[Nexus] GLoG 85

[Gullara]

Please read as far as the double lines before posting in this thread

The Good League of Good is a Nexus organization devoted to the redemption of evildoers and the care and support of those in need. If you are looking to smite evil, please check out HALO or WATCHTOWER.

If you are brand new to ffrp, please come to the Nexus OOC thread and introduce yourself. We all want to meet you!

A Brief History of GLoG:

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You know what this OP needs? A brief history of GLoG. Which would have to be written by one of the few people who were around from the beginning. Any volunteers?

Our Redemption Program:

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Individuals who come in search of redemption should be interviewed by a member to see how their needs can be best met, and then assigned to a mentor who will assist them. Graduation from the redemption program will occur when both the redemee and his/her mentor agree that they have made sufficient progress.

Other Charitable Activities:

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In addition to the redemption of evildoers, the organization performs other good works such as caring for distressed individuals in need, housing and feeding evacuees from the city during disasters, and healing sick and injured people in GLoG's infirmary - renowned as the most advanced place of healing in the Nexus.

Attention villains:

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Conflict is great! It's the heart of any story, and there isn't much to roleplay without it. However, as a player to player courtesy, please check in with the players who are active at any given time before launching an attack. Not everyone wants to roleplay combat scenes, and sometimes there are other things going on that players don't want to interrupt for a random fight. Either a PM/IM to players, a short post in thread to say ((Mind if I introduce a villain here?)) or a longer post in the OOC thread if it's a larger plot is appreciated.

Also, please don't plan any villainy that will result in destroying the base or having the same effect (poisoning the lake, burning down the forest, etc.) without the consent of the majority of the players who would be affected.

Base Defences:

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There is a perimeter of cactus plants to encourage anyone on foot to enter by one of the main entrance points.

((If any of your characters add more defences, please PM them to the person who made this thread so they can be added.))

======================================

If you're a newbie, and you've read this far, you should know enough to join in the fun.
Everything beyond this point is Bonus Material.

Members/Residents:

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Please PM the creator of the OP to be added to the list when you bring a character into the thread with the intention of redeeming or of having them reside here on a regular basis. IC, we'll assume there's a sign in log somewhere.

Our IC leadership council:
Andreas Emeral (played by Zefir)
Brand Applehill (played by happyturtle)
Quinn (played by The Bushranger)
Pathfinder (Wolfbane)
Reelshka (played by Morty)
Runner (played by KerfuffleMach2)
Shrike (played by The Bushranger)
Zamira (played by horngeek)
Ironbeard (npc, can be played by anyone)

The leadership council exists so that any one member can make important decisions affecting all of GLoG. Basically, when someone shows up and says 'I need to speak to the person in charge', any one of the leadership council can handle it.

Redeemees:
{TABLE=head]Character|Player|Species|Gender|Why they're here|Being helped by|Cabin
Ally|FireFox|Human|Female|Thief|B&E|??|
Jack Empty|Murkus|??|Male|Murderer etc|??|
Julie Fiske|Slii Arhem|Succubus|Female|Murder/Evil Addiction|Sophie & Kate|Rowan
Lausel|Beans|Catgirl|Female|Cursed from birth|Sophie|
Mercury|ThirdEmperor||Male|Criminal|??||
Lume|Dimonite|Raytoran/Light being|Male|Killed, tortured, destroyed souls|Brand|Ash
Olivia|VampireRot|Human|Female|Vampire who craves blood|Dr Burnett, Sophie|
Reinholdt|Reinholdt|Enhanced cat|Male|Genocidal mass-murderer|Tony|Elm
Tobias Druid |FireFox|Human|Male|War criminal|Quinn?|Infirmary
Valaira|The Alexandrian|Deathhand|Female|Mass-Devourer; Partial Viceduchess|Zero|Maple
Zero|DoomitP|??|Male||Sophie|
[/table]


Members/Residents:
{table=head]Name|Player|Species|Gender|Position|Cabin
Adrian Rein|Murkus|Human|Male||
Andreas Emeral|Zefir|Human| Male |Council|
Annabelle|Darklord Bright|Ghoul|Female||
Brand Applehill|Happyturtle|Halfling|Male|Cook, Council|Poplar
Butler|Reinholdt|Catboy|Male||Cherry
Cacame|Earl of Purple|Elf|Male||
Crae|Rae Artemi| Half-Angel|Male||Denim
Emily|Lix Lorn|Human|Female||Denim
Eric|Harnel|Elf/Wolf|Male||Rowan
Friend|Keveak|Mortal Ex-Fae|Male||
Jazirian|Kid Kris|Gold Dragon|Male||
Krystal Jones|KerfuffleMach2|Mutant| Female|Infirmary Assistant||
Kate|Lost Deep|Human |Female ||
Kitty|Gulaghar|Kitsune|Female||Maple
Ebenezer Marley|ThePhantom|Human| Male||
Marty|singingnoodle|Human|Male||
Nishtar|Earl of Purple|Elf|Male||
Pansy Applehill|Happyturtle|Halfling|Female|Cook|Poplar
Pathfinder|Wolfbane|Wolfen| Male |Council|Forest Hut
Quinn Druid|The Bushranger|Human|Female|Doctor, Council|Infirmary
Rae|Rae Artemi|Half-Angel| Male||Denim
Reelshka Trollfinger|Morty|Goblin |Female |Council| Mushroom
Renetta Oronar|Gulaghar|Elf|Female||Forest Hut
Runner|KerfuffleMach2|Autobot|Male|Council||
Sattael|Earl of Purple|Elf|Male||
Shrike|The Bushranger|Human| Female|Council|
Sophie Mouchabiere|Morty|Human |Female|| Maple
Taurus Russkij|The Bushranger|Human/Drow/Brass Dragon|Male|Gardener|
Vidalia|Lex-Kat|Human/Plant|Female/Onion||Cherry
Waterstrider|Wolfbane|Wolfen|Male||Forest Hut
Zamira|horngeek|Human|Female|Council|
[/table]

Ghosts:
{table=head]Ghost|Player|Notes
Lady Anastasia Miranda Ophelia Stuart|Happyturtle|Former royal courtesan
Bloody Gentleman|Hyozo|
Heather|Happyturtle|Drowned teenage girl
Irene|Reinholdt|Nymph
Ironbeard|NPC|A dwarven gentleman rake
Jase|Happyturtle|Teenage boy
Palon|Hyozo|Teenage Prankster, seems to enjoy tormenting Charity
Lady Phoenix|ThePhantom|The lady in the faded red dress
Nurse Piper|NPC|Former camp nurse, thinks of the GLoG infirmary as her domain
[/table]

Children:
{table=head]Name|Player|Species|Gender|Cabin
Abigail Hayashi|horngeek|Human| Female|
Brinika Sneergrim|Morty|Goblin|Female|Mushroom
Dag|Happyturtle|Skydragon|Male||
Flamecrest|Gulaghar|Welfen|Female|Forest Hut
Hadrian|Firefox|Human|Male|Infirmary
Holly/Chione|Hyozo|human|Female||
Jamie Druid/Mikani|The Bushranger|Human|Female|Infirmary
Keo|Lost Deep|Catperson|Female|Outdoors
Lily Applehill|Happyturtle|Halfling|Female|Poplar
Natalie|Earl of Purple|Human|Female||
Prism|Slii Arhem|Succubus/Starspawn|Female|Rowan
Saera|Rae Artemi|Half-Angel |Female|Denim
Salix|Gulaghar|Dryad |Female||Off-Site
Sarah|Murkus|human?|Female||
Scylla|Harnel|Succubus/Starspawn|Female|Rowan
Tito Applehill|Happyturtle|Halfling|Male|Poplar
[/table]

Description of the new GLoG setting:

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Map:

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By Gulaghar

After the original GLoG building was destroyed by an army of catpeople, the survivors took out a mortgage and purchased Phoenix Lake Campground. Facilities include the main lodge house, a bathhouse with separate male and female sections, a stable (one horse present, a chestnut mare named Fancy owned by Dr Burnett), various picnic shelters, and a few scattered cabins. It's set in the foothills of the Acro mountains, and mainly surrounded by woods. There are many hiking trails nearby leading to mountaintop vistas, waterfalls, seacoves, and various other locations, both within this thread, and in the Outside thread. The campground is also within easy walking distance of the city of Inside, though there is also a Riftline station just outside the campground for those who prefer to take the train or who have farther to go.

At the lake, there is a small dock with a little shed nearby where a few canoes and paddleboats are stored. The swimming area has a GIANT slide and a rope swing. Because GIANT slides and rope swings are awesome. There is a sandy volleyball court not far from the slide, a playground under the trees, set back from the lake somewhat, and a set of horseshoe pits.

Having been built on a Generic Ancient Burial Ground, Phoenix Lake Campground is haunted by various ghosts. They are generally harmless, and for the most part glad to have some company, though pranks and hijinks may occur. Ghosts can be NPC'd by anyone unless they are listed as PCs in the Member/Resident list. They tend to speak in Gray, and mostly appear for comic purposes, but this is by no means a requirement.

Reference images:

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Main lodge:


GIANT slide:


The lake:

Buildings:

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Main Lodge: This large building contains an industrial kitchen with a cafeteria style serving area, and an open space that was once used as the dining hall. The space is warmed by a massive fireplace. Bunk beds are lined up on one end of the hall, opposite the kitchen, and a few comfy chairs and sofas are beginning to appear around the fireplace as they are procured. The building itself is made of stone.

Bathhouse: This building is divided into the men's and women's bathhouses, with entrances at either end. It has shower stalls, a line of sinks, and toilet stalls in each.

Cabins: Individuals can have their own room within a cabin, but they are unlikely to have a full cabin to themselves unless they come equipped with a family. Some of the cabins have been rebuilt, so may have more space than the 4 room cabins the campground came with, and a few cabins have had private bathrooms installed. All cabins are named after trees, and players are free to invent further details about their own cabins.

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Main Lodge - Willow
Infirmary - Cedar

Cabin 1 - Oak
Cabin 2 - Sycamore
Cabin 3 - Redwood
Cabin 4 - Maple
Cabin 5 - Apple - Visitor's Cabin
Cabin 6 - Cherry
Cabin 7 - Chestnut
Cabin 8 - Birch
Cabin 9 - Dogwood
Cabin 10 - Elm - full
Cabin 11 - Denim - family cabin
Cabin 12 - Rowan - family cabin
Cabin 13 - Poplar - family cabin
Cabin 14 - Forest Hut - family cabin
Cabin 15 - Sapling - nursery

Cabin 5 - Apple is reserved for visitors who do not want to stay at the lodge. They are requested to check in at the main lodge, where any member can give them permission to stay for a few days. Longer than that, and unless they are in need, they would be requested to either join or move to their own place or one of the local inns.

New cabins can be added as the needed. Here is a list of unused tree names:

Linden, Larch, Ash, Pine, Magnolia, Olive, Fir, Spruce, Holly, Cottonwood, Cypress, Hemlock, Teak, Ebony, Pear, Fig, Date, Mahogany, Palm, Lime, Acadia, Gumbo Limbo…

Workshop: A well built cabin designed by Reelshka, containing nothing at present but the Mainframe installation. It is locked. Drones fly in and out of a small entrance that opens for them when they send an encrypted signal.

Infirmary: If no PC is present in the Infirmary, patients are tended to by Nurse Piper, a ghost NPC who haunts the infirmary. Despite being a ghost, she is solid enough when managing anything to do with nursing. She has a tyrannical bedside manner, but will always put the welfare of her patients first. She is able to generally stabilize patients and do general nursing care, but cannot provide magical healing or any type of advanced medicine that would normally be performed by a doctor.



PC healers include:
Quinn (The Bushranger) - doctor and paladin
Tobias (Firefox) - druid healer
Dr Adrian Rein (Murkus) - doctor

(PM the keeper of the OP if you want your character to be added to this list)

Infirmary Description

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The outside of the infirmary looks just like all the rest of the buildings. Nothing distinguishes it at all.

But inside, everything is white, with silver highlighting. Even though it doesn't seem possible, when looking from outside, sunlight filters inside. Giving the place a warm feeling with natural light.

A soft, soothing music filters through the whole building and voices can barely be heard saying words of healing and comfort, like: "You are going to be okay." "We'll take care of you." "You are dear to us." and so on.

Each room is walled off for a limited amount of privacy, because the pixies know that humans seem to need this. Strange. But it is limited. There are no doors.

Kinda looks like this:
______________________________________
|___/___/___/___/___/___/___/___/___/___|
|__/___/___/___/___/___/___/___/___/___/|
|__________________________________---|
|_\___\___\___\___\___\___\___\___\___\_|
|__\___\___\___\___\___\___\___\___\___\|


Except the angles are more severe, so that people on the other side of the hall can't see into anyone's room. Only someone intentionally looking in, can see you.

There is also a small living area in the back for the Druid family.

About the Drones Mk 2:

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In other news, the drones are back at GLoG. Drones are NPCs who can be played by anyone, within the guidelines below:

• Their Primary Function is member safety.
• They no longer have teleport beams or alignment scanners.
• They do have stun beams, little arms, and the ability to record what's going on around them.
• They follow orders, unless those orders conflict with their Primary Function.
• There are only 4-5 in operation at any one time.
• They can be destroyed, but if so, they'll be restored from backup.
• A few have been supplied with medical programming, and thus can be godmodded for infirmary duties.
• They often have weird personality quirks and are prone to malfunctioning.
• Statement: They speak in DarkOrange FixedSys
• The only named drone (so far) is Caretaker, who is a private drone charged with protecting Brinika and controlled by Morty.

There was some discussion about whether or not the time of the drones has passed, but since they are still sometimes used for mostly comic purposes, and since Brinika's personal drone is onscreen a lot, it seems right to keep a few around.

Archives

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GLoG 84: Goblins and catgirls and dryads, oh my! 20Oct12
GLoG 83 8July12
GLoG 82: So Many Babies! 7June12
GLoG 81: Ghostbusters! 20Apr12
GLoG LXXX: Continuation of a New Era! 23Feb12
GLoG 79: So Lonely. 20Jan12
Good League of Good 78: Druids of Mass Destruction and other bioweapons 06Dec11
Good League of Good LXXVII: Earth Vampires DON'T Sparkle! 22Oct11
GLoG 76: Now with a Decipherable OP! 15Sep11
GLoG 75: Gazebos Gone Wild 05Aug11
GLoG LXXIV: Back to the Numerals! 09Jul11
GloG 73 16Jun11
GLoG 72 20May11
GLoG 71: Redemption Equals Free Housing! 19Apr11
GLoG 70 07Apr11
GLoG 69 19Mar11
GLoG 68 06Mar11
GLoG 67 11Feb11
GloG 66: Coupon Redemption 23Jan11
GloG 65 08Jan11
GLoG 64: Campsites, not Chessboards! 26Dec10
GLoG LXIII: Roman Numerals are back! 09Dec10
GLoG 62: Come for the paddleboats. Stay for the hawt shirtless catboy! 19Nov10
GLoG 61: Now with 100% More goblins 31Oct10
GLoG 60 18Oct10
GLoG LIX: Now with Trees! 07Oct10
GLoG LVIII: Shaken, but not baked 30Aug10
GLoG LVII: Princess Power Trio Plus Protective Parents 31Jul10
GLoG LVI: I had a joke but I forgot it 02Jul10
GLoG LV: Witty Title And/Or Song Reference 10Jun10
GLoG LIV: Sleeping with the Lights On 26Apr10
GLoG LIII: These are the Days of our Lives. 30Mar10
GLoG LII: Home of the Next Generation 07Mar10
GLoG 51 05Feb10
GLoG 50: Rife with new Life. 20Jan10
GLoG 49: Who Ya Gonna Call? 07Jan10
GLoG 48: From the Ashes 19Dec09

♫♪♫♪♪♫♫♪♫♪♪♫♫

GLoG XLVII: Nothing can stop us. Well, except that. 24Nov09
GLoG XLVI: With a Maraschino Cherry On Top. 06Nov09
GLoG XLV: The winds of change be darned! 20Oct09
GLoG 44: Continuity has no place here! 09Oct09
GLoG 43: Behave yourself, Dani! 27Sep09
GLoG XLII: Yes, curtains still get dropped here 17Sep09
GLoG XLI: When you're smiling, the world plots against you. 02Sep09
GLoG 40: Now one year old! 27Aug09
GLoG 39: And there was much rejoicing. (Yay!) 20Aug09
GLoG 38: Pay No Attention to the Computer's Paranoid Ramblings 12Aug09
GLoG 37: Dysfunction Junction 02Aug09
GLoG XXXVI: Curse You, Dramatic Irony! 26Jul09
GLoG XXXV: There shall be happiness!!! 20Jul09
GLoG XXXIV: It gets worse! 11Jul09
GLoG XXXIII: Do you think you can handle it? 04Jul09
GLoG XXXII:The Loved and the Lost 27Jun09
GLoG 31: To live defeated and inglorious is to die daily 19Jun09
GLoG 30: Defying Biology Since 2008! 13Jun09
GLoG 29: Under New Management 09Jun09
GLoG 28: The People's Republic of Magtok 04Jun09
GLoG 27: Pay No Attention to the Thead Behind the Curtain! 31May09
GLoG 26: Now With 100% More Things Trying to Nom You! 25May09
GLoG XXV (that's 25!): Mapped out and everythin'! 20May09
GLoG XXIV: This Ain't No House of Cards 08May09
GLoG XXIII: With malice towards none. 27Apr09
GLoG XXII: Ahhhhhh!!!! They're after us!! 12Apr09
GLoG 21/XX1: Half of Life, the Universe, and Everything. 28Mar09
GLoG 20/XX: Twenty Times the Awesome 03Mar09
GLoG 19: For those who can't make it over the rainbow 13Feb09
GLoG 18: It's A Brand New Day 31Jan09
GLoG XVII: SMITE CONTINUITY! 23Jan09
GLoG XVI: Built out of 100% recycled babies. That's why we're good. 12Jan09
GLoG XV: Beware the Ides of GLoG. 03Jan09
GLoG XIV: Where Bad Puns Go To Die. 29Dec08
GLoG XIII: Bring It On, Omnipotent Beings! 21Dec08
GLoG 12: [Insert Unique and Witty Title Here] 06Dec08
GLoG XI: We Failed Our "Witty Title Check" (DC 3). 23Nov08
GLoG X: More Like Good League Of... Of... Crazy 03Nov08
GLoG IX: Death is no longer cheap 22Oct08
GLoG VIII: Thread of Exalted Deeds 17Oct08
GLoG VII: Now Vampire Free! 07Oct08
GLoG VI: Thread of One Thousand Plots 29Sep08
GLoG V: Where Everyone's a Hero (In Their Own Way) 20/09/2008
GLoG IV: Please refrain from kidnapping our members 11Sep08
GLoG III: Albeit, we ate the cake with our sporks 02Sep08
GLoG II: Now with 30% More Sporks 26Aug08
The Good League of Good 22Aug08

***When this thread reaches 50 pages, anyone can make a new GLoG thread. Please be willing to keep the membership tables updated, add the old thread to the Archives list, and check that the link to the Nexus OOC thread is current. If you anticipate being away from the forums much during the lifetime of the thread (each thread usually lasts a few weeks) then please let someone else do it.***

[Morcleon]

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[Outside Main Building]

"It's how goblin society works," Jamie explains with a smile.

[Outside Main Building]

Brinika nods.
"All goblins live underground. When I come to visit here, I sleep in a cellar where my aunt lives."

[Outside Main Building]

Sayuri nods in understanding and beams. "Okay. I think I understand now."

Glancing up at the building, she winks. "So, um, are we just gonna stand outside this building? Could I go in and look around?"

[The Bushranger]

[Outside Main Building]

Jamie giggles, nods, and turns to lead the way inside!

It's a fairly rustic but comfortable cabin, with camp furnishings and all the usual stuff. Including a cheerful fire in the fireplace and a very well-stocked kitchen.

[Morty]

[Outside Main Building]

Brinika follows the two bigfolk inside. Once they're in the building, a ball-shaped metal drone floats over to her.

[Morcleon]

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[Outside Main Building]

Jamie giggles, nods, and turns to lead the way inside!

It's a fairly rustic but comfortable cabin, with camp furnishings and all the usual stuff. Including a cheerful fire in the fireplace and a very well-stocked kitchen.

[Outside Main Building]

Brinika follows the two bigfolk inside. Once they're in the building, a ball-shaped metal drone floats over to her.

[Main Building]

The magical girl steps into the building, anticipation evident on her face. Her eyes light up as she gazes around the cabin, and she smiles at Jamie. "Wow, this place is pretty cool..."

"...!" Upon spotting the floating metal drone, Sayuri reacts. Badly. She leaps back and summons her radiant cannon to her arm, pointing it shakily at the peaceful, nonthreatening ball-drone. "...so then... even now you follow me... even now you hunt me... even after all I've gone through! Even after all the hardships I've endured for you! Even after my sacrifice, you are still here! Well no more! Today... TODAY, IT ENDS!"

Her eyes have turned wide and crazy, barely suppressed fury and insanity brimming at the rims. Her cannon begins glowing with a deep violet glow. Nope, not stable at all... an Insane!MagicalGirl if ever there was one...

[The Bushranger]

[Main Building]

Jamie reacts quickly, spinning and trying to tackle Sayuri to the floor!
She's faster than she looks.
A bit stronger, too.
"HEY! Stand down! Don't go trying to shoot Caretaker!"

[OrchestraHc]

Kitchen

Lily nods at Natalie. "That's right. So you and your Dad and my Mom can know all the boring stuff, and me and Pathfinder and Waterstrider can know all the important stuff!"

Logic. Lily has it.

Kitchen

"If a fruit appeared which Waterstrider and Pathfinder were unfamiliar with because it's not from their homeworld, would they know how to determine if it's poisonous or not? Especially considering that I think Wolfen are primarily carnivorous, and humans and halflings are omnivorous so a diet of just meat would not be so good for us." Natalie agrees that some knowledge is boring and seems pointless, but knows that somebody will find a use for all knowledge. One has to study history to learn tactics, and mathematics to learn engineering.

Kitchen

Lily just makes Justin laugh for a bit. "I'm sure they know the difference. Carnivorous or not, they know what dears and rabbits eat. And you have to know some bad plants if you live in a forest and you're smart enough to walk upright." If he could read minds, he wouldn't really agree with Natalie's internal assessment. Different lives need different lessons. Just because Justin's life needs complex math and science, doesn't say the same for the Applehills. He tries not to judge even if he does so unintentionally.

[McBish]

Somewhere

"... Who are you? And why is everyone having a PARTY IN MY HEAD?!" Reinholdt says aloud.

It's a very simple reason really. You're insane Reinholdt. Crazy people hear voices in their head. And you just appeared from nowhere, called on some person like a dark cultist would, listened to the voices in your head and had a fallen angel from the plane of corporate logos make a circle on the ground. You're just bat**** crazy.

"Alright, stop stop stop. They only would accept your efforts if you made a parallelogram. Get up before you hurt yourself." Reinholdt says, going to help Yuki up before she can finish hopefully. "Just find a good stick instead."

Yuki stops and looks at Reinholdt a bit concerned. "Are you OK?" She gets up dusting snow off her. She looks around for a stick, shouldn't be too hard to do in this forested area. "Because you seem very strange." She observers to herself mostly grabbing the nearest stick she can find and holding it out to him.

[Hattish Thing]

Kitchen

"Well... I guess Mom knows more than most grownups..." Lily concedes grudginginly.

Donkey

Brand turns to Hackett. "You're looking to help out here? In what way?"

Hackett, Brand, Andy and a Donkey

"He is a specialist with undeads. His abilties are more social then rise and smite them, if that is correct." he looks at Hacket to see if he got that right.

"I didn't thought there are so many 'undead' people on the ground. But these papers proof me wrong."

Hackett nods once more, a little confused. Well, yes. I seek to help them deal with being undead, possibly cure them...etcetera. I seek to help undead who are not quite comfortable in their forms, or to at least make life a little easier for them. Plus, I am the psychiatrist of a peaceful church, so I could possibly help there. He smiles.

{Cherry Cabin}


Vidalia sighs. Yes. We have to talk about this. Today. In this room. Now. She's looking straight at Marty, getting more serious with each statement.

Marty is clenching his hands and adjusting his coat. He shudders and speaks again. T-Talk? But..w-why? Talking ch-changes nothing of the p-past...They're g-gone. My friends are g-gone. Nothing n-needs to b-be said...I'd rather let the d-dead lie... He's thinking up excuses as fast as possible. Is it c-cold in h-here?

[Morty]

[Main Building]

Brinika shrieks in fear when Sayuri produces a cannon and scurries off behind a table, pulling Caretaker along.

[Morcleon]

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[Main Building]

Jamie reacts quickly, spinning and trying to tackle Sayuri to the floor!
She's faster than she looks.
A bit stronger, too.
"HEY! Stand down! Don't go trying to shoot Caretaker!"

[Main Building]

Brinika shrieks in fear when Sayuri produces a cannon and scurries off behind a table, pulling Caretaker along.

[Main Building]

There is no significant resistance to Jamie's tackle. Sayuri was barely even able to hold her weapon. She collapses backward, her loosely held cannon falling to the floor.

"...are you working for them too...? No no no they'll hurt me they'll take me back there they'll control me you don't know what they can do to me!" Two wide, frightened eyes look up at Jamie, and Sayuri begins shivering uncontrollably.

[The Bushranger]

[Main Building]

Jamie has no idea what's going on!
But she knows she has two scared friends...
"I don't know what happened, but I promise you I won't let anyone hurt you. Ever," she tells Sayuri, her eyes showing just how much a promise like that means to her. "You're my friend, and I don't let anyone hurt my friends, alright?"

She then looks to see where Brinika went. "It's OK. I think. She didn't mean it."

[Morty]

[Main Building]

Brinika is hiding behind one of the tables, her big orange eyes peering out. Caretaker is hovering above her - even though it was him that a gun was pointed at, his programming requires him to protect Brinika.

"So she's not going to shoot Caretaker?" she asks. She's normally trusting, but she takes it very badly when someone threatens her pet drone.

[happyturtle]

Kitchen

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Kitchen

"If a fruit appeared which Waterstrider and Pathfinder were unfamiliar with because it's not from their homeworld, would they know how to determine if it's poisonous or not? Especially considering that I think Wolfen are primarily carnivorous, and humans and halflings are omnivorous so a diet of just meat would not be so good for us." Natalie agrees that some knowledge is boring and seems pointless, but knows that somebody will find a use for all knowledge. One has to study history to learn tactics, and mathematics to learn engineering.

Kitchen

Lily just makes Justin laugh for a bit. "I'm sure they know the difference. Carnivorous or not, they know what dears and rabbits eat. And you have to know some bad plants if you live in a forest and you're smart enough to walk upright." If he could read minds, he wouldn't really agree with Natalie's internal assessment. Different lives need different lessons. Just because Justin's life needs complex math and science, doesn't say the same for the Applehills. He tries not to judge even if he does so unintentionally.

"Tito knows more about wild plants than even Waterstrider. But Dad knows more, and so does Pathfinder," Lily says. She doesn't include herself in the ranking, but she actually knows quite a bit more than the average 8 year old. "We used to have a family book with drawings of all the plants and herbs and what they could be used for, but I don't know what happened to it. I don't guess the slavers got it, because we didn't carry it with us that day." I totally didn't steal the idea of the family book from the Hunger Games. >.>

---

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Somewhere

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Somewhere

"... Who are you? And why is everyone having a PARTY IN MY HEAD?!" Reinholdt says aloud.

It's a very simple reason really. You're insane Reinholdt. Crazy people hear voices in their head. And you just appeared from nowhere, called on some person like a dark cultist would, listened to the voices in your head and had a fallen angel from the plane of corporate logos make a circle on the ground. You're just bat**** crazy.

"Alright, stop stop stop. They only would accept your efforts if you made a parallelogram. Get up before you hurt yourself." Reinholdt says, going to help Yuki up before she can finish hopefully. "Just find a good stick instead."

There's no response from the sienna voice.

---

1

Near a Donkey

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Hackett nods once more, a little confused. Well, yes. I seek to help them deal with being undead, possibly cure them...etcetera. I seek to help undead who are not quite comfortable in their forms, or to at least make life a little easier for them. Plus, I am the psychiatrist of a peaceful church, so I could possibly help there. He smiles.

"I imagine so. We often have people who need counselling. Do you counsel the living, or just the undead?" Brand asks.

[Earl of Purple]

Kitchen

I've yet to read the Hunger Games. I'll have to get it out from the library at some point.

Lily probably knows more about plants than Natalie, though Natalie's mother likely knew more than Brand- she was an alchemist. "Not necessarily. Take yew berries- they're not poisonous, at least the flesh of them isn't, but the seeds are. Birds and some small mammals have learnt how to eat around the seeds in the berries, but if you watched them at it you wouldn't realise they weren't eating the whole berry."

Natalie is of the opinion that a basic knowledge in geography, history, English and maths is always useful no matter what you want to be. Geography for the identification of a good camp/defensive position if it becomes necessary, history for the mistakes of the past, English for the reading of books to expand one's knowledge and maths for economics.

[Morcleon]

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[Main Building]

Jamie has no idea what's going on!
But she knows she has two scared friends...
"I don't know what happened, but I promise you I won't let anyone hurt you. Ever," she tells Sayuri, her eyes showing just how much a promise like that means to her. "You're my friend, and I don't let anyone hurt my friends, alright?"

She then looks to see where Brinika went. "It's OK. I think. She didn't mean it."

[Main Building]

Brinika is hiding behind one of the tables, her big orange eyes peering out. Caretaker is hovering above her - even though it was him that a gun was pointed at, his programming requires him to protect Brinika.

"So she's not going to shoot Caretaker?" she asks. She's normally trusting, but she takes it very badly when someone threatens her pet drone.

[Main Building]

Sayuri's breathing still comes in short, sharp bursts, and she gazes hesitantly up at Jamie. On one hand, her friend and fellow magical girl is telling it's alright, and that she'll be safe. On the other, there's a drone that looks disturbingly like her ever-present hunters.

A pause. Then, she nods and murmurs softly. "...okay. I- I'll trust you... can I get up now...?" Her radiant cannon disassembles itself in a flurry of glowing shards.

[Shadowcaller]

Somewhere

Don't worry about that. Just an adviser, she is here to help you. The first voice explains briefly.

[Reinholdt]

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Somewhere

Yuki stops and looks at Reinholdt a bit concerned. "Are you OK?" She gets up dusting snow off her. She looks around for a stick, shouldn't be too hard to do in this forested area. "Because you seem very strange." She observers to herself mostly grabbing the nearest stick she can find and holding it out to him.

Somewhere

There's no response from the sienna voice.

Somewhere

Don't worry about that. Just an adviser, she is here to help you. The first voice explains briefly.

Somewhere

"I'm perfectly fi-
*flicker*
Reinholdt's now three feet to the left and holding a decanter of water that he's pouring on the dirt to make mud.
"-ormal! HMPH!"

Reinholdt will then move to take the stick from Yuki and use it to draw a circle in the mud.
"Helios." Reinholdt repeats finally.

[happyturtle]

Somewhere somewhere else

To Helios, on a private mind-line - not shared with Reinholdt - the other voice says, I didn't agree to that. We don't even know what he wants!

[The Bushranger]

[Main Building]

"No, she's not. She mistook him for somebody else."
Jamie's guessing, but given the circumstances, that seems a good guess to her!
She then looks back to Sayuri, and nods.
"Yeah." She'll try to give Sayuri's hand a squeeze before moving back and trying to help her up. "Caretaker is the last of the drones from our original base - and Brinika's best friend."
It's her discreet way of hinting an apology would be nice.

[Morty]

[Main Building]

"Yeah! He's my own drone!" Brinika says indignantly. "Tell her, Caretaker!"

The drone bobs up and down.
Confirmation: That is correct.
Statement: I am a drone programmed to protect and obey Brinika.

[OrchestraHc]

Kitchen

I've yet to read the Hunger Games. I'll have to get it out from the library at some point.

Lily probably knows more about plants than Natalie, though Natalie's mother likely knew more than Brand- she was an alchemist. "Not necessarily. Take yew berries- they're not poisonous, at least the flesh of them isn't, but the seeds are. Birds and some small mammals have learnt how to eat around the seeds in the berries, but if you watched them at it you wouldn't realise they weren't eating the whole berry."

Natalie is of the opinion that a basic knowledge in geography, history, English and maths is always useful no matter what you want to be. Geography for the identification of a good camp/defensive position if it becomes necessary, history for the mistakes of the past, English for the reading of books to expand one's knowledge and maths for economics.

Kitchen


"Tito knows more about wild plants than even Waterstrider. But Dad knows more, and so does Pathfinder," Lily says. She doesn't include herself in the ranking, but she actually knows quite a bit more than the average 8 year old. "We used to have a family book with drawings of all the plants and herbs and what they could be used for, but I don't know what happened to it. I don't guess the slavers got it, because we didn't carry it with us that day." I totally didn't steal the idea of the family book from the Hunger Games. >.>

Kitchen

"Really? Well what do you know," Justin says, in the realization way, not in the actual question way. "You learn all of that from your dad, and you're pretty much ready to be a grown-up. As for yew, berries, I guess that's advantage Wolfen. Like I said, Smart and live in a forest, but I don't know a lot about Wolfen culture. They don't strike me as the school-house type. Actually we're making a lot of assumptions about that. For all I know they have flying cars." All honesty, he's just inferring tribal characteristics, mostly from the wedding.

[Morcleon]

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[Main Building]

"No, she's not. She mistook him for somebody else."
Jamie's guessing, but given the circumstances, that seems a good guess to her!
She then looks back to Sayuri, and nods.
"Yeah." She'll try to give Sayuri's hand a squeeze before moving back and trying to help her up. "Caretaker is the last of the drones from our original base - and Brinika's best friend."
It's her discreet way of hinting an apology would be nice.

[Main Building]

"Yeah! He's my own drone!" Brinika says indignantly. "Tell her, Caretaker!"

The drone bobs up and down.
Confirmation: That is correct.
Statement: I am a drone programmed to protect and obey Brinika.

[Main Building]

Accepting the squeeze, Sayuri lets Jamie help her up. Still unsteady and recovering from her panic attack, she keeps a tight grip on her friend's hand, glancing up at Caretaker. "Ah, my apologies... You just happen to look like, um, an... enemy of mine... I shouldn't have reacted that violently. Again, I'm sorry..."

[Shadowcaller]

Somewhere

Within the muddy circle what appears to be very thick black smoke starts to appear as if someone had lit an invisible fire within. The thick smoke then starts to form into two spirals that starts to move upward against each other until they have formed into an tall black obelisk.

Two red lines appears at the very top of the obelisk quickly followed by a third longer line in the same color right underneath them. It appears as if they are represent two eyes and a mouth. "Greetings Reinholdt. It was some time since you contacted me, what can I do for you this time?" A cold voice speaks, the very same one Reinholdt had in his head not long ago. The long red line forms into a pumkin lantern-esq smile.

Mind link

We can blame a communication problem if you so desire. I just thought it was what you wanted seeing your comment there. But you are absolutely right of course Simone, I shouldn't assume so much. Assumptions are after all quite dangerous. Helios replies.

[happyturtle]

Kitchen

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Kitchen

I've yet to read the Hunger Games. I'll have to get it out from the library at some point.

Lily probably knows more about plants than Natalie, though Natalie's mother likely knew more than Brand- she was an alchemist. "Not necessarily. Take yew berries- they're not poisonous, at least the flesh of them isn't, but the seeds are. Birds and some small mammals have learnt how to eat around the seeds in the berries, but if you watched them at it you wouldn't realise they weren't eating the whole berry."

Natalie is of the opinion that a basic knowledge in geography, history, English and maths is always useful no matter what you want to be. Geography for the identification of a good camp/defensive position if it becomes necessary, history for the mistakes of the past, English for the reading of books to expand one's knowledge and maths for economics.

Kitchen

"Really? Well what do you know," Justin says, in the realization way, not in the actual question way. "You learn all of that from your dad, and you're pretty much ready to be a grown-up. As for yew, berries, I guess that's advantage Wolfen. Like I said, Smart and live in a forest, but I don't know a lot about Wolfen culture. They don't strike me as the school-house type. Actually we're making a lot of assumptions about that. For all I know they have flying cars." All honesty, he's just inferring tribal characteristics, mostly from the wedding.

"Wolfen don't fly! They run!" Lily says. "Except that Waterstrider and Renetta took a cart, because they had baby Flamecrest with them, and because I don't think Renetta could really run far. And Pathfinder took a cart, because of taking Reelshka and Brinika. I wanted to go too! It's not fair! Mom and Dad never let us go anywhere!"

I highly recommend the Hunger Games trilogy. Though I'm not sure how they get away with marketing them as Young Adult books - they are very dark.


Mind-link

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Mind link

We can blame a communication problem if you so desire. I just thought it was what you wanted seeing your comment there. But you are absolutely right of course Simone, I shouldn't assume so much. Assumptions are after all quite dangerous. Helios replies.

Let us see what he desires, and if a deal can be agreed. I am your servant in this, as in all things. Though as Helios well knows, his servant has a mind of her own, and sometimes rebels against his orders.

[McBish]

Somewhere

Yuki is impressed and intimidated by the obelisk. Her wings wrap around her and she takes a step back, trying to move herself behind Reinholdt a bit. She is glad the voice is addressing him and not her yet.

[Earl of Purple]

Kitchen

"I suppose, given that the two who live here built their homes out in the forest that they wouldn't have much use for horses or carts. Horses are plains animals, and are poorly adapted for a forested habitat. Do you know if the horses needed training to let Waterstrider and Pathfinder approach them?" Because they're predatory, their scent might have spooked the horses. Although horses are also spooked by the scent of camels.

[Reinholdt]

Somewhere

Yeesh Yuki. It's only a giant monster obelisk of doooom.

"We're wondering if you've ever seen this logo before." Reinholdt says, going to show Helios the logo if Yuki lets him, or looking to Yuki to show it if that's necessary.

Somewhere

"Sophie had said he might be able to help me figure out this symbol." She pulls out a piece of paper with a drawing on it, a combination of the letters D and Q with a double helix wrapped around it, it has a corporate logo feel about it.

Edit: I don't know what Helios knows, but this doesn't feel like the same Reinholdt he once dealt with.

[The Bushranger]

[Main Building]

Jamie holds Sayuri's hand tightly, trying to be comforting to her new friend in her time of fear!

[Morty]

[Main Building]

Brinika's eyes narrow and her ears droop a little. Her suspicious expression is surprisingly adorable.
"Okay. Do you accept her apology, Caretaker?"

Statement: I do.
Addendum: I am willing to believe that I resemble synthetics which have caused her distress.