looks so good, and I feel bad about not eating any, but I'm not hungry. Do you want some?"

[Sliver]

Aster

Scotty looks at the food still in your hand and then stares into your eyes. "Eat." His voice is cold, commanding. The other dancers stare at you, their eyes lack life, but filled with anger.

[Archmage1]

She looks at him, clearly upset now.
"You were being so nice, and now you're being so mean! I thought you were enjoying your party, but now you want to control me! That's not fun at all! Can you stop being mean? Please? I'm not hungry!"

[miinstrel]

"So... what is it you're working on with your powders?" Ventose asks, somewhat awkwardly making small talk. After some initial banter, he continues on to questions about the matter at hand.

"Did you notice anything odd with Richard or his visitors before the disapperance? Or was he working on an advanced invisibility potion? One never knows how experiments of that sort may turn out..."

[Sliver]

Aster

"I'm not being mean, but you are hungry. Try it, I'm sure you'll enjoy it." Scotty insists, but you won't be fooled again. The dancers move closer towards you, their forms are slowly stripped from color and turn wooden.


Zaklinan and Ventose

Fuzzit looks at Ventose. "The powders... Well, they are supposed to capture light and color when they are hit and then they paint the picture on paper. Instant and accurate painting! But... Well, they are more explosive than predicted..." He mumbles something to himself.

"Well, there is me and others... And the Guild came..." He muses, but his PAC speaks up. "They came after he disappeared."

"Oh, right. Of course... Well, I don't think so. But you know how it is... I'm only visiting him for a few minutes, making sure he doesn't forget to sleep and eat, that kind of stuff. He really gets focused on his work, you know? Very admirable. But no, not potions. Potions are magic, wizard stuff. They'd get all huffy if we started brewing up magical potions. No, we delve into chemistry and... Well, folks like to think that we are trying to change iron into gold, but that is just silly old legend. Besides, iron is much more useful. Oh, here is his place!"

Fuzzit points at a two story cottage, which while more impressive than most common homes in the Human District, is nothing much for the Elven District. As the other homes, this one has a garden as well, and a very well tended one at that, but it's meant for the less edible plants. You can hear the sounds of argument coming from inside.

[Archmage1]

Aster shakes her head, looking almost exactly like a little girl refusing to eat something that she should eat, out of a point of pride.
"I'm not hungry. Besides, your mother has a lovely cake for us to eat! You don't want to disappoint her, and not eat any, would you?"

She notices the dancers coming back, but turning to wood, and she looks sad.
"Aw... it's ending. Maybe we could try a game! Would you like that?"

[miinstrel]

"Ahh, of course, of course. Though you ought to work on that iron to gold thing... Afraid I'll have to disagree on the usefulness of the former."

Hearing the argument coming from inside, Ventose walks calmly through the garden admiring the flora. Urtica dioica. What a fabulous plant. Such a vigorous passion for life at the cost of everything around it. A strange choice for a garden; I wonder what he's using the nettles for? Quite irritating, those are. He opens the front door with a small creak and steps inside, moving to the edge of the room from which the verbal tirade is coming and listens patiently until noticed.

[jojolagger]

"Church of Misplacement assuming they know exactly how magic works? Why am I not surprised... More importantly, do you know how the last tenet died? Anything about him when he was alive? It could be important." Replies Servius, unfazed by the remark as to his vitality.

Might have been smarter to just head into the haunted house. Thinks Servius to himself. Ghost might not even react to another undead.

[Sliver]

Aster

"What are you talking about?" Scotty frowns and looks around. "It's not endi-" He quickly turns back at you. "I see... That's a shame. You shouldn't look too closely at a dream. Especially not mine. Things get... Unpleasant. You see, little one, you aren't allowed to leave. None of them were, and you aren't that kind of special." As he speaks, you grow smaller and smaller, returning to your normal size. Then, Scotty drops a small wooden doll that lands softly in front of you. It looks a lot like... You. "You will look wonderful in my collection." He says, darkly.


Zaklinan and Ventose

"Gold has some uses, but most people just like to look at it. You can take iron and color it and it's just as pretty..." He shakes his head, as if disappointed in the love of gold.

And then you enter.

"Look, this place is as clean as they come." Says a short, fat elf. His dirty look and greasy robes can only belong to one... Thing... You know. Merk from the Guild. Considering how lazy he is, it's a wonder that he is quite talented at wizardry. It's odd to see him shuffle on his fat little feet instead of sitting on top of his custom version of a floating disk. "That Rick must be quite a tidy one."

"Don't be stupid." Replies a woman, crawling about on the ceiling and examining it. Small horns poke through her red hair and a slender tail is wrapped around her waist. Prayn the tiefling warlock has quite good rogue training, so she makes everything that smells funky her thing. Figuratively funky. She doesn't appreciate foul smells. "Alchemists don't clean. You wizards do, but it's not really you either. It could be some maid at the guild or a servant that you made and forgot about, but your place is clean. Alchemists just have stuff get piled around until it blows itself up and they find a new place."

"I'm offended by such a precise description." Fuzzit says as he enters behind you.

"Oh, you guys came to check up the place too?" Prayn says with a smile and drops off the ceiling.

"I'm not stupid!" Merk exclaims suddenly.


Servius and Roph

"Well... My dad didn't talk much about him, but when I think about it... Yeah, he had a wife and a daughter but they moved out once the man died. They owned the house but couldn't pay for food and stuff since only he worked, so they sold it to my father and left. My dad cursed them thoroughly once he found that nobody wouldn't take the house, with the ghost and all... Let's see... Oh, and the man had a dog, I think..." The man laughs. "Would be funny if it's the dog!"

He coughs. "Anyway, I can't... I can't pay you lots], but if it's an actual ghost there then if you can bring proof to the jer-" He flinches under the glare of his daughter. "Off all the days your mother decided to visit granny at the elven district... Can't you go play outside, sweetie?"

The girl shakes her head. "It's watering outside."

"Watering?"

"You know, water falls from those puffy grey things the wizard made."

"Oh..." He shakes his head. "Already? Fine, whatever." He turns back to you. "If you can get them some proof, they might be willing to pay you for the information. At least the look on their faces will be worth it.

[Archmage1]

Aster looks even more horrified as she yells at him.
"You... you imprisoned all those people? That's unfair! And terrible! You should let them go! I thought you were almost nice, but this is mean!"

[Gunhaven]

With a smile and a slight bow of his head, Roph rose to his feet. He said to the man "Would you happen to know where the woman and child went? It may help us rid the ghost if we know more about the family." and turned to address Servius. "Do you want to check the house while I ask the family? I'm unsure if they'd have the same reaction as the one we received here if they saw you." As he stood around he mumbled something to the scarab on his right hand, hoping that his PAC could possibly aid in the endeavor.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

"Not specifically, no," Zaklinan tells Prayn while gesturing to Fuzzit, "but we were asking after Martigony when this fine gentleman told us about this place, so here we are." And we wouldn't be 'checking up the place' in any case, grumbles his collective mind. Atrocious grammar, that.
Collective, am I capable of being un-pedantic for just one minute? Zak asks himself with a sigh.
No, Overmind, I am literally incapable of not being pedantic. This is the one thousand, eight hundred and seventy-third time I've asked me about that. The two thousand, six hundred and forty-seventh, if I count questions involving synonyms of 'pedantic' or similar sentiments.
Do I really have to give us a number every time I ask?
Y--
Rhetorical question.

Zak steps farther into the room and takes a good look around. "I'm not exactly an expert on alchemists..." I am. Shut up. "...but if it's true that alchemists are incredibly messy people and don't tend to hire or animate servants to clean for them, that implies that someone else cleaned up for Martigony. The question, then, is whether it was done to cover up his disappearance. Have you found anything useful thus far?"

[Sliver]

Aster

"imprisoned? Oh no. I gave them beauty, purpose. Permanence. They were nobodies out there, came and went without anyone noticing. But here, they have a place. And so will you. Free them? I think not! What can you do about it?" He laughs as the wooden statues move closer, blades extending out of their hands.


Servius and Roph

"I'm sorry, my father was not a man of the written word. I only started keeping a written record lately..." He says, sheepishly.

"Only after Mommy found out that you weren't doing it and shouted at you!" Says his daughter, grinning and turns to you. "We took reading and writing lessons together!" She declares. Her father is obviously not sharing her pride.


Zaklinan and Ventose

"I don't think whoever did this thought about covering up the disappearance itself." Prayn says. "Hard to hide the fact that an alchemist is missing. Less noisy or dangerous. No, they probably cleaned this place up because of what Rich was doing..." She says and looks at Fuzzit.

Fuzzit shrugs. "We often take some odd job or another to pay the bills. Research is what we focus on, but it takes time and doesn't pay that well, even when you get results. We don't really bother each other about what we are doing besides research."

"But you must remember some materials that could help identify what he was doing." Merk tries.

"I'm sorry, but I really can't help you with that..." Fuzzit frowns. "Oh, Rich was always very specific about the materials he needed. Whatever he couldn't grow himself, he bought from... What was his name..."

"Glint, sir." Fuzzit's PAC quips after a few seconds of Fuzzit's mental struggle.

"Right, right. Glint... Is that his real name? A gnome, you know... He hangs around here and there. His house is at the dwarven district, my PAC will give yours the address if you want... Although he wouldn't be there until the evening. He normally sells his minerals and powders at the market, but with that watering the wizards are doing today at the Central District, I think he'll avoid the place today."

A PAC zooms into the room and unfolds a picture in front of Melk. "What's this?" He says and shows it to Fuzzit.

"Ah, that's a portrait." Fuzzit says after a closer examination.

After a moment of silence, Prayn decides to try to pry some more information out of the alchemist. "Of who?"

"Whom!" Fuzzit declares. "Lady Grace Martigony is a very important person, she earned to be a whom."

"I'm not sure that is how it works..." Merk says under his breath.

"She's Richard's mother. They are very close, but not too close that people might talk about how it's inappropriate... People like to talk about nobs that way, you know? Makes them feel better if the nobs are messed up... Shameful."

Prayn turns to the two of you. "She might know something... What do you think? Do you want to ask her or look for the gnome?"

[Archmage1]

Quick as a blink, Aster darts up to the ceiling, before making another appeal to Scotty's good side.

"Please let them go? They need to be set free! They did nothing to deserve this, and they would be much nicer if they were freed! How can you not see that! Being alone... that's no fun at all, but you could make friends, rather than take prisoners! Pleeaase! It would be better if they were free! For everyone!"

[roll0] diplomacy

[PairO'Dice Lost]

"My vote is for finding Glint, I have plenty of friends among the gnomes, and in the dwarven district in general. But Ventose, you'd fit right in with the other nobility, so we might have more luck with Martigony's mother. What do you think?

[jojolagger]

Seeing there's not much in the way of helpful info to be had, Servius glances over to Roph. "I think it's about time we check out the haunted house. You ready?"

If Roph responds the affirmative, Servius will bid farewell to the Man and his daughter, and head to the haunted house.

[Gunhaven]

Roph nodded his head and said to the father "We will be back with that ghost gone." He left with Servius and drew his crystal scimitar, feeling the slight hum of power and grinned. He moved to the side of his undead companion as they walked, just the slightest resistance before the feeling of a summer breeze washed over the fellow paladin. As they walked Roph said "I could use a good fight. Although I do wish it could've been a haunted field instead of a cramped up house. Nonetheless the blessing of summer should protect us against the ghost as long as we stay close." He paused at the door, feeling good about the coming test of their mettle, and motioned for them to just ram in the door instead of being polite.

[miinstrel]

"I suppose the gnomes will do, but that means we're sending this pair after his mother," he gestures to the other two guild members with a nod of his head. Turning to Prayn and Merk he adds, "Do remember she's a whom, will you?" He snickers a bit as he moves to get a glimpse of the photo.

Before they leave, Ventose takes a quick look around the house to see if he catches anything the others missed. Perhaps an uncleaned corner or scrap of plant that may give some indication what he's working on.
Search: [roll0]

I'd also like to have a look-see at the plants in his garden for the same reason. If he grows his own ingredients there should be a clue there.
Search: [roll1]
Know Nature: [roll2]

[Sliver]

Aster

Scotty scoffs at you. "But what will people say if I simply change my mind?" He says and walks over to one of the statues. "These statues are my creation. It's like my beautiful garden... How can I have a garden without life in it?" He says and his hand traces over the arm of the wooden soldier. "They are my flowers, pretty and fragile..." He smiles as the arm snaps at the elbow, leaving him with a wooden hand gripping a sword. The statue doesn't react, but you feel something inside, screaming. The wood in Scotty's hand thins and shifts, leaving him with a long vine covered in thorns.

"Miss Aster!" Your PAC flies up to you as quickly as it can. "He cannot be swayed. I'll protect you!" It turns around and begins to glow with a faint blue light.

"How nice..." Scotty says and cracks his whip-like vine before sending it at your PAC. The impact releases an almost defeaning shockwave through the sky and your PAC falls to the ground, motionless.

You see Sith and Gem out from the corner of your eye, trembling and looking to you, unsure what they should do.


Zaklinan and Ventose

Ventose glances over the room, but Prayn is correct about her assertion that it was thoroughly cleaned out. Out in the garden, you notice that the soil has been disturbed in some places and that while the rest of the garden is neat and planted with calculated care, some plants are more spaced out than they ought to be. A few of the plants must have been cleared out and by the look of the ground, it is likely to have happened around the time Richard disappeared.

And then there is the gnome, Glint. With the watering in the Human District, he is unlikely to be selling his wares. You could go to the marketplace anyway, perhaps someone there would know where Glint might be. Alternatively, you could go to his house in the Dwarven District. He might not be there this early, but perhaps his neighbors would know where you can look. Of course, he might also be dealing with other alchemists, so you might check the alchemist guild while you are still around... Just because Fuzzit doesn't seem to be dealing with him, doesn't mean the other alchemists don't.


Servius and Roph

The old house has not been maintained for quite a long time. The door is barely hanging on it's hinges, but you are quick to remove any uncertain aspects, like "barely". With a solid... Nudge, the door falls into the house with a powdery thud. Dust rises in the gloom and the area inside is dark, as if the light itself is afraid to intrude.

At least this house had the decency to cover itself up, as old abandoned homes tend to do, and the windows are boarded up with pieces of wood. Of course, if you would ask anybody, then you would just find out that it was always so and nobody would know who bothered with all the nailing and hammering. It is just something that ought to happen.

Servius, through his darkvision, can see inside. What must have been a table and three chairs are now mostly a rotten wood pile scattered around the floor. Time doesn't do that, but perhaps a panicking potential tenant that hurried away from a ghost helped do some of the breaking of the cheap furniture. A small brave beetle sits on top of a candle that looks as though it grew, instead of being made, perhaps through the process of wax remains from old candles feeling lonely and gathering up in a small tower and ended up unused and ashamed. Still, it now sits in the center of the room, defiant.

[Archmage1]

Aster continues to look hopeful, smiling brightly from above.
"They would think you were being nice! No garden is nice unless the flowers in it want to be there! They just don't like it if they don't!"
However, when he rips off the arm of the soldier, she blanches.
"Why are you being so mean!"

When her PAC flies up, she smiles at it.
"It'll be ok! I'm sure that he will be reasonable!"
Alas... it wasn't ok, and she looks scared.

Then, with a quick breath, she starts singing, still looking for a way out, thinking that maybe, if Scotty went to sleep, it would end the dream, and she could get away.
The message in her song is simple, although the beauty in it is quite clear to the ears. It speaks of freedom, and finding a way out, and of rest, with an overtone of disapproval, as if from a maternal figure, wanting to protect her children.


Ok, she's using bardic fascinate, which takes a will save dc [roll0] to resist or be fascinated with her, which causes him to sit, and quietly listen, taking no other actions.
The content of the song is meant to encourage him to sleep, to rest.
The freedom and searching is meant to be a request to Gem and Sith, to search for a way out. Since she can keep him fascinated for four rounds, I will roll four times for them.

Sith:
[roll1] Listen [roll2] spot
[roll3] Listen [roll4] spot
[roll5] Listen [roll6] spot
[roll7] Listen [roll8] spot

Gem:
[roll9] Listen [roll10] spot
[roll11] Listen [roll12] spot
[roll13] Listen [roll14] spot
[roll15] Listen [roll16] spot

Other thoughts: I thought about trying to use an illusion to convince him to let her free, but... silent image is silent. She doesn't really want to hurt him, so doing something like dropping a chandelier on him would be too mean. She also doesn't want to hurt herself, since she's sure that she can convince him to let everyone go.(Go excessive overconfidence from seelie fey...)

[miinstrel]

"Well, Zak, to the alchemist's guild again? It's right here; we may as well inquire about Glint before heading all the way to the Dwarven district. If we can find him before supper and not have to be out all night that would be splendid."

[PairO'Dice Lost]

"It certainly would be; I'd like to get back to my current research project, which is much more interesting than playing hide-and-find with a lost alchemist. After you."

[Sliver]

Aster

Scotty smiles. "You are a silly one, aren't you? We will have so much fun together... At least, my version of fun." He cracks his whip once more and it shoots upwards like a snake. It coils around you, it's thorns attempt borrow into your tiny body as Scotty attempts to drag you to him. It would hurt more if not for your resistance to not-iron, but does it mean you are safe?

Roll for opposed Grapple vs 25. If you fail, you are pulled into Scotty's square.


Zaklinan and Ventose

Deciding that you rather finish with this quest, that nobody forced upon you besides yourself, sooner rather than later, you head back to the alchemist guild...

Somewhere where you can't see nor hear, yet is being included for some mysterious reason

"Why did you let them choose?" Grumbles Merk. "You have great connections with the types of... Glint."

"I resent that." Prayn says with a smile. "Besides, if they had chosen to go to the lady, you would have ranted about me not putting my silver tongue into use..."

"Well, of course! We should have went to the both of them!" Merk rebels.

"It's not about money or recognition, you know. We got enough of one and don't need the other. And a dead alchemist isn't something we need, either." Prayn says.

"I would definitely hope not!" Fuzzit says, turning away from a very conversational fern.

Prayn laughs and shakes her head. "Well now... Alchemists, you are always the same... You would forget to feed yourself, but your research will always be safe..." She says. "We can't have that fall into the wrong hands..." She begins to walk around the room.

"I thought it already di- Oooooooooh." Fuzzit starts, but then it dawns on him.

Prayn taps her nose conspiratorially and then shushes him. After a few more paces, she seems satisfied and knocks on the floor with the heel of her boot. The other side of the floor board rises gently.

"I believe that in your field, they call this a Eurika?" Merk says with a smile, looking at Fuzzit.

After a few minutes of walking, you notice emptiness. In the street, that is. Besides two men, standing ominously in the middle of the road.

"Well well well..." Begins one of them. He is a tall man, quite skinny. You could imagine that indoors he would be known as the Messenger of Ceilings. His short and flat hat doesn't help negate that image, as you can only think about the close encounters this hat had with the top of... Wherever he was in. And the man seems to be ashamed of his skinny nature, trying to hide it with badly fitting clothes and a heavy cloak that might be called fashionable by a bad liar. "What do we have here?" He says after a moment's pause and the question seems more genuine than threatening. Maybe he really isn't sure? Well, looking at the two of you, who would be?

"Looks like a couple of good-for-nothing green-eared turkey-snatching greasy-handed Guild rats." The second man says. Shorter than the first man, but that doesn't say much since anything besides a tall troll would be shorter than that man, but still skinny, this man seems to carry a similar... For lack of better words, "fashion" sense. Except that it has some cookie pattern going for it. And stars.

What is up with the inept thugs today? It's like they are looking for you!

"Too far..." Grunts the first man under his breath.

"Sorry." The second says and turns back to you as if nothing happened. "You looking up on that missing alchemist goof, aren't you?!" He accuses.

"Yeah, just like the other ones." Quips the first.

"Yeah, like them. You'll lay off the case if you know what's good for you. Or..." Cookies stops.

"Or we'll have to deal with you, like we did with the other rats!" Ceiling finishes, rescuing his pal that seemed to be frozen for a moment.

"Yeah!" Cookies repeated his word of the day.

"Yeah!" Ceiling said, getting into the spirit of the occasion.

"Yeah!" Cookies said again, encouraged by his friend.

After a few more rounds, they seem to calm down and stare at you, waiting for you to promise to back off.

[Archmage1]

Aster struggles, but to no avail, unable to break his hold on her.
"Hey! Let me go! That huuurrrts!"


Aster can get at most a 9 on a grapple check(-8 for being tiny, -3 for strength).


When she gets a chance, she tries to escape, hoping to slip out of his hold.


Going to try and use escape artist to escape on her turn. [roll0](Because Druids and Sorcs don't get escape artist)
If she escapes, she still has a move action

[jojolagger]

"Considering my unusual resistances, I'll take point. I'm hoping we might be able to deal with the ghost non-violently." Says Servius, entering the house and getting a better look around the room, paying careful attention to the beetle and the candle. Naturally, he'll also be using special vision of a paladin that spots evil and undead too.

[roll0] spot
[roll1] search
Undead having an evil aura is quite racist, but it's also useful here, so no major complaints.

[Sliver]

Aster

You squirm as Scotty grabs you from his whip, but he holds you too tight. "You know... At this point, they usually begin saying that they can't die, that I can't hurt them because it's a dream..." He laughs. "They are always wrong!" He half throws, half slams you into the ground and before you are able to react, his foot comes down hard on you, pinning you to the ground. You feel the ground sinking around you and notice an acidic pool forming around you. It won't be long before you are submerged in the lethal liquid.


Servius and Roph

Servius enters the house, slowly scanning for anything helpful or strange. He sees two doors out of the room, one opposed to the exit and the other to the left. After a bit of concentration, Servius picks up an aura from beyond the first door, of moderate power.

Then, among the wooden rubble, he notices a piece of paper. (Reminder: Can't read with Darkvision.)

[Archmage1]

But... it is a dream... It's only as real as I treat it!

Aster does nothing, focusing on her last memories from before the dream, sitting on the child Scotty's head, knowing that things were real then, and not real now.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

And here I just finished saying how pointless this whole endeavor is, grouses Zaklinan's collective mind while the thugs prattle on. I should know better than to tempt fate. We're not even running into competent thugs, where I could at least entertain myself by playing tactician. Can I please just vaporize these idiots so we can get back to something interesting?

Zaklinan's overmind is in full agreement with his collective as far as the caliber of criminals they're facing, but he does need the money from this job, so he gives the thugs an exasperated smile instead of trying to kill them. "You know, I've been threatened in vastly more amusing and intimidating ways by my father, my ex, and even my grandmother, and I don't really have the patience to deal with this at the moment." While he speaks, he casually replaces his deerstalker with another hat from his collection--number four, a solid black cap of alternating layers of wool and leather, suitable for wearing when one expects one's hat to possibly be exposed to jets of flame, shrapnel, and other outfit-ruining hazards. "So could we please just skip ahead to the point where you believe that your threats had any effect whatsoever and we go our separate ways?"

[miinstrel]

"That sounds entirely agreeable to me."

OOC: Using Charm person SLA on Cookies.

Oh so cordially, he looks at the two and speaks to the shorter, stupider of the pair. [COLOR="#800080"]"Terribly sorry for the inconvenience our entirely legal pursuit of monetary gain may have caused you and your employer. Say, why don't you give us the address for Mr....? I'd very much like to apologize in person."

GODS this is tedium. A petty errand. I just want to get off this rock... my he does have some stylish caps, doesn't he? Must remember to inquire about his tailor.

[Gunhaven]

Roph waited as patiently as he could for Servius to come back, lasting all of one minute before he headed after him. He held out his left hand and let Nayo guide him with Yog on his shoulder, her words directing him with which way to go. Through her he found the scrap of paper and moved to the doorway to read it aloud.

[Sliver]

Zaklinan and Ventose

"I'm afraid we lack the imagination to pretend something like that." Ceiling says.

"Our employer is not interested in your apologies." Cookies says solemnly, as the charm fizzles. He draws a crossbow and shoots a bolt. It flies through the air, piercing Zaklinan's hat and attaching it to the wall of a house further down the street.

"You aren't the first Guild rats we met. They too insisted on acting tough. And yet we are still here..." Ceiling smirks and draws a longsword.

Cookies and Ceiling
Ventose
Zaklinan

Don't need to post by initiative order. Just post and I'll act them out in the correct order to save time.

Ceiling charges at Ventose but his foot slides on a loose stone and the sword swings wide and he stumbles past.

Cookies loads his crossbow and aims at Zaklinan.


Aster

You try to concentrate, force yourself out of this wretched dream that Scotty has built. He laughs and pushes with his foot, expelling the air from your lungs and breaking your concentration. The acid fills in the tiny pool and it burns your skin. You want to scream, but the acid threatens to enter your lungs and...

"You are out of luck..." Scotty says suddenly and the pain slowly subsides. "You won't be joining my pretty garden today. But don't worry, I'll find you."

*Crash*

You blink. You are in the basement and everything seems... Normal? There are wooden statues in the room, the same as before. Except for one without it's arm.

Two men, wearing the chain armor with the city watch emblem scan the room with their swords drawn, the door behind them was obviously opened with force. In your hazy state, you still notice that one of the watchmen is holding his sword awkwardly. Probably not his sword arm... His other arm tries to find a position in which it's not throbbing with pain...

"Are you alright, miss?" One of the watchmen asks.


Servius and Roph

As soon as Roph sets foot into the house, the walls begin to shake. Wind picks up, rattling the rotten wood and picking up the dust, which quickly sticks to your wet clothes from the outside rain. It begins quietly, but soon you can barely hear anything through the blood chilling howl.

You manage to find the note and hold it carefully with your wet fingers. Do you want to take it out to the rain? Because even in the doorway, there is no light.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Normally, Zak would ignore the threats of a couple two-bit thugs and just walk away; if pressed, he might even pull out his rapier and try to scare them off with some fancy flourishes.

But not these two, oh no. They'd damaged his hat. Damaged. His. Hat. A completely irrational trigger, he freely admitted--well, one of him freely admitted, and then only to himselves--but scholars are entitled to their eccentricities, are they not?

In one smooth motion, he draws a length of crystal from his belt, levels it at the fool with the crossbow, and lets fly a bolt of bluish-white energy, his overmind providing the physical aiming while his oracle calculates optimal target location and beam trajectory and his collective for once decides not to make a snarky comment on the situation.

Move action to draw his dorje of energy ray, standard action to fire it...or rather cold it. :smallwink: He's spending two inspiration points, one to attack and one to damage.

Ranged touch attack: [roll0]
Cold damage: [roll1]

[Archmage1]

"My head hurts..."
Aster seems to be quite sad about that, her voice pitched lower than her normal cheerfully happy tone(But still quite high).
"And Scotty was being mean! He was trying to capture me, and make me into one of those statues! I think he has trapped lots of people! All I wanted to do was to help a child have fun on his birthday..."
Once more, her voice trails off into sadness.
"But where are Gem and Sith? And the metal one that tried to save me!"
She seems quite concerned, and she flies around, looking around for them, and as she does, she looks down, to see if she is still sitting on Scotty.
<Sylvan>
"Gem? Sith! Are you ok? Did the mean boy hurt you? Where are you?"

[miinstrel]

Ventose takes full advantage of the mistake, drawing his club off his back and bringing it down on Ceiling's shoulder in one fluid motion.

Move: Draw club
Standard: Attack: [roll0], Damage: [roll1]
Crit: [roll2], Damage: [roll3]

[Sliver]

Aster

Gem and Sith seem to be unharmed. The PAC however, lies motionless. "A PAC can discharge it's magical crystal to emit a certain signal... You can't notice it unless you are looking for it through specific means, and we always do... Your PAC saved you." The watchman, a sergeant, explains. "It's not destroyed though, you just need to get it a new crystal. Now then, miss, we need to hear everything that happened here. If we are to catch this Scotty, we'll need you to cooperate."

"Sir... I think she is saying that these statues are actually people." Says the other watchman, a corporal.

"There is a similar wooden statue outside, and until we knocked down the door to this house it was a woman hanging decorations and offering us bread cake." The sergeant says quietly. "I don't think she is making this up... Now leave us alone and escort the clown out."


Zaklinan and Ventose

The fool with the crossbow fires at Zaklinan, hitting for 3 damage. The freezing blast hits him in the chest and he drops his crossbow, looking stunned and falls to the ground, unmoving.

Ventose sends his club, an attack that would likely missed had Ceiling not stumbled, but it comes down to his shoulder. The man grunts in pain as he rises back to his full height and he swings his blade, this time hitting Ventose for 4 damage after DR.

[Archmage1]

Aster looks happy that Gem and Sith are fine, but she looks sadly at the PAC, all shiny and metallic.
"Poor PAC... I thought it was just annoying, always following me around, mentioning boring things, but if it saved me..."
Her voice trails off in consideration. At least, until the watchman speaks again.
"I was at the guild, and there was a note, saying that a child didn't have any friends on his birthday! That was sad, so I decided to come out, and try to find him some friends, and to help him have fun on his birthday. Everyone should have fun on their birthday! After talking to his mother, I found him playing with toy soldiers, and they were moving around, and talking! They surrounded me, but then they stopped, and we went inside, where the clown was, before going downstairs, where there were more of the wooden figures. We talked for a bit, and then he asked me to join his dream, so I did! It was a ballroom, with dancing and everything! He was much bigger there, and so was I! It was fun, until I wasn't hungry, and didn't eat any of the yummy food, and then he got mean, hurting that figure(she points to the soldier with the twisted arm), and hurting the flying metal one, before he attacked me! They all seemed to start screaming when that happened. And then you got here! And I think he must have ran away! All I wanted was to help a child have fun..."

[miinstrel]

Ventose grunts as the blade cuts into his arm and responds with his club again aimed at Ceiling's torso. Come on internal bleeding!

Standard: Attack, [roll0], Damage: [roll1]
Crit on 20: [roll2], dmg: [roll3]
Move: 5 foot around him toward a flanking position with Zak.

if he's using an iron weapon all damage will bypass my DR and he'll get an extra +1d6. Did you account for all that?

[Sliver]

Aster

The sergeant nods as he writes down what you say and looks grimly at one of the statues with half of it's arm torn off. "I see... I will talk to the captain about this and we'll be looking into this, you can count on that. Now, in case we have further questions, what is your name, miss? And I assume that we can find you in the Guild, or do you reside somewhere else?"


Zaklinan and Ventose

Ventose slams his club into Ceiling's torso and sends the man into the floor, who skids a few feet backwards and lands motionless.

300xp.

[Archmage1]

When he asks her name, Aster looks at him like he's an idiot. Everyone knew who she was! But maybe he didn't. The thought makes her sad, but her voice is bursting with happiness at the chance to introduce herself to someone new.
"I'm Aster! I'm at the guild sometimes, in my spot on the roof, or I'm in my garden! You've seen it, right? It's lovely, everyone says so!"

In the silence, Aster speaks to Sith once more.
<Sylvan>
"Sith, can you please carry the metal one? I can't, and if he saved us, we can get him a new crystal!"


I'm assuming that the PAC contains Iron, a metal that Aster isn't fond of.

Assuming that Sith agrees, Aster will head out, this time, with a new quest: Find the place where she can get a new crystal for her PAC!

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Zaklinan nods sharply as Ventose takes care of the other thug. "Good riddance," he spits as he stalks over to where his hat is pinned to a wall and carefully extracts the bolt. Should have gone with number eleven, he chides himselves as he hands his hat to his PAC. "Syn, please stitch up the edges of the hole to prevent further damage, I'll fix it when we get back to headquarters."

He walks back to the two thugs and leans down to regard the one with the crossbow. "Come on," he tells Ventose, "let's take these two to a more discreet location and ask them a few questions about this employer of theirs." He picks up his thug and begins dragging him towards the nearest secluded alleyway, accidentally dropping him four or five times along the way.

[Sliver]

Aster

As Aster intends to head out, with Sith carrying the PAC, the sergeant speaks up. "You'll need money to get the crystal... Ummm, no disrespect. I'm sure you know that... With your PAC out of commission, you'll have to get someone else to pay for you. But I do believe that the Guild provides that kind of service."


Zaklinan and Ventose

You drag the two motionless, cold, dead bodies out of the street and into an alley nearby.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Once away from prying eyes, Zak leans down and checks on their two thugs to see if they are in any state to be questioned. Upon discovering that his thug is ice-cold because it's dead and not just because it was partly frozen, he stands up and dusts off his hands. "I wasn't expecting them to go down that easily," he says to Ventose, "though I can't say I'm that upset about it. Should we try to find this boss of theirs, do you think, or continue looking for Martigony?"

[Archmage1]

Aster looks quite sad to hear this.
"Aw... but money's silly! Maybe they would be nice and just help me?"
Her tone is hopeful, as though she is hoping that she's right.
Then she seems to have a flash of inspiration.
"But maybe someone at the guild will know where to go!"
She starts rapidly flying away(In the wrong direction), pausing as Sith and Gem fall behind, letting them catch up, before continuing at a more reasonable pace.

After a few minutes, Sith takes the lead, actually heading in the right direction to get to the guild. Aster waves cheerfully at the guards as she goes past the house once more, not seeming to realize that she went in the wrong direction.

[miinstrel]

"Glint wasn't going to be home for a few hours anyway. We may as well see about their boss in the mean time." Ventose starts digging through Ceiling's pockets looking for calling cards, notes, whiskey, addresses. The pockets are seemingly as elongated as their owner... Ventose's arm slides easily up to the elbow in a few of them.

Search: [roll0]

[Sliver]

The watchmen watch as Aster leaves the house.

"She's going to die horribly one day..." The corporal says.

"Aye..." The sergeant agrees. "Living statues, the captain will want to hear about it."

The corporal nods. "So that man had a son... I hope the captain won't send us to check on him."

Aster - At the guild

After a few moments, someone finally opens the door to you. The halfling lady looks at you. "Aster, right? Oh my, what happened to your PAC? Come in, come in..."


Zaklinan and Ventose

Well, luckily, the pockets aren't exactly a hiding spot.

Ventose finds two bottles filled with orange colored liquid, clearly labeled. "Cure Light Wounds Potion." He also finds a pack of smokes, a dead moth, half a marble, a crumpled up jack of hearts and a note.

The alchemists posted a job at the Guild so the Rats are sure to come sniffing around. Make sure to take out anyone coming from Martigony's place. After you dispose of the vermin, pick up the package from under the skirt of the lute lady at the fountain. Then bring it to me! <An address to a warehouse at the Orc District follows>

And damn it, destroy this note after you read this! Last time the watch found it and we had to relocate because of you dimwits. If this happens again, I'll strangle you!

--Big B

[Archmage1]

As they reach the guild, Aster flies up to one of the windows, and waves in front of it as Sith waits near the door, with the poor PAC in his mouth.

At long last, someone finally opens the door, and she flies in, looking quite sad, with Sith and Gem following(Sith jumps up on the counter, and Gem goes and hides on a beam)
"The mean boy tried to trap me, and he had people turned into statues, and the poor metal one sacrificed himself to summon the guards! But now he's broken, and I can't fix him!"

Sith puts down her PAC, and looks at the halfling, looking hopefully expectant.

[miinstrel]

"Well, well, well thank god for arrogance. Looks like we finally have a solid lead!" Ventose pops the top off one of the potions and drinks it.

[roll0]
If the above roll is 4 or less I drink the other one as well, otherwise I'll save it: [roll1]

"Do any of your minds know who this 'lute lady' is?"

Know Local: [roll2]

[Sliver]

Aster

The halfling looks at you, shaking her head. "That sounds awful! You took that birthday quest, right? It did not sound serious at all..."

"Too bad Bread's crystal crate got consumed by Glimraw's PAC!" Exclaims a gnoll, laughing. "Could have just taken one of his..."

"As if!" Bradinlo exclaims, growling.

"Don't be like that." The halfling says and looks at you. "The dwarfs have crystals coming in, so you should be able to buy one there, but... I'm sorry sweetie, cash has been tight on me lately."

"Wouldn't be if you didn't fancy Glimraw and gave up most of your money so he could fix the guildhouse." A pale looking man in dark robes says, sitting by the bar.

"Shut up!" The halfling exclaims, blushing, as the others laugh. "Just... Forget it! Come on, someone's here willing to lend her some money, right?" She says.

There is an awkward silence.

"Magic crystals aren't candy and they aren't cheap either." Bradinlo says after a moment. "You think she knows what that means? She'll get her crystal and just conveniently forget to pay you back, because money doesn't really matter, teehee, right?" He says, the last part in a high pitched, mocking, voice.


Zaklinan and Ventose

The lute lady... Unless the note is referencing some bard at the Clown's Guild - which isn't just for clowns, but clowns take humor so seriously that laughing at them is considered a crime and they are so scary that any guild of entertainers would just rather let them have their way instead of argue over a name, then it is likely to refer to the statues in the fountain of the Elven District. The "lute lady" is supposed to be a representation of the Mother of Elves and is part of a collective of statues, each representing one of the... Pretty, races. Naturally, orcs and goblins lack representation there.

[Archmage1]

Aster shakes her head as the halfling dismisses the birthday quest as unimportant.
"How could bringing someone happiness be unimportant? It's the most important thing that anyone could do! Well, maybe bringing lots of people happiness, but other than that sort of thing, it's the most important!"
The petal is utterly sincere, totally confident in her beliefs.

When it becomes clear that the others weren't willing to lend her the money, apparently believing that she wouldn't pay them back because she didn't think the stuff was important, she shakes her head, clearly offended.
They think that I would break a bargain I made? How could they? That's just... unthinkable!
"Money doesn't matter! But keeping to your agreements does! It might not matter to you, Bradinlo, but it does matter to me! I would never ignore a debt! Who found you the flowers for your sweetheart? They were lovely, weren't they, and she loved them?"
Aster is clearly angry with them. She doesn't like being mocked, but thinking that she would break her word...

[miinstrel]

"Ahh that's right. *relays above post to Zak*. A bit of an obvious location for a drop point, don't you think?"

"It's not far from here, just a few long blocks."

[Gunhaven]

Roph chuckled at the gust of wind, reveling in the anger of the spirit and the possibility of a good fight. He paused at the doorway and decided to stay inside until either the rain stopped or it got bright enough for him to see, wishing he had remembered to upgrade his PAC beforÿe he left. Maybe he could get a lantern as well since he should only need a candle to see as fine as some of the lesser blessed guild members. Thoughts of illumination slowly drifted toward his rather limited pool of spells granted to him because of his noble-esque goal. He poked his head outside and attempted to gauge how much longer the storm would last.

[Sliver]

Aster

"I didn't say it's not important... I meant serious as in, dangerous... Like a real quest, instead of a... Request." The halfling tries to explain.


Bradinlo avoid making an eye contact with you. "They were just flowers..." He mutters.

"Brad!" The halfling scowls. "Flowers are important! They are so pretty and..." She says, getting lost in her mind for a moment before shaking her head. "Come on, be nice!"

"Perhaps some of us are tired of her pranks? The last one-" Bradinlo starts, but the halfling cuts him off.

"The last one was nothing. I heard what you found. You know that the PAC bait thing is just a scam. The PAC reacted to the magical crystals in a way that nobody could expect and that's that."

"Nobody that didn't read the manual." Says the pale man, smiling at the glaring halfling. After a moment she shifts her gaze to Bradinlo.

"Fine, fine." He draws his PAC from his pocket. "You take her, but you are responsible for me getting the money back." His PAC, modeled after a hamster and even has a light brown fur coat over most of it's body, transfers some money to the halfling's PAC, which looks like a small box with spider feet. "My first one got crushed by an iron watermelon." She mumbles an explanation.

"Come on." She says, putting away her PAC and opening the door for you. "I have a friend that owes me a favor, I bet he could sell me a crystal for just fifty gold."

"Get me one with the spare gold then." Bradinlo says.

"And then we're even, deal!" The halfling exclaims and closes the door behind you before Bradinlo can reply.

"Ooooh, water from the sky. Yes, my PAC said something about that. I never seen anything like that... I heard that they got the idea from Ignima. Are you from Ignima?" She asks, getting wet from the dropping water.


Servius and Roph

It is hard to discern how much longer the water would continue to drop, considering the wizards are behind it. The best guess you muster is "until the plot decides it's enough."


Zaklinan and Ventose

So will you head to the alchemist guild or the drop point next?

[miinstrel]

OOC: They aren't mutually exclusive, right? I vote drop point. We can follow up on Glint later while this package may be picked up by someone else if Big B doesn't get it soon enough.

[Archmage1]

"But it was dangerous! He tried to steal me!"
She seems quite emphatically convinced of this.

When Bradinlo disparages her flowers, she glares at him, angrily.
"They were lovely flowers! She loved them, didn't she? Of course she did!"

As her pranks are disparaged, she looks sad.
"But my pranks are fun, and everyone always loves them! How could you be tired of them! They're lots of fun! Don't you like fun colors?"

Hearing of the poor crushed PAC, she look sad.
"Aw... the poor thing!"

However, as they agree to loan her the gold, Aster smiles, clearly happy to hear it, jumping into the air, and flying around excitedly.
"Thank you! It saved me, and now I can save it! I'll pay you back, I promise!"
She ends up near the halfling's head, smiling quite cheerfully. As they head out, Sith and Gem follow, Sith still carrying the disabled PAC, and looking sad that his begging failed.
"I woke up there! And my garden's there! Rain is lots of fun! You can dodge it, and you can catch it, and you can play in it! Plus, it sounds nice! Are you from here? Did it really not rain here? Lots of people at home could make rain!"
Aster, taking advantage of her small size and agility, is dodging the raindrops as they fall(Mostly.)
Gem does much better than she does, but Sith... poor Sith does not look happy at all.

[Sliver]

Aster

"Don't worry about the money. Bradinlo would have paid double that much for a crystal, so it all works out." The halfling says, smiling.

"Well, I was born here, but I moved to Imcuru when I was pretty young to train at the Thieves' Guild. Oh, it's not like the one here though, the guild there is legit. Legal and all that. It's more of a business and a school... Training you to be nimble. Of body and mind! Thieving is more like a sport there, to see if you can do it. The important stuff always goes back to whoever it belongs to and you get a reward for really impressive... Missions. It's really tough at Imcuru because most of the residents see in the dark perfectly fine, but I... Don't. So your other senses develop really well until you can prove that you can handle yourself without sight. Then after you really impress your tutors, they give you this magical blindfold that allows you to see with your skin... It's a trick though, because the range is limited and they instantly make you pass another test where everything that you have to see is just out of it's range. If you fall for it you are a gunner... Errr, goner. I came back only recently and Glimraw suggested I joined the Guild too... We are just childhood friends..." She says, blushing. "Oh, where are my manners! I've been blabbing for so much and I didn't even tell you my name! I'm Tish... No, wait, that's one of my favorite aliases. Don't pick that name though, it's mine. My real name is Poppy Greenleaf. My daddy is an alchemist! That's how I know Glimraw, too. You might not think that alchemy and engineering, that's the fancy word for tinkering that Glimraw likes to say so much, have much in common, but they totally do. Daddy and Glimraw have this dream to create this alchemy that will hold enough power to fuel PACs and other machinery so that we don't have to rely on the crystals all the time." She finishes proudly. Or stops to catch her breath, it's hard to tell.


Zaklinan and Ventose

You head towards the fountain, deciding that sooner is better for later. The guild can wait and you have plenty of time to waste before the gnome will be back at his house, anyway.

What you notice is that tallness seems to be one of the requirements for beauty, at least according to the statues in the middle of the fountain. There is a tall fey, it's butterfly wings spread and it's about to take off, only one leg connecting to the base. A vampire who's cloak is colored as dark as midnight stands nobly, symbolizing the beauty of the night. Even the humans have a representation, with a naked woman sitting cross legged with an urn, pouring water into the fountain. It's okay to look at, because it's art. Well, just don't stare at her. The Elven Mother, indeed with her lute, is standing at the center, surrounded by the other statues, with her stone skirt crafted with such detail that it almost floats. You could slip your hand in there, but not much else. Why are you even thinking about that, perverts?!

A couple of guards sit on one of the benches, talking about one thing or another, pausing when they notice you.

[Archmage1]

"Are you sure? I don't mind at all! It would only be fair!"

As Poppy explains about the thieves guild, Aster listens intently, clearly quite interested in the story. As she finishes, Aster smiles cheerfully.
"That sounds like lots of fun! It'd be like playing pranks, all the time, and everyone loves them! It seems like they were mean with their blindfold, since it's lots of fun to see everything! You never know what you might see, and it could be lots of fun that you could be missing out on! Like a lovely flower, or a nice tree! But..."
Aster pauses, before looking up, into Poppy's eyes.
"Are the crystals really that important? They just run the PACs, right? But the PACs hurt when you touch them! Maybe a different crystal might stop that? Have they had any luck in finding another way to make them work? Hopefully, they've had better luck that I've had! I'm looking for a new flower! It will be lovely, when I find it, and it must be around, somewhere! Mara's looking after my garden, but she's a dryad, so she will do her best, but I don't want to be away for too long. I've tried to make it lovely since I woke up, and no one remembered anything! Lots of people would come to look at it! But it needs a new flower to be right!"

[Gunhaven]

Roph frowned at the Deus ex Machina rain and headed back inside to stand next to his comrade. He yelled, or at least talked loud enough, to his comrade over the wind "Guess he hates the summer. You want to try talking to him, casting some light so we can read this letter, or just beat him with our Blessed weapons? You know which I would prefer right now." Silently he told himself, and by extension Nayo, to get his PAC fixed when he got to the inn so that he could have a few torches to light up the room and help bring Summer's touch to this desolate place.

[miinstrel]

Ventose speaks casually and quietly to Zak. "Well, I'm not too keen on alerting the actual authorities to this little errand... perhaps one of us should draw the guards to the bodies and explain that they attack us while the other sticks a hand up that skirt?"

What is standard procedure on a homicide like that? Are we able to flash our guild memberships and explain ourselves and be done with it or would they want to bring us in for questioning, etc.?

Know Local: [roll0]

... I apparently skipped that part of orientation xD.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

"I'd probably have better luck retrieving the package," Zak replies with a smile, "not to mention you probably don't want to get your sleeves dirty when reaching between the statues. But I don't know if you should let the guards know about the bodies, since that might get us bogged down by an investigation. Can you think of any other way to distract them?"

[miinstrel]

Before he begins this, he asks Zak to have his PAC retrieve the package since he can climb. Ventose's will probably have a difficult time getting up the leg?

Ventose would like to silently charm a man and woman elf and elfan somewhere near the fountain, preferably a couple that looks like they may like getting into a little trouble, and encourage them to express their love for each other for everyone to see. What happened to the days of grand romantic gestures, kissing in the rain, and singing from the rooftops? They should celebrate on the other side of the square and draw everyone into the moment!

If he's unable to charm anyone and talk them into it, he will simply slide someone into the fountain on the opposite side from the lute lady.

Charm Person, DC 12
Diplomacy: [roll0]

If needed: Greater Slide, DC 17. Verbal component only, so no one should know it was him.

BTW, I presume water doesn't damage a PAC? If it does that might change this a bit.

[Sliver]

Zaklinan and Ventose

Picking up a couple of elves, Ventose approaches and uses his charm before trying to convince them to heat things up. There is no rain in this district, anyway. The lady elf smiles slyly at the suggestion of romance, but the elf man frowns. She grabs his hand and starts pulling him. "Come on..." She says and winks.

"Sister, the fey charmed you!" He whispers harshly.

"Oh, he did? Well, you know fey. They like to mess with people's heads whenever they feel like it." She giggles. "Come on brother, we looked for an excuse before and now one presents himself."

"He is clearly up to no good!" The man objects. "What if we are a distraction so the guards don't notice..."

She looks from Ventose to her brother. "Aha, I know!" She says and grabs at Ventose's arm, dragging him and her brother away from the fountain.

And that is how Ventose found himself in the middle of an impromptu comedy sketch. Roll Perform: Comedy.

The people gather around the trio quickly and the guards quickly follow, knowing that whenever people gather, it means either trouble or entertainment, and they weren't going to miss either.

Zaklinan's PAC has no problems climbing up and into the fountain and even it's precise splashing goes unnoticed as it swiftly returns with a small, messily wrapped package.


Aster

"Mean?" Poppy repeats, smiling. "It's just another prank. Odd to hear someone like you call such a thing mean. It's not like they force you to wear the blindfold, or that you can see much with Imcuru's eternal darkness. Even if you could, seeing skeletons and zombies isn't that fun... They just shuffle about or work... Well, the walking dead type of zombies, anyway. Zombies, the ones with a capital Z, don't like the walkers to be called zombies you know..." The halfling shakes her head. "But that's not important... You say that a blindfold that lets you see perfectly everything around you is mean? What about the trick you tried to play on Glimraw? If that bait of yours was actually the real deal, how do you think people would reacted to you causing the PAC and the guild to blow up? Would you have said that it was just for fun and you didn't mean it to be anything serious?" She shrugged. "There is tension rising with your folk, you know? A guild of historians has formed in Imcuru and they are saying that the fey of Ignima were alive before recorded history and that they were living in comfort back then. They say that if the fey cared for anyone but themselves, we would know more about our history and how we came to be here... Now, I don't say I agree with them, but many others do. As their word spreads, more people may grow to resent the fey and your tricks might become less enjoyable and more of a nuisance in the eye of others." She smiles faintly. "I'm sorry that I'm so serious suddenly, but I like you... I don't want to see you hurt just because you don't understand what is going on. I'd love to see your garden someday."

[Archmage1]

Aster looks surprised at Poppy's explanation on how the blindfold wasn't mean.
"But not being able to see... that's really mean! What if you wanted to look at those flowers over there? They're lovely, but with the blindfold, you couldn't see it! It's mean to not let flowers be admired!"

After a brief pause from her emphatic announcement, Aster continues talking.
"But undead feel wrong, they don't fit! That's why we don't go to Imcuru. It's painful, almost like metal! But not quite as bad."
When Poppy reminds her about her prank, Aster looks sad.
"That wasn't supposed to happen. It was just meant to be like a jack in the box! I had flower petals set up so when the box was opened the second time, they would go everywhere, and it would have been fun! But it exploded, and that was terrible! No one could appreciate the prank."
She pauses, and looks thoughtful.
"The bait wasn't real? But he said that it always worked! How could anyone be so mean? Lying about things..."
She shakes her head sadly, clearly not liking the implications, however, as Poppy explains the guild of historians, she looks even more outraged.
"We don't remember anything either! I just woke up, and there I was, and I didn't have a garden, so I got to make a new one! And they must know that... maybe if someone told them, they might realize that? But... I really don't want to go there, because it hurts!"
When Poppy says that she would love to see Aster's garden, Aster smiles happily.
"I would love to show you! All the flowers always love visitors! But I might need to help them for a bit when I get back with my new flower, because then they will be even more lovely!"

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Zak casually strolls out of the line of sight of the crowd, then discreetly directs Syn to place the package in his pack, hidden in the folds of his turban (number five, white with violet trim, suitable for formal celebrations). After prestidigitating it perfectly clean and dry, of course; he wouldn't want to stain one of his favorite pieces of headgear.

That done, he wanders over to watch Ventose making a fool of himself and his innocent victims...from the back of the crowd, as he's not about to let himself be "randomly selected" if they decide they need a volunteer.

[Gunhaven]

Roph crouched down and tried to think, finding it exceedingly difficult with the angry ghost. He yelled over at Servius "Do you think you could try and calm down your friend? It's hard enough to think without him howling about."

Servius, turning toward the last location of something else within the house, yelled in his general direction "Calm friend! We wish you no harm. We simply want to help you out! Why don't you join us in the kitchen and tell us your story?"

[Sliver]

Aster

"You don't understand how Imcuru works..." Poppy says. "Flowers don't grow in the eternal dark. You don't miss out on colors because of the blindfold, because you need light for color. And now you are being mean. Calling someone wrong and not fitting is mean. Just because they are different? You are different here too. The majority of people in Petugla are not fey, and the undead have a bigger presence here, actually. You are smaller than everyone here and your views of the world are very different than what most people hold. One could say that you fit less than the undead. I have many undead friends, and I think it is mean that you would call them wrong just because they are different than you are. And not all deception is mean either. Some is needed to do good, to help others... You encountered one that you think was mean, but I would be thankful for the deception if I were you. If the bait was real, you would have been the cause for the mishap, and everybody would be very angry with you. You would have been responsible for what happened, whether you meant it or not."

Poppy shakes her head. "The historians aren't a bunch of kids spouting nonsense, Aster. Perhaps it is right for you and your friends, but there are many fey that are old. Really old. Ignima is larger than any of the other floating cities, and the old fey have never bothered taking an interest of what is happening outside of it until the other cities reached out. While the other cities struggled to grow food and survive, Ignima flourished but remained distant. Only when the ships that sailed the void were created, that the fey noticed the world outside their own."


Servius and Roph

At Servius' request, the wind seems to die down. Or at least, that is what it looks like at first. The rubble seems to shake and gather around and with a bright flash of light, the random pieces of debris fly up like swarm, or perhaps a single unit. They swirl about and loose debris that wasn't gathered into the monster scatters around your feet as a storm of dust rushes out of it and it almost lights aflame, threatening to blind you.

Servius would be in the center of the room, Roph near the exit. The monster is in the center by Servius and the room is about 20ftX30ft.

Glitterdust, DC 15 will or be blinded.

Initiative is: Monster, Servius and then Roph. Monster already went.


Zaklinan and Ventose

Hiding the package, Zaklinan looks at what Ventose has gotten himself into and... Well, that is confusing.

The elven siblings seem to try to create some comedic sketch, but their act is quite surreal and doesn't appeal to the public. They try to tell a story about the fey king, a role taken up by a confused Ventose, that gets lost in the woods because all his life he was sheltered by his mother that he wouldn't even know his own kingdom. An elven ranger, a role played by the brother, ridicules him but by this point, the crowd seems bored enough, booing them or just leaving.

The siblings appear disheartened. "It seems we still have to work on our act..." The sister pouts.


Somewhere in the elven district

The two figures brush themselves off. "Did you see how angry baldy got when I shot his head off?" Laughs the shorter figure.

"You really didn't have to do it..." Grumbles the tall man.

"Oh come on, we needed to taunt them somehow. They tried to talk to us! Didn't we make it clear that we were the bad guys?"

"What if they'd use fire?" Exclaims the man.

"We drank to that." Cookies pats his companion.

"And you didn't invite me?" A female voice asks, offended.

The two men spin around and stare down at Prayn. "A guild rat!" Exclaims ceiling. "You are looking for the alch-"

"Quit it." Prayn waves them off and the two seem offended.

"How did you know it was us?" Cookies asks.

Prayn waves at the two PACs, watching from the rooftops. "What are you up to?" She asks, glancing behind her to make sure Merk is keeping up.

"Oh, the boss sent us. He doesn't want you fellows to muck about and not find the alchemist." Ceiling says.

"He always sends us to do the dirty jobs. We always get abused..." Cookies rants.

"You can't feel pain though, so it's okay." Prayn laughs.

"Just because I'm a zombie doesn't mean it doesn't hurt..." Cookies replies, but Prayn raises an eyebrow at that. "It hurts my feelings, okay? It's the principle of the thing."

"Ignore him." Ceiling waves. "He just came up with a clever plan with blood tubes and stuff so that if we get cut, your friends will think we are actually bleeding."

"But they just used clubs and spells! Such disrespect to the art..." Cookies grumbles.

"How long are you going to look like that?" Prayn decides that she doesn't care for the 'arts' either.

"Oh, the spell will last for quite a bit longer." Ceiling answers.

"Fine, I'll just take my hint and go then. You did have more than one prepared, right?" Prayn smiles.

"Of course!" Cookies looks proud and motions for the PACs to come down. "You are the third Guildy that we encountered today. Boss had us scattering all kinds of clues after we took out the-"

"Nah uh!" Prayn puts a finger over her lips. "You didn't tell the others, so it wouldn't be fair if I know. Oh, thanks. See you guys later then."

[Archmage1]

Aster pauses in her flight, looking absolutely horrified by this.
"No... no flowers? How could anyone survive with no flowers? They're pretty and nice and important!"
She really does seem to like her flowers. However, as Poppy begins lecturing her about the undead, Aster shakes her head, and continues her flight.
"But they make my head hurt, when I don't do anything to them! That's why they're mean!"
Aster does not respond to the explanation that she was almost responsible for the guild-house blowing up.

As Poppy continues her explanation of the historians, Aster looks confused, not quite understanding.
"Our gardens and streams and plants and friends are all there! Why would we look elsewhere? But none of us remember anything from before the city."

[Sliver]

Aster

"They are mean because of the way you react to them that isn't their fault? I don't even understand how they make your head hurt simply by existing." Poppy frowns. "It seems that everything that you don't like is classified as mean."

Shaking her head. "Fey don't remember a thing from the cities because they didn't care. That self centered way of thinking of yours is why people are growing less tolerant towards the fey. You seem to think that because you don't remember anything before, means that nobody else does either. You would be wrong. If the older fey cared about anything besides themselves, we might have had knowledge about what happened and why there are no records from the older days."

[Archmage1]

Aster looks a bit dubious as Poppy explains her viewpoint, before she shakes her head.
"No, they're mean because they bring pain, not happiness! Someone who's nice makes people happy, and someone who is mean makes them unhappy!"
She nods, quite satisfied with her explanation.

When Poppy explains her viewpoint on the history, Aster shakes her head.
"We tried! We all knew that we had gardens, and trees, and lakes, because we must have had them, but we couldn't remember what they looked like, or where they were! We all talked, all hoping that the others would remember something, but no one did, so we had to start again, so we started again!

As she speaks this time, Aster flies over to Poppy's head, and lands, using her wings to keep her balance, and starts making a garland of poppies for her, somehow seeming to have the flowers handy.

[miinstrel]

Perform (Comedy): [roll0]

Ventose grudgingly joins the two in their ridiculous sketch. As the story unfolds and it seems he's to play the king of the fey... well this performance just became much more interesting! He adopts his grandest pose with all the pomposity of the Seelie and performs (he thinks) brilliantly! As the crowd disperses he takes a bow, even as the elven couple are muttering how the act needs work. In quite a jovial state he returns to Zak with a smile. "Best. Diversion. Ever."

[PairO'Dice Lost]

I do not believe, Zak's oracle opines, that a performance which causes sixty-seven percent of the audience to leave the area and a further twelve percent to express verbal disapproval and then leave the area can be accurately termed the "best diversion ever." A performance which provided a level of entertainment consistent with the average public performance experience would have been less memorable, and thus a superior diversion.
Oh, let him have his fun. I thought it was humorous.
You were, however, laughing at Ventose rather than with him, as the expression goes. Prior experience shows that you find a scathing critique of a performance to be adequate amusement eighty-four percent of the time, independent of the skill level of the performer in question.
Yes, yes, I'm a terrible cynic, I know. Let's just get on with this, shall we?

Zaklinan's overmind ignores the mental byplay (he has plenty of practice with that) and merely smiles at Ventose. "I'm glad you had fun. That means you get to do any other crazy diversions in the future. Better you than me; I'd never hear the end of it. Now let's figure out what this mysterious package is." He leads Ventose to the closest area he can find that is free from prying eyes and out of anyone's earshot, double-checking nearby roofs and windows to be sure of their privacy. That done, he retrieves the package and carefully unwraps it, noting how it's wrapped so he can return it to the same condition afterwards.

[Sliver]

Zaklinan and Ventose

As the crowd parts, you overhear some mumbling. "They were lame as always, but the stranger that they grabbed this time was alright." One says. "I thought his enthusiasm was adorable!" One of the elven ladies tells her friends. "I wonder where he had his gown made..." A halfling says.

Finding a quiet place, Zak unfolds the package carefully and his PAC commits to memory the way it looks so that it returns to the same state, if need be. The package contains vials filled with different liquids or powders and bundles of herbs. Zak's natural knowledge doesn't disappoint as he notes the herbs being various ingredients for medicines, but also poisons and drugs. It's hard to discern the intent for the final product without knowing what the other materials are, but one of the herbs has a unique purpose as well, which could be a hint. Wolfsbane, while poisonous, is also known as a cure for lycanthropy.


Aster

Poppy's voice sounds annoyed. "My undead friends' companionship made me happy when I was in Imcuru. And there are undead all over town. Even a few in the guild. All of them cause you pain? You must be in constant pain then, but you don't look like that."

"Your experience seems to be quite limited, even of your own world." Poppy notes, forcing herself to relax. "I won't take your words to heart, but you shouldn't speak so definitely about things you don't fully understand. Perhaps if you want to find out more about the past, ask your fey friends more. I'm sure a few elders could be found... Perhaps you'll end up helping us understand the origin." She smiles.

[Archmage1]

Aster's voice comes from her perch on top of Poppy's head, but she sounds a bit confused.
"There can't be undead here. My head doesn't hurt, so they can't be here. All of them that I've met made my head hurt!"

Aster looks a bit confused as Poppy seems not to believe her.
"I was there! We asked, and everyone said that they didn't remember anything, so we decided to start over."

[Sliver]

Aster

Poppy sighs. "Open your eyes and stop being so foolish. There are undead in the Guild itself. You can't deny reality just because it doesn't match with whatever you think it ought to be."

[Archmage1]

Aster seems confused, as if she is having trouble believing that she could be wrong about something.
"But... my head doesn't hurt in the guild. Maybe they were being nice, and leaving when I was around?"

Poppy feels some tugging on her hair as the petal deftly weaves her garland into Poppy's hair.

[Gunhaven]

Servius spun toward the monster as it flashed it's light. A quick confirmation of it being evil or not and him saying "I will send you back to the Abyss today!" or "May you have a chance to be reborn!" depending on the situation before he charged the creature and bit at it, white light filling his maw if the creature did in fact detect as evil.
----------
Roph grinned at the opportunity to test his mettle against something that dared to use magic against him and with one mighty stroke flew toward the creature, scimitar humming and in both of his hands. He slashed upwards at the creature, scimitar shining with a similar white light if Servius mentioned the abyss. As he approached the creature there was a slight resistance before Servius was touched by a summer's breeze and the creature could feel the wind it had once controlled working against it.

[Sliver]

Servius and Roph

The possessed pile of mess weaves and dodges your attacks and slams into Roph, but his fey heritage protects him from most of the damage. It does not help him against the creature's attempt to wrap around the fey.

Roph: 1 damage after DR. Please add the Unseelie Fey DR in the sheet btw.
It tries to initiate grapple, opposed DC 26.

Undead ping for Detect Evil due to the negative energy, so it is impossible to use it to know an evil undead as opposed to a neutral or good one.


Aster

"You are making my head hurt with your arguments. Perhaps you are the mean one?" Poppy jests. "You are completely oblivious to the existence of undead in our guild, but you think that they are getting out of your way for an unknown reason to them? You didn't seem to be hurting when you came to the guild just then, and lo and behold, a fellow from beyond was sitting at the bar, minding his own necromantic business and hurting nobody, including you."

[Archmage1]

At Poppy's explanation that Aster was hurting her head, Aster looks very sad.
"I'm sorry, I didn't meant to hurt your head, Here, I can help!"
She sings a high pure tone, and touches Poppy's head.(Casting CMW)
"There! Is that better? It always helps my head when it hurts!"
She flies down in front of poppy, and smiles, admiring her handiwork.
"Plus, you look much nicer now!"

However, as Poppy explains that there are undead in the guild, Aster looks quite confused.
"But... they don't make my head hurt. How can they be undead if they don't make my head hurt? And they don't smell funny! Are you sure they're undead? The undead I met, my head started hurting almost as soon as he said something funny, and he was mean!"

[Sliver]

Aster

"How can they be undead if your head didn't hurt?" Poppy repeats in disbelief. "Are... Are you hearing yourself?" Poppy remains silent for a moment. "Here's an idea. It's not that all the undead ever hurt your head as if you had some negative energy proximity allergy, but perhaps that specific undead did something that caused your head to hurt?"

"And..." Poppy continues, more awkwardly. "You know, most undead that hang out in public care for the impression they leave. There are pretty basic methods for them to neutralize the smell of rot, or to avoid it altogether. Besides, it's not like all undead are rotting and smelly... Vampires are practically nobility..."

[Archmage1]

Aster looks even more confused at Poppy's explanation.
"But... why would he want to make my head hurt? It must have been an accident! He did smell funny, and the Mara really didn't like him, and the grass he stood on died! Do you mean that not all undead are like that?"

[Gunhaven]

As the creature touched Roph and attempted to grapple him Servius stepped behind it and tore at the creature with teeth and claw. Unfortunately for Roph the creature managed to get a hold of him before he could continue to hack away at it with his humming scimitar.

[Sliver]

Servius and Roph

As the rubble grabs at Roph, Servius uses the opportunity to bite and slash at it, managing two solid blows. Roph struggles against the creature as it tries to wrap around him and manages to hold him off a while longer.

Roph is grappled, but I rolled for his opposed grapple and he passed, so the situation isn't worse.

Aster

"Undead shouldn't really be in Ignima anyway..." Poppy says, pondering. "Oh, finally, let's get inside and out of this watering..." She motions into a house. "That's Glimraw's home. We'll just check in on him, he might have some crystals and we won't need to take a longer trip." Shoving the door inwards and entering, you riding between her wet hair.

Inside, Glimraw and another gnome are standing. They must have been arguing until they heard the door open.

"You..." Poppy says, visibly annoyed.

"Hello to you too, sunshine." The gnome says.

"Ummm... Poppy, you know Glint. Glint, this is-" Glimraw starts.

"Yes, yes, we know." Poppy snaps impatiently. "What is he doing here?!"

"Look here, missy-" Glint seems angry, but Glimraw moves to stand between the two.

"Will you two stop it?" He says. "Look, Poppy, I know you don't like Glint's chosen associates, but can we put it aside for now? The alchemist that was working for them tried to back out and now they are looking for a replacement, and if Glint doesn't get someone..."

"Are you talking about that Richard fellow? You weren't going to suggest my father, were you?!" Poppy huffs.

"Umm... No..." Glimraw scratches his head sheepishly.

"Let him work it out himself." Poppy says. "I just came to check if you have a couple of crystals for my friend's PAC."

Glimraw hesitates and Glint speaks up. "Ha, I've got a few spares. I'll give them to you if you help me out."

"Aster?" Poppy sighs.

[Archmage1]

"It's called rain! It's lots of fun, we can fly around in it, and dodge the drops, and try to splash each other! Everyone has a great time!"

When they go inside, Aster looks around, and waves cheerfully at Glimraw and Glint.
"Hi! I'm Aster!"
As they talk, Aster flies over, and looks at all of the fascinating things on the shelf, clocks, crystals, and assorted knick nacks of a similar nature(Which, of course, requires picking some of them up, and looking at the from all sides). However, when she is asked for help, she flies back over to Poppy(With a sigh. Some of them were really interesting)
"Of course I can help! Do you want a flower garden? They're lots of fun, and really pretty!"

Sith, predictably enough, goes and finds a nice spot in the sun to lie down in, and Gem looks around for some flowers, or some honey.

[Gunhaven]

As Roph continues to try and break free of the angry spirit's grasp Servius continues his assault on the creature. While Roph had better luck this time around, Servius unfortunately did not. What with the tangling mass of tainted fey and possessed objects wrestling each other.

[miinstrel]

Know Nature for lycanthropes: [roll0]

Ventose frowns at the wolfsbane. "Ugh, filthy mutts. So who do we think has a puppy inside them? The alchemist or the big bad gang leader?" Ventose watches as Zak's PAC carefully wraps the box back up to its original state.

"I think we should deliver this package. If this is playing out as I expect, they hired the alchemist to synthesize a cure which means all the action will be happening at that address tall boy was carrying." As an afterthought he adds, "I wonder if those other guildies are having any luck.."

[PairO'Dice Lost]

"A...a puppy inside them?" Zaklinan wrinkles his lip in an expression of extreme distaste. "Thank you very much. Now I have the mental image of this gang leader giving birth to a litter of baby werewolves, which I assure you is not a pleasant one, and I can't get it out of my head fast enough."

I should not attempt to remove the image, Zak's oracle states matter-of-factly, as that is one potentially valid reason for the acquisition of wolfsbane. This possibility should not be dismissed.
Doesn't matter, I'd still much rather not think about it.
It could be an important lead. I should not ignore it.
Fine, you think about it, the overmind says with a mental shove, transferring that line of thought to the oracle. Ah, much better.
...I am now thinking about it. Thank me.
I'm welcome. And what's my conclusion?
I hate us, at the moment. Very much so.

Back in the outside world, Zack responds, "Delivering the package is our best option, I agree. Who knows what the others are up to; I never really liked either of them, anyway. I just hope they don't interfere with what we're doing."

[Sliver]

Servius and Roph

Roph manages to break free from the tangled mass as Servius' flurry fails connect. It trues to slam into Roph and entangle him once more, but a well positioned shield blocks the attempt.


Aster

"A garden..." Glint repeats. "That could be useful..."

"No, she really means just flowers." Poppy says. "And to look at, admire. That sort of thing. Not to pick and dilute into your vi-"

"Okay, okay, I get it." Glint raises his hands.

Turning to you, Poppy sighs. "Aster, Glint works for some bad folk. The same that made the alchemist go missing. They might have him alive, too... But Glint supplies the alchemists with the material to create bad stuff. If Glint doesn't get them a new alchemist, then they will probably kill or torture him. He is asking us to either find someone who will do the work, which I refuse, or to deal with the bad people. I saw some of the Guildies have signed on the alchemist job, so we might find them and do this together. Then Glint will get us a couple of crystals for our trouble. On the other hand, we could just leave him and buy the crystals." Poppy suggests.



Zaklinan and Ventose

Heading to the Orc District now?

[Archmage1]

Aster looks a bit sad when Glint declines her offer to grow a flower garden.
"Aw... but gardens are nice."

She listens intently as Poppy explains the situation. Once she finishes(Waiting this long has her fidgeting), Aster speaks up.
"Glint, how could you work for such mean people! I'm sure that we can convince them to be nice instead, and to stop stealing alchemists! That would be much nicer for everyone! I can find the others working on finding the alchemist, and you can tell us where the mean people are, so we can go and talk to them!"

Sith looks up as the petal eagerly expresses her opinions, and sighs. He was just getting comfortable, and already, she was making more work.

[miinstrel]

OOC: Yes, to the Orc district and the delivery address!

[Gunhaven]

Roph took full advantage of the creature's inability to grab him again by swinging, and nearly hitting for once, the creature. Fortunately enough his swing distracted the creature and Servius was able to get in a solid blow with a claw (and maybe the other). With a grin at the blow, the duo felt confident in the slow demise of their joint enemy.

[Archmage1]

Her plan set, Aster flies over to the door, and looks back at the others, clearly eager to get going.
"Come on, lets go and find the others! Then we can rescue the missing alchemist together!"

[Sliver]

Aster

Poppy sighs, letting the petal believe she can turn people good, as Glint gives you the address, while trying to look as ashamed as possible. You leave the house and note that the rain is weaker now.

Zaklinan and Ventose

You walk over the bridge and into the human district as a familiar face leaves one of the houses.

CONVENIENCE!

You overhear the halfling talking to Aster. "Regardless of your faith in the good of criminals, we should look for some of the others so our chances of surviving today would be a bit higher."


Servius and Roph

The hacks deal little damage but the mass is slowly getting hurt and its movements grow slower and clumsier. With a flash of light, a blue glow leaps out of the trash and moves through the door into the other room, leaving the trash falling to the ground harmlessly.

[Archmage1]

As the halfling and the petal depart Glint's home, Sith sighs, disappointed that his nap is interrupted once more, and follows.

Aster, following Poppy out, hovers in front of her, smiling cheerfully.
"Don't worry Poppy, of course we'll survive! And I'm sure we'll find the others! We know where the alchemist is! And then we can save the metal one too!"
That said, she looks around, looking for the others, or some hint as to where they went.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Zaklinan puts on his deerstalker again as he and Ventose cross the bridge, since they're back in investigation mode. Upon seeing Aster, he smiles and heads over to her, tipping his hat to her and her companions. "Good morning again, Aster, Gem, Sith, and...Poppy, was it? A pleasure to meet you. Aster, I believe I just heard you say you know where the alchemist is? We've had some success as well, albeit in a different way; why don't you lead us towards the alchemist and we'll compare notes on the way."

[Archmage1]

When Zaklinan comes up, Aster smiles broadly(Well, broadly for a tiny petal) at Poppy, while waving at Zaklinan.
"See Poppy! I told you we'd find them!"
When he gets close enough to talk to, she flies over to him, and lands on his hat(He always has the best hats). Gem chirps, and lands on his hat as well, although Sith just sits down, cleaning his paw.
"Hi Zaklinan! Hi Ventose! You've met Poppy before, I'm sure! We know where the mean people who have the alchemist are, and we're going to ask them to stop being mean!"
Still smiling cheerfully, she looks down at Poppy.
"Which way to the mean people? Or can we just fly around until we find it? I always find fun things when I do that!"