The Lost (IC)

[DarkLadyOfTheSith]

It's been a long week at the University of Southern California. Heck, for that matter, it's been a long term. But each of you finished your last final today, two days before the scheduled end of the term. Merlin Benson, professor of philosophy and mythology, and your DM, has been talking up a new campaign idea he's had for weeks now, getting all of you psyched up for it. Tonight, now that everyone has a few days of down time, you all arrive at your usual room in the USC library, rested, amped and ready to go. Prof. Benson set the time to start at 6:30, but you find yourselves eager to get started, and arrive early.

The room is a typical conference-style room for a college. Long table, cheap chairs, and a heating/cooling system that never seems to be just right. Still, the room's open twenty-four hours a day, and snacks and drinks are permitted. And, of course, it's large enough for twelve and to spare.

The eleven of you, Kate Jones, Douglas Fairchild, Hannah Meyer, Jason Lange, Bill Downer, Annika Treadwell, Peter Larson, Kim Williams, Brandon Smith, Gwen Deschain, and Aaron Zimmerman have been playing together for nearly a year now, and you've never heard of a campaign like this.

(Go ahead and do the meet 'n' greet-- assume you show up in the order that you all post, and spend some time chatting. I'll introduce the DM at the appropriate moment. I gave Brandon the last name Smith, since there wasn't one on the sheet. If you want me to change it, tell me.)

[McSherrie]

Kim, having come to the room immediately after her last final - C# Applications - settles into her traditional chair in the corner of the room. She pulls a sweatshirt out of her bag and puts it on, then opens her cooler and takes out a bottle of Diet Dr Pepper. She puts it down on the table in front of her, then follows it with her character sheet, sharpened number 2 pencil, and Crown Royal dice bag, all in precise spots. Then she settles back to wait.

I hope everyone gets here soon. This promises to be an interesting game.

[wxdruid]

Gwen

Gwen loves to show up first and pick her favorite seat. One of the few with a cushion. She puts her backpack full of books down and waves a friendly hello to Kim. She really only brings the basics, to many more and she wouldn't want to carry it across the campus. So, PHB, Spell Compendium, Rules Compendium and one or two others along with lots of paper to write notes on or keep track of stuff. Those go in a neat stack in front of her chair. Next she takes out the dice, her favorite tiny black dice. Of course she tends to roll low on Init with them, but high on skill checks, and she loves them. She keeps them in a cute little camel bone box that one of her siblings brought back from Qatar.

Finally she settles in her seat. She's wearing her usual XXL black t-shirt, black jeans, black socks and black shoes, although the shoes promptly come off and get kicked under the table.

Next comes her chocolate supply. Gotta have the chocolate. It's in a nice neat bag and it goes in front of her books. Out of her backpack comes the rest of the candy in a large ziploc baggie, this goes in the middle of the table for everyone. Finally, she rests, ready and waiting... Hello Kim, ready for the big game?

[McSherrie]

Kim smiles back. "Definitely ready, Gwen. How did your finals go?" She leans forward and picks out her traditional first piece of candy for the game. "Sugar rush, here I come!"

[wxdruid]

Gwen

Well...I got A's on the meteorology ones, the others? Probably got B's or C's, definitely not D's. I studied hard for all of them, of course enjoyed the meteorology ones the most. How about you? Hm, forgot her favorite green pencil. She leans down and gets it out, setting it right next to her papers.

[Alicorn]

Annika Treadwell

Annika, a tall, dark-curled wearer of khakis and a tan t-shirt bearing the word "Peace" in about 75 languages, yawns her way into the game room, still having sleep to catch up on from delightful finals. She plops herself into a seat facing away from the low-hanging sun and starts to unload her knapsack: laptop with PDF files of assorted supplements on it, lunchbox with dinner ironically packed therein, little green mesh dice sack with uniform marbled dice tumbling around inside.

"Hi, guys. I miss any interesting conversation topics?" she inquires as she boots up her Macbook.

[McSherrie]

"About the same, except replace meteorology with programming. That Sociology test was a bear though." Kim curls up in her chair, sitting on her feet and closing her eyes for a moment. "I have to say I am glad they are finished, regardless. Now we can relax and enjoy the game thoroughly." She opens her eyes as Annika joins and smiles at her. "Welcome."

[wxdruid]

Gwen

Heya Annika, just talking about finals and our grades, nothing serious. Just barely got here myself.

To Kim, Good to hear about your finals.

How about yours Annika? All good?

[Santanya]

Jason walks in, his bag full of books and hanging heavily off his shoulder. He waves a bottle of tea towards those present as he makes his way over and sits down heavily, his bag shaking the table as he sets it down. "Hey there all," he says and smiles as he starts pulling his things out, resting the books against the table leg with their spines facing up. He sits and pulls out a velvet dice bag and dumps it on the table in front of him.

"Finals are done hopefully well, and I have a summer for projects in a shop free of freshmen getting in the way," he says with a grin as he begins setting them all out, sorting by type and making sure the max values are pointed up. "Its going to be a good night," he adds and he smiles to the others.

[mdsoze]

Douglas

He had spent the day moving into his summer apartment, and was looking forward to this game. He had showered and changed, so that he didn't smell too much like moving in mid-May. He had decided to put on one of his few light colored polo shirts. It was his lucky shirt, after all. He had worn it the first time he'd birdied the 577 yard par 5 at the Wilson course, and so he liked to bring it out for special occasions, and starting up a new D&D campaign was just the kind of night.

Before he left his apartment, he collected his usual supply of books, a PHB, DMG, Monster Manual, and 7 or 8 supplements. Even if he didn't need them, he always liked to have an extra book on hand to lend to someone, or to double check a rule. Having multiple copies of books always kept games moving, and his backpack was large enough to take it. Then he grabbed a large dice bag. He liked to have at least 5 of each type of die, and he would change up a die that was running cold, and talk nicely to dice that were running hot. He also stuck a 12 pack of diet pepsi into the backpack, figuring that he'd drink a few of them, and he'd probably give a few away. Last, but not least, was the bold party chex mix. It wasn't D&D without the bold party.

His items collected, he made his way to the library, smiled at the librarian, and headed up for the usual room.

As he walked in, he saw that the room was filling up.

Hello. Our group is always so punctual. I never cease to be impressed.

Douglas chooses his seat not based on the chair, but on having enough table space to spread out his books, and his drinks, and being able to stretch out.

[McSherrie]

Kim straightens out her belongings after the table is jostled with a fairly amused expression on her face. "Hello, Jason and Douglas. Best of luck on the outcome of your finals and let us hope that this game can get started soon."

[Alicorn]

Annika

Annika takes out her turkey and salami sandwich and starts to munch on it. "My exams went all right, I think. You can never be positive with essay tests, though. So subjective. And you never know which apathetic TA gets to grade them. But I'm optimistic."

[mdsoze]

Douglas

Finals? I only had two of them. I've been done for a few days, I even replayed Final Fantasy IV just cause it had been a while. The nice part of upper level engineering classes is you end up with a lot of final projects. My metallurgy class had its final project due two weeks ago, and I already know that my titanium alloy passed muster.

Douglas picks up 6d6 and starts rolling them, looking at how they roll, reciting totals and numbers almost like Rain Man. After a few tosses, he pauses, opens up his first bag of Chex mix, and begins munching, then offering it around.

Anybody want some bold party?

[wxdruid]

Gwen

To Annika, That's good.

Heya Jason and Douglas, having fun yet? I see Douglas is already checking out his dice. I can't wait to get started. I always enjoy the beginning of a new campaign.

No thanks on the mix, brought my own dark chocolate snacks. Brought a bunch of mixed stuff for everyone else.

[TwoCents]

Kate

The faint grumbling of a car rolling up just outside was followed by a mechanical hiccup and a stream of Arabic; luckily few nearby could understand the cursing. About fifteen minutes later, Kate limped into the classroom, her hands dirty with grease and her usual military surplus bag of gear on her back. She leaned on an ebony cane carved with "SSgt K. M. Jones, USMC - Semper Fi", and her short dark hair was still wet from the shower. Kate was wearing her usual neat polo shirt and slacks, and her shoes gleamed with polish. "Ooh-rah, ever'body. Gotta wash," she said, waving vaguely in the direction of the restrooms. She dumped her bag in her favorite seat opposite Dr. Benson's chair.

Soon she returned with clean fingernails and plopped down in her chair. "Anybody know anything about the game? We're supposed to have new characters for this, right? I decided to try something different this time; a cleric, believe it or not!" Kate laughed cheerfully and began to unpack: Three cans of cola, warm. One pack of gum, cinnamon. One six-sided die, brass. One tube of dice, blue with red numerals. One tube of dice, green with black numerals. One folder with character sheet and notes from relevant books. She slung her bag, still mostly full with reference books, over the back of her chair and smiled. "So, am I the only one looking forward to a long boring summer waiting for the campus to reopen?"

She popped open a can of cola and took a hearty slug.

[Alicorn]

Annika

"Yeah, new characters. Mine's a swashbuckler/psion. Halfling, for the Dex bonus - Weapon Finesse for the win." Annika polishes off her sandwich and starts peeling her orange. "I've got about six summer itineraries to consider and I'm just hoping I can force myself to pick one before enough time elapses that I default to "hang around, work at the grocery store to make rent and gas money, and ride horseback whenever the sun doesn't feel like baking me alive"."

[wxdruid]

Gwen

Sounds like fun. I'm going with druid, I've been researching weather spells. I've collected more than 50 pages of them in a word doc, all alphabetized, sorted by level and each one references which book it's from. It makes it so easy to look them up. No need to carry around a ton of books. I'd rather play D&D than wonder when summer will be over. I wonder if our DM will be carrying the game all summer? part of the summer? or if we'll have to wait for fall to complete the campaign. She hopes not, the summer will be far to long and boring if she has to wait forever for fall.

[mdsoze]

Douglas

Yeah. I've decided to make a two weapon fighter. I played a caster last time. I like my intelligent fighters. Might as well have the stats to take advantage of all the feats I'll get.

[Wiz]

Bill

The nerd arrives, waving at everyone with enthusiasm. "Hi, guys. Everybody all geared up for the game? I'm looking forward to this one!" He unslings his book bag and takes a seat, predictably, right next to where the DM usually sits. "I was talking to Ross, the librarian over Mudd Hall of Philosophy... did you guys know that was used in that old seventies film version of the Dunwich horror. We are all studying at Miskatonic University!" He sets down a small cooler and pulls out a can of Jolt Cola.

[dauphinous]

Hannah

Hannah can always be heard well before she's seen. The left front wheel of her wheelchair developed a squeak during monsoon season last year, and it wasn't worth it to get it fixed. She came over directly after her Ethnographic Study of Indigenous Pacific Peoples final, yet one more class in a series of classes that was supposed to help her figure out what her major would be. After three years of this, one would thinks she'd have been able to settle on something. But not Hannah. Everything was too interesting. Nothing was specifically enrapturing enough to make her want to major in it.

The motorized wheelchair would have been nearly silent were it not for the *squeak* *squeak* *squeak* as she rolled down the hall from the elevator. Her father had paid top dollar for the most cutting edge piece of equipment he could find for his only child, perhaps to assuage his survivor's guilt. She didn't much care why he spent so much on all her tools (she refers to them as 'toys'), she just appreciated the fact of it, as it let her lead a life, even if it wasn't a normal one.

Hannah's chair rounds the corner into the room deftly and she motors up to a blank space at the table. She seems a little tired, but as cheerful as usual. The scar across her face, the ugly one that runs from her right jawline across her cheek to her nose (just below her glasses, so they can't hide any of it), wrinkles as she smiles at those who are already there. "Evening," she says pleasantly. She uses her right arm, the one with the prosthetic hand - like her wheelchair, it is SOTA all the way, with actual fingers and an ability to grasp things with some amount of finesse - to flip her laptop up on its extension arm and open so it can boot already.

She reaches next for the bright red bag hanging between her completely useless feet, pulling it into her lap and looking through it. She pulls out her Ziploc zipper bag with her sparkly red dice and the cup she uses to roll them. Her left arm, which otherwise just lies limply at her side, jerks once as she does this, but she ignores it. Stupid thing just does that from time to time. Then the cuff of her plain sky blue long sleeved shirt gets caught on something in her bag as she reaches in for something else with the fake hand, and she has to yank it a couple of times to get it loose. That doesn't bug her either, though. It happens. After ten years, you learn to just live with the little things.

She lifts out a bottle of water that's mostly empty. "Dammit. Would someone mind refilling this for me at the fountain, please?" She might have left it at that, but she felt compelled to offer a bribe of sorts, mostly to keep others from feeling like they have to help the cripple. "I've got frosted sugar cookies," she offers. That comes as no surprise. If her mild chunkiness isn't enough to attest to the fact that she has a weakness for them, the fact that she always seems to have at least a couple on hand certainly is.

[Daryk]

Aaron

Aaron waved hello to the undergrad working behind the front desk as he came into the library, but kept walking. The last thing he wanted was a discussion of yesterday's final. He'd been grading questions four, five and six all day, and was looking forward to something, ANYTHING else. He was still dressed for 'work', in slacks and a Land's End shirt with a button down collar, but fortunately Professor Ming hadn't required ties for grading. Ming was widely known as "the Merciless", but Aaron didn't find him all that bad. At the very least, he was easier to please than the Gunnery Sergeants at OCS.

Wending his way deeper into the library, Aaron perched his sunglasses on his forehead. In his left hand, he carried his brief case with a can cooler strapped to the outside. The device had been a gift from his father, and it had proven its worth consistently ever since. The only drawback was that it meant having to sit near a plug.

"Hey guys," he said as he entered the conference room. Taking a seat near the foot of the table next to Kate, he first unstrapped the can cooler, then proceeded to unpack his briefcase. He set out a short stack of books and papers, a pencil, and his leather dice bag with a thud. Impressed by Kate's brass d6 when they first met last year, Aaron had set about acquiring brass dice of all shapes and sizes, and his bag was heavy as a result. Next was a package of Jack Links snacks. Finally, he withdrew a 24 ounce can of Arizona Iced Tea and slipped it into the can cooler. Placing his briefcase on the floor, he sat down and rolled his chair back to plug in the can cooler, which hummed quietly.

"So, any word on what the Professor has in mind beyond '5th level'?" he asked the group at large.

Edit: Aaron came in after Hannah asked her question simply because I was working on my post when she posted... :smallsmile:

[mdsoze]

Douglas

Douglas hops up, and walks over to Hannah, getting her water bottle.

Sure. It's not a problem. I'll pass on the cookies for now. I prefer to save the sweets until I'm finished with my salt. Anyone want anything from the vending machines as long as I'm heading that way?

The engineer in Douglas had spent a significant amount of time trying to figure out the details of how Hannah's prostheses worked, and he figured he might as well lend a hand when she needed one.

After hearing any requests, Douglas makes his way down the hall, filling the water bottle and getting stuff, and then makes his way back to the room.

[TwoCents]

Kate

"Well, as long as we don't call on the elder gods, we should be all right." Kate stood up to chuck her now empty soda can into the recycling bin. "Two points!"

"Oh, damn that noise!," she grumbled. Kate pulled a chair out from the middle of the table and set it against the wall, and then reached into her bag. With a can of WD-40, a battery powered multitool, and a tube of Lubricant, Silicone, All-purpose, she was ready.

"Hannah, will you please let me fix that damned squeaking... the noise is killing me," she asked, waving the can of WD in a hopeful manner.

Kate knelt on the floor near Hannah's chair, one leg stretched out to the side. She peered at the squeaky wheel and waited for permission to tinker. "I have got to get that ever-loving shriek out of here." The noise wasn't that loud, but something about it obviously bothered Kate.

She looked up as Aaron entered the room, "Ooh-rah, kid. Still can't drink that warm soda? What'll you do when the power goes out, die of thirst?"

[Loghren the Barbarian]

Peter Larson
From out in the hallway, a deep voice responds
"Be nice, GI Jane. No reason not to enjoy the creature comforts while they're there."

Half-stumbling in, Peter walks into the room with a vacant look to his eyes. This isn't the usual undergrad vacant look of someone who didn't sleep through finals. No, this is the vacant look of someone who hasn't really slept for the last three years. He wears an overly wrinkled pair of jeans, a black t-shirt with a strange looking clown on it that says "Atmosphere," and his Minnesota Twins cap that probably has never been washed. Instead of his usual can of Coke, Peter carries a mostly empty 20 oz bottle of Coke and has another bottle tucked awkwardly into his back pocket. He pauses for a moment, looks around at the group, and notices Douglas's munchies, of which he grabs a handful. "Well, that's the end of THAT brief."

He collapses into an empty chair as his backpack slides off his shoulder onto the floor. He nods toward Doug. "Thanks, Doug." Peter opens his bag. He removes his only two books - PHB and Spell Compendium - along with a wrinkled legal pad. He rummages for his dice out of the front pocket. It's an old backpack, with leather on the bottom. The kind that was popular in the 90s. Despite his otherwise haphazard look, he separates his 5 sets of dice into their appropriate sets and seems to be counting to ensure they're all there. He reaches into his pocket for a moment, then asks, "Does anyone have an extra pencil? While I'm at it, Hannah could I steal one of those cookies from you?"

[McSherrie]

"Aaron could never survive in the rest of the world, Kate. They believe that carbonation cools soda enough."

As if having been expecting the request, Kim holds up a spare pencil in Peter's direction. She tries not to smile too much.

[Wiz]

Bill

As Peter's backpack hits the floor, Bill snortlaughs, "I guess you rest your case, man." He takes a swig from his Jolt. He opens his book bag and begins stacking his books neatly, they all look incredibly worn from constant handling.

[Daryk]

Kate
...
She looked up as Aaron entered the room, "Ooh-rah, kid. Still can't drink that warm soda? What'll you do when the power goes out, die of thirst?"

Aaron grinned at Kate and said, "Yes, Kate, you can use the cooler as soon as I'm done."

At Peter's request, Aaron reached into his briefcase and withdrew a pencil, sliding it across the table to him.

A gentle "ding" announced the cooling cycle was complete, and Aaron removed his chilled tea from the device. With Kate on the floor, she was in no position to object as he slipped one of her cans of cola into the device.

Edit: UN-Pencil-ninja'd! (I don't remember the exact words I wrote, but these are close...) :smallbiggrin:

[Loghren the Barbarian]

Peter

Peter grins at Bill. He reaches toward the pencil Kim holds out, then hears notices the pencil Aaron slid at him and grabs that one, instead.
"Oh, alright. Thanks anyway, Kim. Thanks, Aaron."

Peter tucks the pencil behind his ear, takes the last swig out of his first bottle of Coke and then, realizing he was awkwardly sitting before, grabs the other bottle out of his back pocket and sets it on the table. He grabs the pencil from behind his ear, changes one of his feats, and then stares blankly at his sheet as if trying to figure something out.

[dauphinous]

Hannah

"Thanks. I'll try to save some, Douglas. No promises." She grins at Douglas as he takes the bottle and goes, then turns over to watch Kate get up, armed with implements of squeak destruction. "Geez, Kate. Not like you came prepared or anything. Unfortunately, I don't think the WD-40 will help. My dad already tried that. He figured it would have to be taken apart or something. 'Course, he's a software guy, not a hardware guy, so hard to say. Knock yourself out."

While Kate starts working away, Hannah pulls a clear plastic bakery box out of her pack, full of sugar cookies covered with blue frosting and white sprinkles. "I brought a whole box. I think there's enough for everybody to have a couple." Although the outcome of the effort is pretty much a foregone conclusion, she gives a shot at trying to pop apart the little plastic bubbles that are holding it shut. It only takes her about five seconds to give up, and she holds it up at Peter. "If you can open it, you can have as many as you want."

[McSherrie]

"If you tell him that, Hannah, he will eat them all." Kim has placed the spare pencil next to her own, making sure that it is parallel. She waits patiently for a cookie. "Blue icing is my favorite, you know."

[TwoCents]

Kate

"You got that right, Kim. For a physicist, Aaron shows a terrible lack of faith in Boyle's Law. I think we might need an intervention. You have to BELIEVE in the cooling, son."

Kate turned and glared at Pete in faux outrage. "GI Jane? GI Jane? Do I look Hollywood? Sheesh, Pete, get your facts straight. I thought you legal eagles were all about accuracy in the details. Remind me to get a fact-checker if I ever need you for legal advice..." Kate mock-grumbled, pretending far more umbrage than she actually felt. In a friendly voice, she added, "Glad you could make it. How's it feel to be done with law school?"

"Well, Hannah, I have good news. I talked to my guys over at the VA this week and I got my hands on the manual for this model. I was going to sneak it out of the building but had to settle for studying it while I was there. It made a nice distraction." She tinkered for several minutes, finishing with an "Ah HAH!" followed quickly by "Oh, you ever-loving piece of ---!" She sighed, and said, "Well, good news is I think I know what's wrong; bad news is you need a part. I'll get you the number and you can ask your dad for it; I might be able to scrounge it from the gimp room but it could take weeks for the procurement system to come through." She carefully lubed up all the parts she could reach and closed up her tools. "Off to wash; anybody need anything while I'm up?" She levered herself back up with the help of her cane and went to the washroom.

[Alicorn]

Annika

"I feel bad about just taking a cookie, but I'll swap you for a cinnamon oatmeal raisin," says Annika, taking out her packed dessert. "They came out a touch dry, but should be all right with your water. Better with milk, but what cookie isn't?"

((Changing speech color because brown is so popular. I'm indigo now.))

[Wiz]

Bill

The nerd picks up one, only slightly worn book... it must be new. "I've been waiting ages to get a copy of Complete Mage, this book is incredible! The Master Specialist class, the reserve feats, now the wizards and sorcerers can blast away just like the warlocks!" He looks up from his monologue... "Hey, cookies!"

[dauphinous]

Hannah

"A new part, hmm?" Hannah shrugs. Her left shoulder, at least, works well enough, and the gesture is obvious for what it is. "I'll talk to my dad. Not sure he'll think it's worth it. Squeak doesn't bug him. Doesn't really bug, me either, except when I'm moonlighting as a ninja." She smirks and stuffs the bag back onto its hook.

"Cookies are totally up for grabs, so long as I get one, but I'll take the trade, Annika." She grins again. "All you people have to do is wrestle the box away from Peter."

[Wiz]

Bill

The nerd snortlaughs, "Well if it was 2nd edition, I'd cast my cantrip Gather - but since we're 3.5 I'll have to go with Mage Hand to snag a few!" He looks around, "Anyone else interested in a Jolt? All the sugar and twice the caffene!"

[McSherrie]

"Thank you but no thank you, Bill. I like being able to see straight." Kim stands up and leans menacingly towards Peter - well, as menacing as a 5'1" toothpick can be. "I do plan on having one of those, just so you are aware." She holds a straight face as long as she cans, then winks and grins.

[Daryk]

Aaron

"Bill, I think that was 1st edition. 2nd had Prestidigitation, just like 3rd. How long have you been gaming again? You must have been what, 4?" Aaron asked facetiously.

[Wiz]

Bill

The nerd looks offended, "Hey, I've been gaming a long time, my dad had the original books." He smiles then and chuckles, "But so what if I made a slight mistake. Anything before Prestige classes is old hat anyway."

[mdsoze]

Douglas

Douglas comes back into the room, and gives Hannah her waterbottle, placing it in the spot where she liked it so it could be easily grasped.

I leave the room for two minutes, and all of a sudden, we're playing the, "I played that when" game. Next time I leave, I better not come back and hear about anyone attacking the darkness.

Douglas chuckles, and moves back into his corner. While he may have joked about his next time leaving, it was rare for him to get up more than once or twice a session. Usually, as the session wore on, he had a tendency to turn the extra chairs around him sideways and use them for footrests, or just as barricades. Sometimes, after a particularly long session, he would have essentially built himself a chair fort. He looks around, greeting Peter, and studying his character sheet, and flipping through one of his many books, tapping his fingers on the table in anticipation of the game..

[Loghren the Barbarian]

Peter

Peter reaches out and takes the box of cookies from Hannah. He opens them, looks to grab half a dozen, and then settles on just two. He smiles at Hannah, and then responds to Kate. Speaking with a straight face,
"There are no facts, Kate. Only better arguments." He then flashes a grin at her before taking a bite of the cookie. Noticing Kim trying to intimidate him, he rolls his eyes playfully and then slides the cookies toward her.

" It's good to be done. Although I don't think I'll really be done until after the bar exam. I was going to go to back to Minnesota to take the class, but I think I'm just going to do the whole 'study from the iPod' thing they have. Probably not the same, but I really don't feel like moving right now. That can wait until August."

As Peter wolfs down the cookies, a young girl, likely not yet in her 20s looking very "granola" with her dreads and facial piercings, complete with patchwork pants and hemp blouse, stands in the doorway. "Peter!" Peter looks up as a sandwich comes flying at him. He grabs it just before it lands on his dice. He glances up, but she's already walking away. He yells out to her, and her responses are gradually farther away.

"What is it?"
"Corned Beef and Munster"
"I Love You!"
"No, you don't!"
"I Love your sandwiches!"
"I know."

Finally speaking quietly to no one in particular as he unwraps his sandwich, "Awesome." , he pauses and removes the sprouts as if he expected them to be there.
Peter bites into the sandwich. Realizing he has no napkin, Peter looks around for a moment, and then wipes his mouth on his hand, which he then wipes on his pants. Just as he had with the cookies, he quickly gobbles down the sandwich - his first food all day.

[Wiz]

Bill

The skinny freshman reaches into his bookbag and draws out a shark-head grabber on a stick and reaches over, snagging one of the cookies from the box. "MAGE HAND!" He smiles, "So I was playing last thursday with this real newbie... we had gotten some treasure including a ring that detected as magic, but nobody could figure it out. You know... a torch still burns your finger so it's not fire resistance, the big guy drops you from a height and you hit the stone, so its not feather falling. Anyway, the new guy is like examining it and he puts it on, and he's talking to the GM while we are all arguing about divvying the spoils. So I asked the newbie later how his conversation with the GM went, and he says that he asked the GM what color the ring was, and the GM said silver. So the newbie said 'I wish it was gold,' and the GM tells him it's gold. Now none of the other players notice this, and so the new guy says 'I wish it was copper,' and the GM says it's copper. Then the new guy says, 'I wish it was green!' Just then we overhear and all turn around saying, 'NOOOO!' and the GM says it's green. The newbie turns to us and says, 'Hey guys... it's a magic ring that changes color!'" Bill snortlaughs.

[McSherrie]

Kim takes two cookies and sits back down. A paper napkin is moved from her bag to the table, where one cookie is placed. The other one is slowly consumed, each bite relished, as she listens to Bill's story. "Just what anyone would want, Bill. A magical mood ring. Definitely more useful than a ring of wishes." She reaches for her soda, taking a sip and washing only some of the blue staining off her teeth, before grinning at the young man.

[dauphinous]

Hannah

Hannah give Douglas a quick smile of thanks as he drops her water bottle in her cupholder. She snorts at Bill's story, shaking her head. "The first time I played, I asked what kind of wounds does light make that you need a special spell to cure them."

[Alicorn]

Annika

"Well, crystal dragons in the MMII have a breath weapon described as being light, and that can rough you up a bit," chuckles Annika, swapping a sugar cookie for one of the cinnamon oatmeal raisin.

[Wiz]

Bill

The biology major snags his cookie from the jaws of jaws, "So, what other characters did people make? I did a wizard. An Abjurer with two levels of Master Abjurer PC!"

[Loghren the Barbarian]

Peter

Finishing his sandwich, Peter again wipes his mouth on his hand and his hand on his pants.
"Well, I did something a little different this time. Instead of making a generalist wizard who just so happens to enjoy blowing things to tiny bits, I decided to make an evoker with a level of sorcerer to try out Ultimate Magus. I don't know - it just seemed right. Plus, I really never use enchantments anyway. And the only illusion I really use is Phantasmal Killer, but we don't fight that many thieves to make it all that useful."

[McSherrie]

"I too deviated from my normal character type, adding a few levels of fighter to my scout. It should make for a very useful 'tank'." Kim leans back in her chair and listens to everyone else's character description with genuine interest.

[TwoCents]

Kate

Kate returned in time to hear the conversation turn to characters. "Well, I decided to shake things up; I've built a cleric this time. And she's not even a cleric of a warrior's god, either," Kate laughed. "Actually, I'm not so sure about the god I picked. Fharlanghn always struck me as the classic 'make up a deity to sound cool' build, but I'm hoping Dr. B will let me use the Cleric of an Ideal variant. Sooo, she's a cleric of 'Sometimes it's just time to hit the road,' but uses Fharlanghn temples as places to meet like-minded worshippers. Anyway, we'll see what Dr. B says."

[Daryk]

Aaron

"Man, am I the only one sticking true to form? Elven Ranger/Mage, gunning for Arcane Archer, as usual," Aaron said.

[wxdruid]

Gwen

Gwen listens and sits back as the others talk, she's more interested in when the DM will arrive. Occassionally she munches on a piece of dark chocolate and gently steers the other bag of candy around to anyone who wants it. She politely declines any sugar cookies...they just aren't the same as chocolate.

When characters are mentioned, I decided to go with druid and hopefully go to stormlord. I've been making a word doc of all the weather spells I can find. She'll still be able to heal, but her primary focus will be weather. Yes...Gwen loves the weather, when she walks around outside...her eyes are always looking up, never down, after all, the weather is up in the sky, not underground.

[Alicorn]

Annika

"The prereqs for stormlord are so bizarre, though. I mean, you need weapon focus in a spear or javelin or whatever, and..." Annika locates her e-book of Complete Divine and finds the class. "Great Fortitude and Endurance. The whole spear focus thing seems really contrived to me."

[wxdruid]

Gwen

Eh, I'm not so worried about that. I already started with the first two feats. I really want the stormlord abilities, they just sound so cool. Of course, she'll have to get struck by lightning and survive. That'll be the interesting part.

[dauphinous]

Hannah

"What crappy feat prereqs." Hannah nods at Annika's assessment. "I went for more utility than you can shake a stick at with a - surprise - rogue/fighter, using the wilderness rogue variant, and with Track." The 'surprise' part is delivered with sarcasm. Every character she's ever made has been Dex and Strength based in some fashion. "I had to restrain myself from dipping wizard just to be pure utility, but I should be able to be an effective scout regardless of terrain. Not too much of a combatant, though. I need to be backup or stealth, not frontline. With a group this big, I didn't think it would be an issue."

[Loghren the Barbarian]

Peter

"You kinda gotta question the sanity level of someone that goes out and does that on purpose. I mean, who thinks, 'Alright, first I gotta be really, really tough. Not strong, but tough. Then, I'm going to go out and purposely be struck by lightening. Of course, I'll have to be sure to live through it.' To me, that really doesn't sound like a person with a high wisdom. That sounds like Grade A Nutcase, to me. I mean, it'll probably be a fun character to play. I've never really looked at it. It just seems . . . well . . . insane.

Which, by the way, is actually a legal term - not a psychological term."

[McSherrie]

"Of course, the pre-requisite of being struck by lightning does rather explain the tendency towards tall weapons with metal on the end. Instant lightning rod."

Kim grins at Hannah. "I will plan on following your lead. You are far more accustomed to this combination of character classes than I am. And Antiope, my character, is nothing if not willing to learn."

[Wiz]

Bill

Bill looks thoughtful, "Stormlords have to be hit by lightening and survive, but Bloodmages actually have to die, and be ressurected. You have to have heard your final heartbeats to get into the blood music or something."

[TwoCents]

Kate

Kate stared at the wall. "Trust me, dying is overrated." She forced a laugh and added, "... and resurrection hurts."

[dauphinous]

Hannah

"That's the damn truth," Hannah mutters, her cheer evaporating at the turn of subject. She shakes her head, though, using the physical movement to loosen the psychological reaction. "I guess I technically qualify for that PrC, then. That part, anyway," she offers with a little bit of forced cheer. "Assuming defibrillation counts as resurrection."

The last thing she really wants to do was replay that day in her head, so Hannah does the best thing she can think of: she changes the subject. It starts with taking a bite of the cookie Annika gave her, which is quickly followed up by a compliment about them. "This is really good, Annika. Did you make them?"

[wxdruid]

Gwen

Gwen has to chuckle a little at Peter and Kim's comments, Yes...I know, so as I said, it'll be interesting.

With the change in subject and then another change, because Gwen is anxious to start, When do you think our DM will arrive? By now she's shifted positions on her seat a few times, just while waiting.

[mdsoze]

Douglas

He looks up as the topic grows morbid.

That's what I like about my base classes. The only prerequisite is that you own dice and want to play the game. I can't recall the last time I made a character with prestige class levels. I know, it might not be optimal, but I've always liked doing my job thoroughly. This time, I'm gonna be a tank with damage dealing potential. I decided I wanted to use an exotic weapon, and there's really no better option than the mercurial greatsword. That, and the physics of the weapon have always fascinated me.

Douglas adjusts his books, and then leans forward.

I'm not sure when the DM is gonna arrive. But you know him, he's always got something going on. He's got all our phone numbers, if something were to come up, one of us would know.

[Alicorn]

Annika

"Technically. My mother makes her own cookie mixes - so she sent me a Ziploc baggie with so many cups of this and that, and instructions to beat in two eggs and a half cup of canola oil and spoon it onto a cookie sheet. So I didn't have a lot of creative input, but I was responsible for not burning them. Much," says Annika in reply to Hannah's question. "I'm sure he'll be here punctually. It's a quarter after six and he did say half past."

[Daryk]

Aaron (http://www.thetangledweb.net/forums/profiler/view_char.php?cid=13871)

Looking at Douglas, Aaron replied, "I know what you mean, but Arcane Archer is just too cool. Trading the last 10 levels of Ranger isn't really that high a price to pay."

[Lochar]

Brandon

Cursing, Brandon left his dorm room, laptop bag banging against his side as he jogged halfway across the campus. Stupid last final, stupid teachers, stupid faulty power in the stupid building, stupid laptop. his litany goes on and on as he moves as quickly as he can towards the professor's gaming area.

Once he finally gets there, he opens the door to see almost a dozen people there already. Thankfully, the professor wasn't one of them.

Waving to the already gathered group, he looks around and sees Hannah with laptop and walks over to her. "Hannah, buddy, pal. Best friend ever. Is there a second power plug there?" He grins at her and flops on the floor next to her, pulling his own laptop out of it's bag. "God, what a day. Stupid final. I had to fricking defend someone else's damned thesis like it was my own for my final. Then I get back to the dorm and find out there's been a power surge that took out my adapter for my laptop. So I get to run to the store for a new one of those. And now I'm finally here."

Brandon looks at all the other players. "Thankfully, I don't think I missed anything character wise, but how are you all doing?" Booting into the laptop, Brandon clicks a few things, pulling up a couple of pdfs of his books.

[mdsoze]

Douglas

Nope, Brandon, you're just about on time. You only appear late cause the rest of us were running early. This may be the first gaming session in recent history to actually start on time. Anyways, just be happy your power adapter was all that got fried. I've seen too many computers get a case of the yips after one of those to get upset if all I lose is the adapter.

Douglas leans back in his chair, resting his head against the wall. His eyes close, and he attains almost a Zen like calm, as if he is imagining some place very serene.

[Wiz]

Bill

The nerd waves to Brandon. "Interesting, if power surges can fry a computer in this world, I wonder if there was a magic surge would it fry the sorcerer's and wizard's brains?"

[Lochar]

Brandon

Brandon nods. "Ah, ok." He then playfully shakes his fist at the others. "Damn you all for making me think I was late." He then sticks his tongue out at them.

"And ya, I know how much it sucks to lose the whole computer to that crap. My desktop died completely. Although, I'm hoping I didn't burn the motherboard as well."

Hitting the wireless in the library, Brandon goes out on the internet. Hmm, wonder if there's a new GITP comic today?

Looking up at Bill's comment, Brandon grins. "I guess it depends on what time of the day it is. Have they used all their spells yet?"

[McSherrie]

Kim glares at Bill in a friendly manner. "Do not say things like that. The good doctor may be listening and he has enough ideas of how to mess with our characters without help."

[dauphinous]

Hannah

"Well," Hannah says to Annika with a small smile, "it's good, and that's at least partly your fault." She leans over to watch Brandon looking for the external plug on her chair, then using it for his laptop. "Yep. Rule number 1. Never give the DM ideas. Hey, don't leech off me too long, okay, Brandon? My dad can't pick me up tonight, so I'll have to motor myself home, and it's been a pretty long day. There's wall plugs in here." To underscore her point, she knocks her laptop into standby mode, now that she's got everything open she wants already.

"Hey, Douglas, I got into a clinical trial, and I'm getting a new arm next month. Supposed to have even more flexibility and temperature sensors or something. You want the old one?"

[Lochar]

Hannah:
Sorry, misunderstood that you weren't already on a wall plug for your laptop. That's what I was looking for anyways :smalltongue:

Brandon

"I won't kill you, promise. Besides, I'll drag you home tonight if you need it." Brandon plugs his power into a wall plug, but stays near Hannah. "I'm thinking a bard, heavy on the random knowledge stuff. What're you playing?"

[mdsoze]

Douglas

It takes him a few moments to even realize he's being addressed, then he opens his eyes and leans forward.

Oh, sure. I always like taking them apart, unless the manufacturer wants it back to see its wear patterns. The last thing you gave me I was able to turn into an automated bottle opener. It creeped out my roommates the first time I used it.

He goes back to thumbing through his books, and then turns to Kim.

Well, I think we'll be the ones taking the most damage up front. I suppose that means we should take turns buying Kate's ale.

[TwoCents]

Kate

"Yo, Brandon!" Kate reached into her bag and tossed him an extension cord (complete with surge protector). "I always keep one in case I can't get a seat near the plug. You're welcome to borrow it." She grinned and added, "Unlucky you, this was the day I decided to be early. You get to be the last one in the door. But you beat Dr. B, so it's all good."

The first few notes of the "Get Smart" theme warbled from her pocket. "Oh, now what?" Kate glared at the number displayed on her phone, answered it, and snarled, "What?," as she walked away from the table to avoid disturbing the pre-game chatter. "No, I cannot come and get you, you fu--" Catching the eye of one of the others, she cut off the obscenity and mouthed "Sorry", before continuing "you worthless excuse for a man. Call the piece of trash you dumped me for-- Oh, she did? Good!" Slamming the phone shut, she pointedly set it on "silent" and said to no one in particular. "Remind me to change my number..."

"Man it will be good to game tonight!" Kate limped back to her chair and sat down. "I am beat down after this week. Speaking of ale, I wish we could game somewhere besides the library. I could really use a beer. I guess Emmerli will have to drink for me. Better not give her a Vow of Sobriety, then," Kate said with a giggle.

[Loghren the Barbarian]

Peter

Peter rummages around in his backpack even though, clearly, there's nothing else in there.
"Sorry, Kate. Didn't think to bring ale this time. Or lager, for that matter. I'll try and get some for ya next time."

He grins up at her. "But, yeah, maybe our adventure will start off in a tavern. So, when we see the cleric passed out in the corner, should we just assume that's Emmerli and take her with us on the way out?"

[Daryk]

Aaron (http://www.thetangledweb.net/forums/profiler/view_char.php?cid=13871)

Grinning as Brandon plugged in his computer, Aaron commented, "That's why I rely on the Mark 1 Mod 0 Pencil, dude. Totally immune to the power surges around this place."

[McSherrie]

"Well, immune as long as you do not rely on an electric pencil sharpener."

[wxdruid]

Gwen

By now, Gwen has her feet underneath her and she's still waiting and feeling impatient. She pops another piece of chocolate into her mouth and does her best to wait patiently. She gives Brandon a friendly wave when he comes in, but otherwise she remains quiet. She's not that good at conversations where multiple people are all talking. Often she ends up not even being heard, so it's just easier to stay quiet and listen.

[mdsoze]

Douglas

After a few more minutes pass, Douglas begins to get bored, then he looks over at Annika, and notices her offering her cookies to the group. He stands up, and crosses the chair he'd already turned sideways and goes over by her.

Hey, I know you're not big on the salty snacks, so I have nothing to trade you for a cookie. That said, I'll give you a backrub, if you'd like one.

[Alicorn]

Annika

"That sounds like a fair trade for a cookie indeed," says Annika. "I think I strained my back hauling textbooks to the post office to send to their respective Amazon buyers. Better deals than the bookstore gives, but no easier on the transportation." She sets aside one of her cookies for him and obligingly leans forward to permit the backrub.

[Daryk]

Aaron (http://www.thetangledweb.net/forums/profiler/view_char.php?cid=13871)

Withdrawing a small manual pencil sharpener from his briefcase, Aaron smiled and said, "No worries there either." Leaning back in his chair, he took a swig of his cold tea and popped a meat snack into his mouth.

[mdsoze]

Douglas

Excellent.

He pulls up a chair behind her, and sets about giving her a backrub, giving a thorough one, finding strain points and really pressing on them.

Your back is tighter than mine was after I golfed 36 holes a couple Sundays ago. You really need to be more careful with the heavy lifting. Get some help or something.

[Alicorn]

Annika

"I asked my brother to help me haul stuff, but he was busy. Why, you offering to help out next time I need to transport heavy objects?" asks Annika, relaxing somewhat. "You're good at this, did you go to that "Learn Massage Therapy" seminar thing I saw advertised in the school newspaper or what?"

[mdsoze]

Douglas

Sure. The next time you find yourself with too much stuff to haul, give me a call. I'm good for lugging stuff. And no, I've never taken a class. Just learned through practice. Have enough female friends in high school, and you are bound to end up giving a few of these. I guess eventually I just learned how to feel for tension. So sadly, I can't teach, cause I'm not even sure I could explain what I do.

Douglas continues to give the backrub, becoming engrossed in the task, only looking up at the clock every few minutes.

[Alicorn]

Annika

"Sure, give me your number and I'll let you know when I need help moving into a new apartment or whatever," says Annika, smiling. "And I'll make sure to have some cookies on hand for you too."

[Wiz]

Bill

Bill looks at the clock, "I wonder where the amazing Mister Merlin is. Cool name for a mythology professor."

[mdsoze]

Douglas

Sure. I'll write it down so you won't forget it.

He pauses the backrub long enough to take a pencil and write his number down for her, and then resumes.

[Wiz]

Bill

Bill flips through his books, glancing over occasionally at Douglas massaging Annika's back. Why can't I just talk to girls like that, about things other than gaming... He looks at his character sheet and makes a small change. "Anyone else think it was kind of funny we were supposed to make 5th level characters, but no equipment or starting money?"

[Alicorn]

Annika

Annika stashes the slip of paper in her purse. "Who do you live with, or are you by yourself? The last time I got somebody's number and called it, I got his stoned roommate who wanted to know if I was communicating with Mars. By which he meant the Roman deity and not the planet."

[Lochar]

Brandon

Looking up from finishing the last touches on his character, he grabs a twenty sided from his bag and tosses it onto the table. Fifteen. Plus the seventeen, makes a Bardic Knowledge check of thirty two. Bardic Knowledge says we all wake up in a jail and have to bust out, Bill."

[Loghren the Barbarian]

Peter

Ahhh, Undergrads. Give 'em 5 minutes and they'll start hookin' up.

"Hey Annika - can I get a cookie without the backrub? I can maybe hook you up with legal advice sometime."

[mdsoze]

Douglas

Well, it's my cell phone. So if someone else answers... tell them to return it to the owner and that he won't press charges. Though there was the time I discovered that in the endless battle of cell phones versus washing machines, the washing machine holds a distinct advantage. That put my number out of commission for a few days until I replaced my phone.

[Alicorn]

Annika

"You can have a half a cookie as a legal retainer," chuckles Annika, snapping one into two pieces and handing one over. "Whole ones are for backrubs and similarly immediate services." She winks. "I've never put a phone through the washing machine, but I did once lose a couple flash drives that way. With a lot of data on them. Thank goodness my computer didn't choose that day to crash."

[mdsoze]

Douglas

Indeed. That's why I keep DVD backups of most of my data. I've never accidentally left a DVD in my pants. That would be pretty hard to miss.

[Alicorn]

Annika

"Yeah. I'm very fond of flash drives, I just have to remember to keep them in my purse and not my pockets or they disappear like that. Speaking of the contents of one's pockets, does anybody know why we aren't supposed to get gear for this campaign? I took a weapon focus and now I'm worried that I won't actually get my hands on a rapier with which to use it, if he has something weird up his sleeve."

[McSherrie]

Kim looks at Bill and shrugs. "Our dear doctor has made requests far more strange in nature before. I would guess that he is starting us in a military group, school, or prison however. Those would all explain adequately why we are beginning the campaign sans gear."

[mdsoze]

Douglas

Yeah. Either we're criminals, who will need to steal/sell our souls for gear, or we'll be provided standard issue stuff once the game has started. Hopefully we can draw a salary though. I do like my discretionary income.

[Lochar]

Annika

"Yeah. I'm very fond of flash drives, I just have to remember to keep them in my purse and not my pockets or they disappear like that. Speaking of the contents of one's pockets, does anybody know why we aren't supposed to get gear for this campaign? I took a weapon focus and now I'm worried that I won't actually get my hands on a rapier with which to use it, if he has something weird up his sleeve."

Brandon

Like I said," Brandon nods to his dice still on the table. Bardic Knowledge says we wake up in a prison with only the clothes on our back. Besides, grab a thin stick, sharpen it, and bam, one wooden rapier." He laughs before grabbing the die and stowing it again.

[wxdruid]

Gwen

I'd rather not wake up in a prison. My character prefers the great outdoors, not the indoor, underground, damp, moldy prison. She likes grass under her feet, not worked stone.

[mdsoze]

Douglas

Well, the last prison my character woke up in lasted all of 20 minutes before it was given a large skylight by a falling boulder. If we do end up incarcerated, I would imagine that cage would last a similar length of time.

[Wiz]

Bill

Bill snortlaughs, "Yeah, can you imagine roleplaying prison. What do you do for day one... day two... day three... day fifty seven..."

[McSherrie]

"Push-ups, pull-ups, and sit-ups of course. And I am sure that tattoos would have to be involved at some point as well."

[wxdruid]

Gwen

Make friends with all of the rats so you can sleep in peace.

[McSherrie]

"Good point, Gwen. And do not forget the birds! There is a book in there, I am sure of it."

[wxdruid]

Gwen

She gloomily replies, becoming more convinced that they're going to start in a jail since they don't have any belongings, or for that matter clothing...Only if there are windows, no windows, no birds.

[dauphinous]

Hannah

Hannah watches Douglas give Annika a background, her expression going closed and unreadable. She misses most of what's said at that point, turning to a little bit or brooding on the one subject that really, truly bugs her. People didn't like to touch her all that much, like she has some kind of disease that could rub off on them. Like if they get too close, they'll end up in a car crash, too. It's really the only thing she doesn't like about gaming. Everyone else is so vibrant and alive, and they interact on so many levels that Hannah just can't.

She distracts herself by putting her dice bag in her teeth and unzipping it with her one hand, then dumping them out on her tray. She has only one set of dice, because more dice means more dice to lose. As she watches them tumble out, her years of practice keeping them in the tray and off the floor, she notices Jason staring intently at his dice, probably thinking high rolling thoughts at them, as usual. It makes her smirk a little.

"What did you bring, Jason? Warforged dragonborn druid?" It's maybe delivered a little more harshly than she means to, but it's supposed to be funny.

[Lochar]

Brandon

Brandon bumps Hannah's leg lightly with his arm from where he sits. "That was last game, remember? This time he's playing a Warforged totemist."

[Wiz]

Bill

Bill looks up, apparently having missed the joke, "Hey, we're not supposed to do Warforged... only PHB races. Mr. Merlin was quite specific about that!"

[Santanya]

Jason

Jason chuckles softly, looking up from his dice and blinking a couple times. He grins, looking to Hannah for a moment. The grin widens as he looks towards Bill. "You mean you didn't get the new release of the three five handbook?" he asks. "They added a couple of the other races in, set the precident for ending the line of books," he says nonchalantly. "I'm surprised. I figured you would be one of the first people to get a hold of it actually. Or at least know about it."

He grins for a moment longer as he lets it sink in. "Warmage actually, with plans for down the road, so long as we get a few minutes of downtime here and there. I'll be making use of saying 'Later that evening' to advance time I'm sure."

[Loghren the Barbarian]

Peter

"So we have Jason with a Warmage and me with an Evoker/Sorcerer going for Ultimate Magus? Wow. Alright. Guess we'll have heavy artillery well covered."

[Wiz]

Bill

Bill smiles, "Warmages are cool. The more people with sharp pieces of metal and wood who stand between me and the bad guys, the better!"

[dauphinous]

Hannah

She doesn't feel Brandon bumping her leg (because it's paralyzed, of course), but Hannah sees that he moves, and that it's towards her, not away. Hard not to have mixed feelings about that, because it's nice to have friends, but 'friends' is all she's ever likely to have.

"Didn't you say you were doing Abjuration, Bill? That's kind of a weird choice for a specialty." For you, anyway. "What did you take as your barred schools?"

[Wiz]

Bill

Bill smiles at Hannah, "Actually, the numbers worked out perfectly. Three levels of wizard, five of master specialist, seven of initiate, and finish up master specialist with the last five levels. You know how fond I am of counterspelling. Of course, I also considered taking the UA variant where I can trade levels of memorized spells for Dispel Magic and Greater Dispel Magic... but even I couldn't swallow how bad the tradeoff was, much as I like the idea. Can you imagine... you have to give up all the extra spell levels you get for being a specialized wizard, meaning you gave up two schools for basically nothing, THEN you have to trade four levels of spell to get a third level dispel magic, or seven levels of spells for a sixth level greater dispel magic. It's like paying for the priveledge of being taxed." He shrugs, "For my barred schools I picked evocation, because it's the lamest school for a group oriented wizard, and necromancy because frankly, for wizards it's a creepy school; useful, but creepy."

[Loghren the Barbarian]

Peter

"No evocation and no necromancy? Those are my two favorites! Fireball never gets old. I don't care if it's not "optimized." It's just plain fun. So is scoring a crit on the maximized ray of enfeeblement. Succeeding on the ray of exhaustion afterward, of course, is just over kill. Which is also fun."

Peter shrugs. He spends time spinning his dice like tops, seeing which spins best, and picks them up when they fly off the table, only to spin them again.

"By the way - what is Master Specialist?"

[McSherrie]

"Logically speaking, over kill is just that. I prefer to be able to move my strike to the next upright target myself." Kim winks at Peter, trying to make sure that he knows she is not serious. She occasionally eyes her second cookie, but manages to remind herself that waiting makes much more sense because she will be hungry for it later regardless of whether she eats it now or not.

[Santanya]

Jason

Jason chuckles. "Bah, no need to fricassee everything," he says. "Though, get a few effigy's to help out in a fight," he adds. "Spell slinging adds to the fun of course." He leans back in his chair, taking a long swig of tea from his bottle and eyes the cookies for a moment. He smiles and leans forward, sneaking one of the cookies quickly thereafter.

"So it should be interesting to say the list with all of us," he says, then takes a bite out the cookie. "Mmm, very good," he adds round the mouthful.

[wxdruid]

Gwen

Gwen chuckles a little, I'm just waiting for the higher levels of druid...I've found quite a lot of area weather spells I'm just dying to try out.

[DarkLadyOfTheSith]

Professor Benson walks into the room a few seconds after the clock ticks over to 6:30. "Gentlemen. And ladies, of course," he says as he enters. The professor is of average height, and balding. And, although his wispy hair is mostly white, his skin is largely unwrinkled, making his age hard to determine. He's dressed like the typical professor, including the chalk-stained pants and tweed coat with elbow patches. In his left hand is his old, hardshell briefcase, a relic in this modern age. "I trust your finals went well?" He rests a hand of camaraderie briefly on Hannah's shoulder, then does the same for each of you along the left aisle as he passes you to his customary seat. "And that you've scheduled sufficient time to allow for this game to continue unhindered?" He gives each of you a thin smile.

[Wiz]

Bill

Bill looks at Peter slackjawed, "You're taking a specialist wizard and you haven't even looked at Master Specialist for you future advancement? At 5th level you could already be two levels up in it, and all it does is give you nifty things like straight wizard advancement, free feats, a bonus to your concentration rolls when casting evocations, resistance to the type of energy you're casting... just lot's of..." Bill pauses as Professor Benson enters. "Oh, good evening professor."

[dauphinous]

Hannah

"I have all the time in the world." Hannah smiles up at the professor, tapping a key on her laptop once to knock it out of standby mode. "If you want a cookie, help yourself." She nods with her chin to indicate the box she brought. She didn't really expect him to take one, but it never hurts to offer.

[mdsoze]

Douglas

As Professor Benson walks in, Douglas ends the backrub, and gives Annika's shoulders a squeeze before heading back towards his area. After he sits down, he stacks his books carefully, and picks out the dice that will start the evening for his character.

Good to see you too, Dr. Benson. I saw the sign on the way in stating that the library was closing at midnight tonight, but until they kick us out, I'm here and ready to game.

[Lochar]

Professor Benson walks into the room a few seconds after the clock ticks over to 6:30. "Gentlemen. And ladies, of course," he says as he enters. The professor is of average height, and balding. And, although his wispy hair is mostly white, his skin is largely unwrinkled, making his age hard to determine. He's dressed like the typical professor, including the chalk-stained pants and tweed coat with elbow patches. In his left hand is his old, hardshell briefcase, a relic in this modern age. "I trust your finals went well?" He rests a hand of camaraderie briefly on Hannah's shoulder, then does the same for each of you along the left aisle as he passes you to his customary seat. "And that you've scheduled sufficient time to allow for this game to continue unhindered?" He gives each of you a thin smile.

Brandon

"I've got all night, Professor. Summer is looking fairly clear as well, barring family emergencies of course."

[Wiz]

Bill

Bill smiles, "I'm remarkably good. I've got a summer job over at the Hancock Library. Mostly just restacking books and doing mailers, but hey it gets me here on campus, and ready to play come evening! As for right now, I've got the whole weekend clear."

[TwoCents]

Kate


Professor Benson walks into the room a few seconds after the clock ticks over to 6:30. "Gentlemen. And ladies, of course," he says as he enters.

"'Of course' thought Kate, grumpily. "Been in this group for a year and I'm still an afterthought."

She nodded welcome back to the professor and sat up straighter in her chair. A new can of cola and a sharp pencil at the ready, Kate was ready to game.


"And that you've scheduled sufficient time to allow for this game to continue unhindered?" He gives each of you a thin smile.

"Well, Doctor Benson, it depends on your definition of 'sufficient time'. In the short term, I'll need a break to stretch my legs in about three hours. In the medium term, I have an appointment at zero-eight-thirty tomorrow morning. In the long term, classes start again in 88 days. Within those parameters, I am at your mercy." Kate smiled back.

[Wiz]

Bill

The nerd looks at Kate surprised, "You scheduled something for the morning after a game. Not me... I plan to sleep in!"

[Lochar]

Brandon

Grinning at Kate, Brandon addresses their DM. "Think we can run this game, until, I don't know, zero eight fifteen tomorrow morning before we break?"

[TwoCents]

Kate

Kate chuckled darkly. "I didn't schedule it; the VA did. You take the appointments they offer, or you wait another six weeks. Enjoy your innocence, my child," she added, gesturing pontifically. "Soon enough the demons of bureaucracy will come for you. Form 1040 awaits..."

"Besides, she added in a more normal voice, "I said I had an appointment; I didn't say I had to be awake for it."

[Lochar]

Brandon

"The Veteran's Association? Hell, at that early you'll be lucky for them to be awake."

[Alicorn]

Annika

"I'm free until the last anime club meeting of the year. I have to be there because we're dipping into my Scrapped Princess collection," says Annika, stretching and then touching her trackpad to wake up her computer's display and pull up her character sheet. "Other than that I don't have anything time-dependent scheduled for the forseeable future, unless you include the fact that my brother will be annoyed if I don't happen to speak to him sometime during his birthday next week."

[DarkLadyOfTheSith]

The prof nods to each of the comments, acknowledging them although he doesn't respond to every one. "Fortunately, Douglas, there are advantages to being on the faculty. We have the room until seven in the morning. Sufficient time, I trust, for what I have planned tonight. Will that suffice for you, Kate? I'm pleased to see you all here on time for a change." He sets his briefcase down on the end of the table, snapping the clasps open with an audible *click*. The professor always does his gaming from within the confines of that briefcase, using it as DM screen and die rolling space, and who knows what else. "Sheets if you please," he asks, holding his hand out for the character sheets for final review.

[Wiz]

Bill

Bill smiles, handing over his sheet to the professor. "Things should get started pretty quickly, since we're all made up and we don't have to worry about equipment."

[McSherrie]

Kim, having nodded at the professor's question, hands over Antiope. "I would suggest, however, that we may want to order carry out food of some sort if we will be here for twelve hours. The cookies Hannah and Annika brought are lovely, but they do not have high nutritional value."

[Alicorn]

Annika

"I can print wirelessly to the nearest printer if you need a hard copy, but here," says Annika, pushing her laptop in Professor Benson's direction with Persis's character sheet open.

[dauphinous]

Hannah

"Oh, crap. I knew I forgot something." Hannah flips a little compartment open and uses the trackpad on her laptop. "Totally whiffed on printing it." There is a quiet whirring as the little inkjet that's built into her chair works away, and a piece of paper is pushed out where she can easily reach it. She offers it to Brandon with a small smile, hoping he'll hand it over for her.

[Wiz]

Bill

Bill holds up his cellphone, "I have the number for PizzaGuy programmed in, a friend of mine is working there tonight so we can get the employee's 15% discount, and they deliver anywhere on campus in 12 minutes, or it's free!"

[Lochar]

Hannah

"Oh, crap. I knew I forgot something." Hannah flips a little compartment open and uses the trackpad on her laptop. "Totally whiffed on printing it." There is a quiet whirring as the little inkjet that's built into her chair works away, and a piece of paper is pushed out where she can easily reach it. She offers it to Brandon with a small smile, hoping he'll hand it over for her.

Brandon

"Okay, I admit it. Part of the reason I was almost late was I was printing too." Grabbing a sheet out of his laptop bag, Brandon takes Hannah's as well. "Slave driver." he grins at her, before handing both over. "Just don't confuse our characters, Professor."

[Loghren the Barbarian]

Peter

"Ummm.....wow. 7am? Are you serious? Geez - if we're going that late, then I'm DEFINITELY going to need in on that pizza ordering. One free sandwich can only last so long. And I'm going to need more caffeine. Specifically - more Coke. 1 more 20 oz if we're going past midnight. 2 more if we're going past 3 am. Also, please forgive if I fall asleep. It isn't a statement of my interest in the game, but a response to my 10 hours of sleep over the past 3 nights while I wrote that appellate brief.

Other than that - I'm good to go."
Peter holds out his character sheet. He pauses for a moment, glances at it one last time, and then hands it over again.

[Wiz]

Bill

Bill reaches into his cooler and pulls out a Jolt Cola, a Red Bull, and a Starbuck's Double Expresso, and sets the three cans before Peter. "You must choose... but choose wisely!"

[McSherrie]

Kim reaches into her bag and pulls out her wallet. She slides a twenty dollar bill across the table to Bill. "As long as one of the pizzas that you order is a vegitarian, I do not care what else this money goes towards - as long as it is in the realm of food." Kim had just recently decided to try becoming a vegitarian, although she hasn't quite been able to give up fish yet.

[Wiz]

Bill

Bill smiles and nods, "We have 20 gold pieces toward the party funds... anyone else wish to contribute and put their order in?"

[Loghren the Barbarian]

Bill

Bill reaches into his cooler and pulls out a Jolt Cola, a Red Bull, and a Starbuck's Double Expresso, and sets the three cans before Peter. "You must choose... but choose wisely!"

"Thanks, Bill, but I think I'll pass. I don't really drink . . . well, any of those. I'm kind of particular that way.

As far as pizza goes, as long as I can get a couple slices with no olives, no anchovies, and no pineapple - I'm not too picky."
Peter removes his wallet from his back pocket and sets it on the table next to him.

[Wiz]

Bill

Bill snortlaughs, "You have chosen poorly..." He picks up Kim's twenty and waits to see if there are any other requests before calling it in.

[wxdruid]

Gwen

When the prof entered the room, she suddenly leaned forward with anticipation. When he asks for her sheet, she hands over Gwenivere (http://www.thetangledweb.net/forums/profiler/view_char.php?cid=13386).

Here she is. I'm free to play all night long.

When the mention of getting a pizza comes out, she hands over a $10, Doesn't really matter what kind for me, just no fish on top. I have plenty of snacks for later as well. The large bag of candy is still on the tabletop.

[Lochar]

Brandon

Brandon pulls out a ten as well. "Since everyone else is making pizza choices, how about my ten goes to caffeine? Order a few two liters."

[Alicorn]

Annika

"My vote is extra cheese and garlic on the pizza - or just extra cheese and an order of garlic bread on the side - but plain works for me too," says Annika, chipping in a twenty. "I think the vending machines can supply most soda needs. I'm going to need some hot water to make my tea" - she produces and dangles some teabags - "but the water cooler will do water heating too."

[Santanya]

Jason grins slightly along side the others as he hands over his character sheet. "Shouldn't be a problem for me. I'm pretty much on my own this summer, just hanging around for the machine shop really," he says, chuckling softly. He pulls out his wallet and tosses a twenty onto the table with the other money. "Unfortunately this leaves me broke til next week, but its for a good cause," he says. "And Raman is in fact tastey."

[mdsoze]

Douglas

Clearly, you guys have never ordered from Gorilla World Pizza. We're throwing way too much money around. If you order 4 or more large pizzas, they're $5 each. We've got 12 people. If we get 6 pizzas, that's a half-pizza per person, and that's $40, with tip. If everybody kicks in $5, we've got $20 for beverages.

Douglas takes out a pdf copy of his character sheet that he'd printed out, and passes it towards the professor.

Here's the copy I made for you. Typed everything out on it so that you wouldn't have to try to understand my scribbles and erasures.

[Loghren the Barbarian]

Peter

Peter opens his wallet, grabs a $5, and slides it toward the collection of money. "Where's the fun in typing out your whole character sheet? It's not a character sheet if there aren't a ton of erasure marks in it. And, if you don't end up with a hole in the hit points box - then you're just not doing it right," he says, tongue in cheek.

[dauphinous]

Hannah

Hannah pulls up her bag and rummages through it again. Whatever she finds there, it makes her go a tiny bit pink around the ears. "I'll, uh, pass on the pizza." After stuffing the bag back down onto its hook, she flips the top on her water bottle and takes a drink, studiously avoiding looking at anyone. At least she hadn't forgotten to pack her keys, which has her student ID attached to the chain. Stupid. I know exactly where it is, too. And it has three $20s in it.

[DarkLadyOfTheSith]

The professor eyes the pile of money over the top of Annika's laptop as he scans the character. "It's something of a break in the traditional DM role, but how about I pay for the pizza and drinks tonight? Consider it compensation for what you're about to be put through." He passes the laptop back to Annika with an "Interesting choice of character."

[Loghren the Barbarian]

Peter

Peter grabs his money and puts it back in his wallet.
"Thanks, Professor. Far be it from me to turn down the chance for free . . . wait. What are you going to put us through?"

[mdsoze]

Douglas

Douglas smirks as the DM talks about what they are going to be put through.

We're only level 5, and with no gear. Whatcha gonna send us up against, the terrasque?

[wxdruid]

Gwen

Gwen chuckles a little, It must be good if he's buying food for us. She withdraws her $10 from the pile and does her best to wait patiently while he reviews the sheets. All she wants is to start the game.

[Alicorn]

Annika

Annika grins and withdraws her money. "They say evil is a necessary quality in a good DM, but now you've got me worried. Still, food on your dime's probably recompense enough. And thanks. I think she'll be fun to play."

[DarkLadyOfTheSith]

The professor makes short work of Hannah's, Douglas's, Kim's and Gwen's sheets, handing them back without comment on the characters. "Now, you all should know by now that a good DM never reveals his secrets until the characters are in the grips of them." As he gets to Bill's he looks up. "Are you quite certain this is the character you want to use for this game, Bill? The decision is, of course, yours, but I think your Maurice the Magnificent might be a better choice."

[dauphinous]

Hannah

Hannah's first reaction is to be pleasantly surprised. Forgetting her wallet was stupid, but, apparently, not going cause her to starve tonight. Then her mouth puckers up a little and her eyes go a bit squinty as she considers what the professor just said. She nods and looks at Brandon. "Gotta be the jail thing," she mutters. "I hope at least one of our spellcasters took Eschew Materials."

[Loghren the Barbarian]

Peter

"There just aren't enough feats to take Eschew Materials. Anyway, it wouldn't be the prison thing. If it was prison, all of our gear would just be waiting for us in another room."

Peter furrows his brow. He seems to be lost in thought, trying to determine what exactly this game is going to be all about.

[Lochar]

Brandon

Brandon shrugs. "I try not to let anyone go hungry, Hannah. I've lived off ramen long enough to know how badly it does suck. But not having to pay for the pizza is cool."

At Peter's comment, Brandon shrugs. We could have been in jail for a while, and all our original things are gone. We might have to make due with what we can pull off jailors. I just hope it isn't the 'wake up with amnesia and a bunch of random things' type stuff." He grins at the Professor as he waits for his sheet back. "You wouldn't do that to us, would you?"

[mdsoze]

Douglas

That's the plus side of being a human fighter. I average 1 feat per level for basically the whole range before we go epic.

[wxdruid]

Gwen

Gwen mutters, That's why I love divine spellcasters, no spell book to worry about. She accepts her sheet back from the DM and resettles all her belongings into the proper order. She pops her tiny d20 in her mouth and rolls it around, she likes to do that and hasn't swallowed it yet.

[Lochar]

Brandon

"Yeah, but ninety percent of divine spells require a divine focus. Which you'll notice you're missing as well."

[Daryk]

Aaron (http://www.thetangledweb.net/forums/profiler/view_char.php?cid=13871)

When the professor offered to pay for the pizza, Aaron turned to Kate and asked, "You want to split a meat lover's?"

Walking his character sheet to the other end of the table, Aaron tracked Gwen as she mentioned not worrying about spell books, and smirked at Brandon's rejoinder. Grinning, he handed his sheet over and said, "Professor, I know you've said 'no' every time I've asked, but is there any chance of swapping out Scribe Scroll for Spell Mastery, seeing as how we're starting without gear this time?"

[wxdruid]

Gwen

She replies back, Yes, but it's easier to replace my divine focus than for a wizard to replace his entire spell book.

[Wiz]

Bill

Bill finishes on the phone, then passes everyone's money back to them. "Pizza's ordered and on the way... veggie lovers, sans olives; meat lovers, sans anchovies; cheese with extra sauce and cheese, garlic on half; and the super-killer with everything... including anchovies and olives... also, regular and diet: root beer, seven up, and coca cola..." He looks at Pete, "Don't blame me if you age rapidly though, and your skeleton falls into dust." He looks over at the Professor, "You must be a big pizza afficianado, Professor. I mentioned your name and they said they'd put it on your account." He looks at the character sheet in the professor's hand. "If you want Maurice, I'll play him, but if you don't mind I'd rather try this one. It's a new class build for me, I'd like to see how it works out."

[Lochar]

Gwen

She replies back, Yes, but it's easier to replace my divine focus than for a wizard to replace his entire spell book.

Brandon

"Which is why as a bard, all I have to do is talk the spell's 'ear' off to get it to work. No books necessary."

[DarkLadyOfTheSith]

The professor looks at the sheet again for a moment, as if mulling something over in his mind. After a few moments he passes it back. "The choice, as I said, is yours. Far be it from me to talk you out of it." He works through the rest of the sheets passing them back to each of the players. At the last one-- Kate's-- he pauses again. "I'm going to change the pantheon for this one, Kate. I'd find the greco-roman pantheon to be more appropriate for the game. Is that going to adversely affect your character?"

[Loghren the Barbarian]

Peter

Peter quietly "grumbles"
"Damn. No Nordic Deities."

[McSherrie]

Kim leans towards Peter after retreiving her cash. "You are just upset that you will not be meeting Freya and her cats." She winks and leans back, returning her character sheet to its original position.

[wxdruid]

Gwen

She looks over her character sheet and suddenly remembers a question she had. Oh, professor, I almost forgot. In the future I wanted to take levels of Stormlord and wanted to know what deity you'd recommend that dealt with lightning and nature for your campaign setting? She picks up her pencil, ready to erase and write it in.

[Loghren the Barbarian]

Peter

Peter chuckles.
"Can ya blame me?"

[DarkLadyOfTheSith]

"Zeus, obviously, for lightning. Nature," the professor considers this a moment while Kate thinks over her options. "Artemis, Demeter, or Pan. I'm sure I'll find any of the four acceptable for your purposes."

[Wiz]

Bill

Bill looks at his sheet. "Originally, you told us to go for the basic core book pantheon, so I picked Boccob. Should I switch too? Hecate is the Greek goddess of magic... or maybe I should worship Iris, the goddess of the rainbow because of my character's long term plans?"

[wxdruid]

Gwen

She decides on Zeus and writes that down. She's much more interested in the lightning aspect than the goddess of the hunt. Now finished she sits back and smiles, she's all ready.

[TwoCents]

Kate

Kate looked panicked for a moment. "Ah, I don't have the current Deities and Demigods, Professor. Um, ah, Hermes, right? The Messenger? Is he a 'good' god? And domains: anybody know the domains for Hermes besides travel? Wait, does he even have travel? But, sure, I'll change pantheons." She took back her sheet and began carefully amending it and contemplating her options. "Although I'm not too sure I could do justice to a cleric of the god of thieves...no pun intended."

[Wiz]

Bill

Bill looks at Kate, "Iris is actually a messenger goddess in Greek mythology. She is the rainbow. That is, if the messenger part was the important one."

[Daryk]

Aaron (http://www.thetangledweb.net/forums/profiler/view_char.php?cid=13871)

The professor looks at the sheet again for a moment, as if mulling something over in his mind. After a few moments he passes it back. "The choice, as I said, is yours. Far be it from me to talk you out of it."
...
"Thanks, Doc!" Aaron said, wending his way back to his seat to make the change on his sheet. As Kate mulled over her options, he offered, "How about Tyche? She's the goddess of good luck, but I'm not sure if she has that Travel domain you're looking for."

[mdsoze]

Douglas

Douglas leans against the wall, looking up at the ceiling.

Hmmm... I think given my weapon choice, I'm gonna have to go with Hephaestus. Armorer of the gods.

[dauphinous]

Hannah

"I was thinking along the lines of a bounty hunter of sorts for Anya. Not really into religion and all that, just knows what a regular person knows, and doesn't worship one specifically. They all have their place, even the evil ones." This isn't really a surprise for one of Hannah's characters, either. She has a hard time with faith herself, and just avoids the whole subject in gaming. The whole point of the game for her is to escape reality, not deal with it.

[TwoCents]

Kate (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheets/view.php?id=59200)

"Hmm?," Kate looked up from her editing. "Iris, huh. Ringing faint bells... I was just going on what I remember from Edith Hamilton. Tyche... Goddess of luck, right? Oh!" Whipping around in her seat, she rummaged in her backpack. "Whip me, beat me, take away my charge cards! Google's calling!" Taking out a battered laptop, Kate began to search, muttering as she did, "Hmm. I don't see Iris on the Crystal Keep list. Wait, wait, I like this Tyche idea. Luck, Good Fortune, Travel. Oops. Neutral god. Well, Dr. B, will Tyche get cranky if I keep to the good side?"She tapped her fingers on the table. "God of thieves vs. Neutral God... " Kate looked up from her laptop at Professor Benson, "I'm thinking Tyche, but I will naturally allow myself to be guided by the DM. Oh, and will Summon Holy Symbol be among the available orisons?"

[Lochar]

Brandon

"Greek Pantheon, huh? Easy enough, Hithos gives nod to Hermes as the god of knowledge."

[Alicorn]

Annika

"Persis doesn't strike me as a very religious type, but I guess I should pick a patron. Do any of the Greek gods as described in their D&D versions have psionics in their portfolio, or will I have to go with somebody into swordplay?" muses Annika. She pulls up the PDF of Deities and Demigods. "Wow, not a single one of them has the rapier as their favored weapon or swordplay in their portfolio. I'm going to go with Tyche on account of my being a halfling, in that case." She types up a little note in her character sheet.

[DarkLadyOfTheSith]

"Tyche is acceptable, Kate. Or Hermes, or whomever you decide. Generally as long as you're within one 'step' of the deity on alignment, you're in no danger of running afoul of losing your connection. So neutral good will suffice, although chaotic or lawful good would not. As the goddess of luck, though, she is something of a fickle god. That may help or may hinder you at times." He fiddles with something behind his briefcase before saying, "Yes, you may list Summon Holy Symbol as a level 0 cleric spell. As for the rest of you, if you wish to worship a deity, please select from the greek pantheon. But this is not Forgotten Realms, and leaving that off will not adversely affect your character."

[McSherrie]

Kim, having grown up in a household with a "Recovering Catholic" and a former Zen Buddhist, ignores the religious discussion entirely. Instead, with the promise of future pizza ensured, she eats her second cookie.

[Wiz]

Bill

Bill looks at Annika, "If you want a patron goddess, there's Psyche... but I think she's more a goddess of the soul than psionics or mind. She was a mortal who married Eros. Then there is Athena who sprung from Zeus' head... she is supposed to be wisdom, so there's a mental link there. I know a bit of mythology from gaming, but even though I'm no historical buff, I'm pretty sure the rapier hadn't been invented in Greek times. Of course, if the professor puts us in a place where there are no rapiers, imagine the surprise you'd put everyone in if you had one made, and nobody else knew what the heck it was." He snortlaughs.

[Santanya]

Jason

Jason chuckles a moment, leaning back in his chair and thinking. "Going to have to scribble Hephaestus down, he's the closest one to technology of the Greeks," he says as he leans back and writes down the name in the proper slot of his sheet. "And thank you for dinner," he adds looking towards the Professor.

"I'm sure the professor would have told us if there were historical limitations put upon equipment we can normally get," he says, grinning towards Bill. "Besides, there weren't exactly many magicians, elves, halflings or characters like mine during true Greek times, that we know of at least."

[Wiz]

Bill

Bill holds up his hand and ticks off fingers, "Clarke's third law, William's syndrome, midgets, or Clarke's third law... and of course magic swords might be something like... oh... the first rapier?"

[McSherrie]

"Snicker snack." Kim quotes her favorite poem without even looking up.

[Loghren the Barbarian]

Peter

Peter looks at Bill, then at Kim, then back at Bill, and back to Kim again.
Then, speaking to no one in particular, "And I thought finals turned MY brain to mush."

[Alicorn]

Annika

"Yeah, I don't think Psyche's actually a deity. I considered Athena, but I'm Int-based, not Wis-based, so it'd be a little mismatched. Tyche's close enough considering that Persis isn't, as I said, that religious."

[McSherrie]

"My brain is demonstratively not mush, Peter. It has passed mush long ago and devolved to primordial ooze."

[dauphinous]

Hannah

"Oh, clever, Kim. That makes you nigh unto unknowable, since no one ever puts points into Knowledge Dungeoneering." Hannah nods sagely, then, unable to keep the straight face, starts snickering.

[Lochar]

Brandon

"No, it's just that no one can know her mind. Of course, I think all of us guys forgot to put ranks into 'Knowledge: Inner Workings of the Female Mind' anyways."

[mdsoze]

Douglas

If there's one thing engineering has taught me, it's that you don't need to know the inner workings of something to model it. Just draw a box around it, with input and output, and label it a unit operation. You get enough data on the output for a given input, and you really don't know to know anything about the internal system.

[Daryk]

Aaron (http://www.thetangledweb.net/forums/profiler/view_char.php?cid=13871)

Considering his own religious choices, Aaron asked, "Doc, can we put down more than one god, like, say the Twins? Apollo and Artemis, I mean. Since the elvish pantheon is out, they seem to be the most logical choices."

[wxdruid]

Gwen

Gwen snickers a little Douglas' statement. What if the same input always produces a different output?

[DarkLadyOfTheSith]

"Selecting more than one deity is acceptable, Aaron. As long as you are not a cleric, of course."

[McSherrie]

"Kindly keep your input away from my output, Douglas." Kim laughs nervously, a surprisingly loud sound from a normally quiet person.

[Lochar]

Brandon

"I'm going to be kind and not interpret that the worst way possible." Brandon grins at Kim, and likely ducks the swat coming from any nearby females.

He then looks at the Professor. "Are we about ready to get started then, Professor Benson?"

[DarkLadyOfTheSith]

"Once Kate has finalized her choice of deity, I believe so. There are a few house rules in effect for this game of which you need to be aware. First, the wish and miracle array of spells are only capable of duplicating the effects of other spells. There aren't any true wishes. Second, Reincarnation and Raise Dead are both 8th level spells. Third, Resurrection is a ninth level spell. Fourth, there is no True Resurrection spell. Fifth, the initial supply of potions you'll receive should be treated as made by a caster of 10th level. And, lastly, the rule that the DM is always correct is, of course, in effect. Do not expect everything to always follow the rules as written. Are we clear?" He gives a crooked sort of smile as he finishes up his enumeration.

[Lochar]

Brandon

"So don't die, hoard what you give us, and commoner rail guns don't work. Got it."

[McSherrie]

Kim, faithfully transcribing the House Rules despite the fact that she was not playing a spell caster this game, starts as the Professor makes his statement about written rules. Very meekly she says,"But... Yes, sir." She underlines that one twice.

[TwoCents]

Kate (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheets/view.php?id=59200)


"Selecting more than one deity is acceptable, Aaron. As long as you are not a cleric, of course."

"So no pantheistic clerics, then, Doc? Oh well... too much to hope for," Kate commented as she continued her internet research.

[Loghren the Barbarian]

Peter

"Alright, professor. You're the boss. Got it.

I'm ready to start, then. No use for a deity at this point."

[mdsoze]

Douglas

Douglas smiles at Gwen after the professor finishes speaking.

Well, then you have to check if they were truly the same input. If they are, you have to add some stochastic variables. Or perhaps it's a high order system, or it could be oscilliatory. There are ways to account for it in your model, if you're clever enough.

And don't worry Kim, I'm always careful not to give my input when it's not wanted.

Douglas glances up at the professor.

Just don't mess with power attack, and I'll be happy.

[Wiz]

Bill

Bill raises a thumb to the professor, "Five by five!"

[wxdruid]

Gwen

Gwen grins back at Douglas, And dark chocolate is always dark chocolate.

[dauphinous]

Hannah

"Sounds like it's even more important than usual that we keep the healers aware of damage." Hannah looks around. "Who all qualifies as 'healer', anyway? Kate, I'm guessing, but anyone else?"

[Lochar]

Brandon

"I've got Cure Light Wounds."

[Wiz]

Bill

Bill snortlaughs, "I've got Cure No Wounds!"

[TwoCents]

Kate (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheets/view.php?id=59200)

"I've got 'Run Away!'," laughed Kate. "I'm ready, folks. Cleric of Tyche with a willingness to spread the love to the other gods of the pantheon as needed. Don't get on her bad side or you'll never 'get lucky' again...," she added, ominously.

"Professor, I know you said no equipment, but as a Professional Gambler/Priestess of Tyche, can Emmerli have a deck of cards, or a set of dice, or whatever the local gambling devices are? Please?" With a flourish, Kate handed Aaron her amended copy of her character sheet to pass back up the table to the professor.

[mdsoze]

Douglas

Alastair is no healer. But he likes to keep his allies alive. He just prefers to do that by killing the bad guys so his friends don't take more damage. That said, a couple emergency potions will be good for everyone to carry, just in case.

[Lochar]

Brandon

"We'll probably end up hoarding the potions, considering I don't think tenth level casters are going to be just handing them to us every day, like what we're starting with."

[mdsoze]

Douglas

I never understood the point of hoarding. If you need an item, use it.

If I'm down to single digit HP when the healers can't get to me, and I can't kill the monster in 1 shot, I'm downing the potion, caster level be darned. I mean, it doesn't matter if you beat the game with 4 megalixirs in your inventory.

[Wiz]

Bill

Bill nods to Douglas, "And given the modifications about ressurection and such... your attitude makes perfect sense."

[Lochar]

Brandon

"I'm not saying don't use them, I'm just saying it's quite possibly better to allow for natural healing or one of us to heal if possible before just drinking a potion. Now granted, if Kate or I take Brew Potion eventually, it might get better, but a high caster level healing potion should be the method of last resort, not first."

Brandon shrugs. "Either way. I guess we'll figure out what we're going to do once we're actually playing. Who knows, the reason we're getting all this could also mean a really high magic environment, where the water fountains are actually cure minor wound fountains.

[Wiz]

Bill

Bill shrugs, "Or we could be in an extremely low magic environment and we need this stuff just to make it through because there are no other reliable sources." He frowns, "It's kind of pointless to second guess... but I still go with Doug, if you're in single digit hit points and the monster may not go down with your next blow, quaff away. Dying sounds like it's going to be really hard in this game."

[DarkLadyOfTheSith]

The professor looks over Kate's sheet a second time. "No starting equipment means no starting equipment, Kate. I will, however, take your request into consideration when equipment becomes available." He passes the sheet back to Kate and says. "Well, then, shall we begin?" Seeing no objections, only eager faces he nods, and hunches down behind the briefcase, his voice echoing slightly off the hard back.

"Each of you start alone, going about your daily affairs. As night falls, you find a place to sleep, whether it be the comforts of your own bed, a wayside inn, or a bedroll in front of a warm fire." His voice starts to take on a lilting, almost hypnotic quality as he continues. "Your mind starts to drift, as you verge on sleep. That comfortable sort of sensation between feeling awake and drifting into unconsciousness when one's bed feels warm and soft, and the sounds of the world start to fade. You open your eyes in this dreamlike state, to see a well-lit tunnel ahead of you. Although you don't move from the comfort of your bed, the tunnel-- not just lit, but made of light-- drifts toward you, enveloping you in a warm, comforting glow. There's a flash of intensely bright light and--"

-- there's a soundless, blinding flash of light, and, instead of sitting around the table in the room in the library, you find yourself standing, in a cave, surrounded by ten strangers all dressed in white robes. The cave is dimly lit from one end, presumably the outside, and it illuminates a number of boxes stacked together in a corner the opposite direction.

(In case it wasn't obvious, the players are now in the bodies of the characters. Three are elves, and one a halfling. Feel free to react accordingly.)

[Lochar]

Brandon

Confused, Brandon looks around and then down at himself, noticing he is now wearing the same robes as the others in the room, and doesn't look the same as five minutes ago. "Okay, normally earthquakes tend to give tremors first before they dislodge ceiling tiles and drop them on my head..." He scratches his arm, not used to the feeling of whatever fabric on it is. "I wonder if I'm just unconscious, or in a coma now? Or dead, possibly, if the library was at ground zero. Although, I don't think this looks much like heaven or hell."

It's so tempting to start making unconscious bardic knowledge checks now. :P

[McSherrie]

Kim, feeling a strange sense of vertigo, tries to stand steadily on much longer legs than she is used to. She looks around speechless in wonder at the rest of the group, not really noticing any changes in herself other than her height at this point.

There are, however, many changes. Her Asiatic coloration and facial structure has morphed into the Mediterranean flavor that she had chosen for Antiope. Anyone looking at her will notice that she is clearly more muscular than is standard and is missing her right breast. Even in the white robe, she is the perfect standard for an amazon.

[Wiz]

Diedre

A young, beautiful woman shakes her head and says, "Woah... that was... hey... what's wrong with my voice?" She raises her hands to her throat, then stops, staring at her hands. "What's going on... my hands!" Abruptly, with a horrified expression she grabs her chest, her hands grabbing hold of her ample bosom. "OH MY GOD!"

[Santanya]

The elf blinks his eyes a few times, almost sleepily. He looks about the cavern with a disbelieving look for a moment, then shakes his head. "You've always been good at describing things, I should have gotten something caffinated to drink obviously," he says reaching up and rubbing his eyes. The entire action felt somewhat wrong to him.

"Sorry for dozing there," he says as he drops his hands down oddly, like he expected them to land on something in front of him. The motion sends him stumbling forward a few steps before he catches himself, feet sliding in the dirt as he sets them solidly underneath him. He blinks and looks around to the other people again. "Um... yea... this is the part where I was supposed to wake up..."

[Alicorn]

Annika/Persis

"Aaaugh!" says Annika, flinging her miniature arms in front of her face in a belated attempt to shield her arms from the flash. She lowers them slowly, looking at her white sleeves in puzzlement. Then she notices everyone else. "Ack! Who are you people and why are you all so gigantic?"

[mdsoze]

Alastair

As he appears in the white robe, Douglas is puzzled for a moment.

What is going on? We were all in the library... gaming, a flash. Except you guys are here too and speculating about it. Which either means this is a really detailed hallucination, or something really weird is going on.

Alastair stands a few inches taller than Douglas, and is more muscular, but otherwise, they were cut largely from the same cloth. His eyes were now a bright green though, in comparison with the darker variation of hazel he sported. He does notice that Alastair's voice appears to be deeper than his own, and that his hands, calloused in he places that they would be from golfing almost every weekend, are thicker, and changed.

After a few moments of recollection, Alastair posits.

Okay... I don't know what's going on, but is everybody here? I have no idea what happened, or where we are, or if we are alive... but I have a strong feeling we're going to want to stick together. This is Douglas. Except I appear to have spiked my diet pepsi with anabolic steroids.

[wxdruid]

Gwen

Gwen starts, Why are we in a cave? Where'd the table go? Where's the Professor? and most important, Where'd my chocolate go? She looks down at herself, Why am I dressed in white? I was wearing black, I know I was wearing black. Her long hair swings around, she grabs it, Since when did my hair reach my feet? She picks up her feet to look at them, the cavern floor feels cool and comfortable against the hard soles of her feet and Gwen suddenly sits down with a thump. Things start to click in her mind, she feels her ears? Oh.. my.. goodness Hey! I have elf ears... and You! who are you? and you? Suddenly she points towards the others and the call lightning spell comes to the fore of her mind. Her hands go to her head and she turns away struggling to get a hold of her own mind. Somewhere inside she knows she doesn't want to cast that.

[Lochar]

Brandon

"Douglas? Damn it all. I'm Brandon. Alright, everyone, I don't care who you are. Names, now. Sound off." he shouts at everyone, a slight panic beginning in him. "Brandon Smith" he says in a firm voice, looking to himself more closely now, seeing he's lost a good deal of his college student weight and toned up quite a bit as well.

[dauphinous]

Hannah

Hannah's first, natural instinct is to rub her eyes. What she is seeing can't possibly be real. A woman's voice calling out cuts through her brain, though, and she realizes exactly what she's doing. She's rubbing her eyes with both hands. She pulls them away from her face slowly and looks at them. They are both perfectly normal, real, ordinary hands with lightly tanned skin. She turns them over, her face a study in wonder and awe. There are callouses on them, in places that she cannot imagine what they might be from.

She feels something brushing her neck and reaches up to grasp hair. Not the short, straight sandy-blonde of her own head, but a brown with a reddish undertone, and curls. And she can see that. It is long enough that she can hold a lock where she can see it.

When she looks down and it clicks that she's standing up on her own two legs, she collapses to the ground, almost like a puppet whose strings have been cut. And she starts to cry into her hands. Her perfect, whole, functioning hands.

[DarkLadyOfTheSith]

(Incidentally, noone is wearing anything but their robe-- no shoes, no jewelry, no hairties, no nothing.)

[Wiz]

Diedre

The brown-haired woman snaps her gaze over to Brandon, and she blinks. She abruptly releases her breasts and crosses her arms over them looking down. "Bill Downer..." her voice is nearly a whisper.

[wxdruid]

Gwen

A strangled whisper comes from her, Gwen, my name is Gwen Deschain. I will have control, I will, as she slowly shoves the spell down to the back of her mind.

[mdsoze]

Douglas

Hearing Bill's name come out in an obviously female voice shocks Doug.

Bill, you get kicked in the pills? Finally manage to get Kate's goat?

[Santanya]

Jason looks to the others, blinking a few more times. He smirks slightly towards the woman yelling. "I'm Jason," he says, shaking his head a few times to go along with the blinking. He runs his hand through his hair after seeing the others, his palm quickly moving to the tips of his ears. "Whoa," he says, feeling them for a moment. "Wow, this isn't a dream is it," he says quietly.

He moves slowly next to Hannah, his footsteps becoming quickly less shaky. "Are you alright?" he asks, laying a hand on her shoulder, then looks to the others. "What the hell is going on here?" he asks.

[McSherrie]

"I'm Kim." The voice sounds richer and throatier than Kim is used to. She runs her fingers through her short hair, then looks at her scarred hands.

[Alicorn]

Annika/Persis

"I-I'm Annika Treadwell. Oh my god, you're not giant, I'm just tiny..." says the halfling waveringly.

[Wiz]

Diedre

The former Bill looks at Douglas, her eyes flashing with anger, blue as a summer sky, "I've got no pills to get kicked in... thanks to Mr. Merlin!" She does a very poor version of Bill's usually very good mimicry of the Professor's voice, "'Sure you wouldn't rather play Maurice? It's your choice!' Like, he couldn't have said, 'For this campaign you might prefer to do a male version of this character... I'll let you know why later.' No, that would have been too much trouble!"

[wxdruid]

Gwen

Gwen remains facing away from the group, still on her hands and knees, her hair falling around her and hiding her face. She listens as she gains control of her circumstances. Lots of thoughts go through her mind, mostly about what exactly she put on her character sheet and what she seems to be now. I'm an elf, I have really long hair, I'm 5 foot 5 inches, two inches shorter with longer hair and longer ears. I can feel my spells, I can feel the cave floor beneath my hands, it's cool, I can almost feel a connection with it. I'm still me, still Gwen, yet I'm also my character.

[dauphinous]

Hannah

Unable to choke even a tiny noise out through the sobs, Hannah nods. She pulls her hands away from her face and shows them to the elf standing there, an insanely giddy smile on her face, and tears streaming down from both bright green eyes. She is lovely, as all of Hannah's characters are, but in a cold, remote sort of way. There is something in those eyes telegraphing that, despite the unbridled joy flashing in them now, they normally host very little light.

She holds the hands out and up, displaying them and ignoring everything around her except the elf, who she has no idea is Jason. "They work," she manages to say in a quiet, breathy, halting voice, brimming with shock and wonder and awe.

[Wiz]

Diedre

In the middle of her rant, the former Bill glances over at the woman on the ground, staring at her own hands. A flash of realization cross the blue-eyed woman's face and she kneels down abruptly by the crying figure, "Hannah? Oh my god, Hannah... you're okay!"

[TwoCents]

Kate/Emmerli (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheets/view.php?id=59200)

"Holy F------ C-----! Get down!" shouted the Marine, as she dove for cover. Kate had no idea what had just happened, but blinding flashes of light followed by complete disorientation equaled Bad Things Happening, and she reacted instinctively. It was only after she twisted to the side to get her back against the cave wall that she began to panic.

On the good side, nothing hurt; she had lived with chronic pain for so long that its absence made her feel lightheaded. On the other hand, her arms and legs were longer than she expected; in her enthusiastic dive for cover she smashed into the cave floor and scraped skin from several fingers of her right hand. Fingers she had not had thirty seconds ago. Fingers that were now bleeding. Pain was good; pain was real; this was real. No, no, this was another drug-induced hallucination. She was under anesthesia. Any minute now the surgeons would start. This much anesthesia was a Bad Thing. Thoughts ricocheted around her head as she looked at the robed figures, trying to decide if they were figments of her delusions or her mind's attempts to interpret the surgical team.

Like a beacon of normality, Kate heard the phrase, "sound off" and looked to see who had spoken. "Kate M. Jones, Staff Sergeant, USMC, 089-44-6312!," she barked, in reflex. "Situation nominal, no weapons available," she added.

She rolled to her feet, stumbling a little as she became used to the extra leg length, and stared at the others. "Oh, damn. Well, this is what I see," she added, pointing around the circle at each one in turn. "Female halfling, male elf, male elf, female human, male human, female human, male human, female human, male human, female elf, and I appear to be a female human. And except for one mammary gland, we seem to have all our body parts," she added gleefully thumbing her right hand at all and sundry.

"Hey, Hannah. Time to stand up. Don't know what happened, don't know when we'll wake up, but let's dance while we can," Kate walked over to Hannah and held out her hand to the girl. "Bill, I am more sorry than I can say, but I'll watch your back until you get used to the ovarian subset."

[McSherrie]

Kim/Antiope takes a deep, calming breath and looks around. Her heart goes out to Bill and Hannah, but she says and does nothing. She's always had a hard time dealing with her own emotions, and even more so with those of others. Her thought process slowly returns to normal. She mentally matches each face she now sees to the ones that she knew before, then begins to look around at the cave. Seeing the boxes, she proceeds over to them. "I wonder if these are for us."

[mdsoze]

Alastair

So... we're... our characters..... Really? Interesting. I wonder if that means there's some portal between our world and this one.

He ponders for a moment, scratches his head, leans against the cave wall, and then scratches his head again, a combination of understanding and raw shock.

Well.... I hate to be the first to suggest this, especially given the dramatic changes, but does anyone have any interest in looking around this cavern for the way back?

He pauses, and thinks for a moment.

I know the professor said rules may not be as written, but it looks like we're in our game. I suppose that means if we're looking for a passage, we should have the elves do it....

His voice trails off as he begins to contemplate the rules implications of the current predicament.

[DarkLadyOfTheSith]

Kim's cursory inspection of the boxes reveals them to be about 3 feet on a side, hinged on the top, and padlocked. Attached prominently to one of the boxes is an envelope.

[Alicorn]

Annika/Persis

"Let's read this first," says Annika, scurrying up to the box with the envelope, "before we decide what to do next." She opens up the letter and reads it aloud.

[Loghren the Barbarian]

Peter

Finally snapping out of his self-imposed silence, Peter speaks up. He looks like an idealized version of himself - but his facial structure is more symmetrical, he wears no glasses, his beard fits his face perfectly and is not as scraggly as before. Additionally, his deep rich bass voice, while it projects loudly as it did before, sounds even richer and fuller than before. "You know, I had thought that a professor of mythology by the name of Merlin was nothing more than a mere coincidence. It would seem, however, that I was quite wrong.

Second, like most of you, I had originally imagined that this was some sort of dream, or hallucination, or the afterlife. However, I then realized that my mind would have neither remembered to include everyone nor would it have remembered who had made what characters. Which comes to only one conclusion:

This is real. Completely real. All of it. Every last bit. And that scares the hell out of me. Because we do not know what this reality means. We all know the rules of D&D - some better than others. But how those will actually play out, I do not know.

Also, I am now much more terrified of the professor's house rules. The wish and miracle spells are limited to replication of other spells. Which means we cannot simply wish or pray our way out of here. Also, raising of the dead and such are now much higher spells. Which means there are fewer people in this world that can cast it than there would be in any other D&D world. How many fewer, I do not know, as I don't know the amount of magic in the world. But, however much it is, the percentage is lower than it would be. Which means this: more than any other times in our lives - although perhaps equal to Kate's time in the Marines - and more than any other game of D&D - we need to watch out for each other. And, this time, there is no way to ask "how many hit points do you have left."

Unfortunately, I don't know what more to say. Although, as a side note, I don't know if I should call myself "Peter" or "Meredzul of the Golden Flame." While being a wizard named "Peter" seems to invoke no amount of fear, even I will have a hard time not laughing if people start calling me Meredzul.

And, yes, Kim - those very well may be for us. However, as this is D&D and things may be trapped, I would ask that whoever amongst us can search for traps do so. While it would be cruel to trap the first items laid before us, I really don't know who laid them there.

That being said - I'm really wishing the pizza had showed up BEFORE this happened, rather than afterward. I am quite hungry."

At the end of his rambling speech, Peter tries to grin to the others. Clearly, however, he is just as lost and confused as anyone else.

Sorry - there were a number of postings in between my long monologue. Not sure where exactly this fits in, but the long winded rambling seemed appropriate for Peter. :smallsmile:

[DarkLadyOfTheSith]

The halfling has to jump to reach the envelope but is able to do so without undue effort. Inside is a ring of keys and a letter, written in English. Annika reads aloud the following:

My friends,

Please accept my sincere apologies for not warning you about what was to happen. I am sorry for any distress you suffered, but I really had no choice: Had I warned you, you never would have believed me. As I am sure you have gathered by now, you are in the world on which I modeled the game we were about to play. Except it never has been just a game.

I have always had the ability to see into another world-- this world that you are now in, since you are reading this. Quite clearly, I am not the only one who has ever had these visions, although I flatter myself by feeling that no one has ever had them so clearly. Not that it is ever terribly clear; the different time rates of our two worlds have always made events on the other side-- your side now-- seem to happen so quickly that they are difficult to follow, even when my fleeting visions are so powerful that they overwhelm my senses.

My friends, I hunger for this world; given the chance, here, I know that I would be the most powerful wizard that this world has ever known. Were I able to transfer myself, as I did you, I would have. But I can't. Believe me when I say that I have tried.

I would be very surprised if you all are not angry with me right now. But please try to understand: With what I know from my visions, I could be the greatest wizard, the most powerful user of magic that this world has ever known; instead, I find myself in the grips of academia, this world hovering in front of me like a ripe fruit behind glass.

But there is a way across. In this world there is a device known as the World Well-- this well acts as a gateway between universes. I ask that you find this well, and bring me through. In return, I promise to gratify your every wish.

To make this possible, I've seen that you will be equipped well. Inside this envelope, along with this letter, you will have found a set of keys. Eleven keys for the Eleven chests-- one for each of you. Each chest contains an inventory of what you have, so you don't have to waste time determining the effects of the equipment bestowed upon you. I daresay you will find the gear valuable, and certainly far more so than your 'level' would dictate. Please believe me when I say I've done everything I can to help you succeed. These treasures will enable you to find and reach the Well, and help you subdue its guardian so that you can bring me through with ease. Please take the equipment as partial apology for what I have done.

When you bring me through, you will receive the rest of my apology. Those among you foolish enough to wish to return to our dull, drab world will be given a ton-- literally-- of gold. At the current exchange rate, that equates to nearly 25 million dollars. And for those of you who wish to remain with me, I promise to gratify your every wish. And I mean that quite literally.

Yrs,

Merlin Benson.

[dauphinous]

Hannah takes whatever hands are offered to her and gets to her feet. She nods to Kate. It could only be Kate. None of the others would talk like that. None of the others would suggest they 'dance'. She wraps her arms around Kate and hugs her tightly. "It's all back. It all works. It's all there. Ten years, and it all works again." She stands back again and, not giving a crap about modesty, pulls her robes partway open, looking down at her chest. "No scars. There's no scars at all." Then she laughs, giddy, while pulling it shut again. This was her dream. The one thing she wanted more than anything.

"I'm going to Disneyland."

She marches in place while the others keep talking, only now starting to listen to them. She is about to say something when Annika starts to read the letter, and she shuts her mouth until the halfling is finished. "He already did! He already gave me everything I want. How could I be mad? I hope there's a map so we can get to him soon! I have to thank him."

[Daryk]

Aaron (http://www.thetangledweb.net/forums/profiler/view_char.php?cid=13871)

Aaron inhaled sharply when he suddenly found himself standing instead of sitting. He was startled at how quickly his balance returned, and was quizzically looking at his robes when he heard Kate shout "Get Down!". Again, he was surprised at how quickly his reflexes brought him to the stone floor. Lying there, waiting for another flash or an attendant explosion, he realized just how cold the floor was, and that he wasn't wearing any underwear. "Commando?" he muttered to himself as the seconds drew on with naught but nervous conversation from the others. When Brandon said "sound off", he responded automatically with "Zimmerman!". As Aaron rolled back to his feet, Kate was listing what she could see, and he reached up to feel his face and head. Haircut was normal, just short enough to not need a comb. Stubble was completely lacking. Ears were pointed (!). Everything else about his body felt and looked normal, with the exceptions of his apparently much faster reflexes, improved balance, and a definite lack of body hair and scars. His voice sounded normal, at least so far. Convincing himself he was at least physically all right, he focused on the rest of the conversations swirling around, and moved over to stand near the woman who had to be Kate. It was going to take time to get to know everyone again, it seemed.

Ninja'd by the DM!

As Annika (?) finished reading the letter, Aaron held out a hand and asked, "Could I see the letter please?"

[mdsoze]

Alastair

Douglas/Alastair walks across towards the boxes, hearing the words.

Well... this is a dilemma. If we want to return home, we have to unleash a supremely powerful magic user on this universe. It almost seems like a devil's bargain. We've been put in quite the compromising position.

Of course... it does seem strange that he started us at level 5. You'd think he'd have told us it was an epic game?

He scratches his head again, and turns around, and finds himself looking at Gwen.

You have any thoughts on this conundrum? I'm overwhelmed.

[Alicorn]

Annika/Persis

"That rotten bastard. I have a family," snarls Annika to herself as she finishes the letter. "I have friends, I have a life, I have to make rent or I'll lose my apartment, no amount of swag could make up for this. This had better be a damn serious time difference. My rent is due in two weeks." Nevertheless, she starts fumbling with the proportionately overlarge keys and trying them in padlocks. "He didn't even label these things."

[Wiz]

Diedre

The former Bill smiles, seeing how happy Hannah is, he looks up at Kate and nods, "You're fixed too!" She smiles at Kate's offer of help and stands, a little clumsily, her center of balance obviously different than what it used to be. She frowns again, recalling the change she has gone through. When Peter speaks up, she looks over at him, listening to his long speech, but she abruptly looks away as if something is bothering her. Finally, when Annika reads the letter she smiles, very slightly. "So we might be able to end this if we wish, or at least modify it to something a bit more comfortable." She walks over to Annika, "I don't think your family or landlord will miss you... he said the time rate here was much faster. I hope you can figure the chests out, maybe there's a +5 bra in mine that will make moving around a little easier?" She snortlaughs, erasing all doubt that it's still Bill in there.

[McSherrie]

"Just a minute, Annika." Kim, revelling in the strength present in Antiope's body, unstacks the boxes, laying them out in a straight line to make it easier to open them.

[mdsoze]

Douglas

Douglas smirks at Bill/Deidre.

But you look so beautiful in the natural cavelight like that, your curves in their natural form.

[McSherrie]

"Bi...Died... Whatever you want to be called, I will help you tie up Douglas later, if that is your wish."

[Wiz]

Diedre

She shakes her head, "Everyone just call me Diedre... my character's name. Bill is just stupid at this point and I don't think I could take Billie." She turns to look at Douglas, "I've been a woman for maybe five minutes and suddenly I understand Women's Liberation." She looks back to the lined up chests to see if she can figure out how they are coded to the individuals.