Date sent: Sat, 17 Mar 2001 15:20:14 -0500 (EST) From: "Philip J. Moyer" To: John Biles , "Amy \"General Chaos\" Borden" , Chris Angelini , Alan Harnums Subject: [Amber/TAMD] Shizumaru -- Recruits; Random discussion; Juri of Avalon, Roderick -- Gifts, Requests, and Various Thoughts =========================== =========================== =========================== Shizumaru sends out a golem to Lipun, first searching for Totoro. Shizumaru OOCly says, "Monitor what happens through the manifestation." Yumi says, "OOC Okay, since you know your old home village pretty well, it's easy for Kafuin to make a trump from your mental impressions of it and send the golem to your old house." The village seems to be doing quite prosperously for the most part. Except that your old house is completely gone. As if it had never existed. You can see many people you know, going about the usual business of early summer. Shizumaru smiles faintly at what he sees...until he sees his house, missing. "What...." He frowns. "No time for that, now. I can investigate another time." He directs the golem to stay hidden, and seek out the Broken Pattern that Totoro guards over. About an hour's trek takes the Golem into the forest and through the twisty bendy forest passages. Until finally, you reach the huge tree at the forest's heart. Shizumaru calls out with his voice through the manifestation, "Lord Totoro! Are you there?" The tree shakes, and Lord Totoro drops down from its branches. Shizumaru directs the manifestation to project an image of himself, doing exactly the same things as his real physical body is doing back at the Keep. He bows. "Hello, Lord Totoro. I apologize for the strange means I am using to contact you." He nods, and you feel the greeting of a bright summer morning. Shizumaru smiles, glad that Totoro accepts this greeting. "I come to you with some requests. Do you know of the Outsiders, now threatening to break into our universe to destroy it?" Totoro nods, replying with the cry of the hawk circling and looking for prey. Shizumaru's face is grim. "And a part of their attack is the corruption of Arden, the greatest of forests. The Black Moon's spittle has warped and twisted the trees, the plants, the creatures there. Aunt Corrine's rangers work now to eradicate them, but they need help. Lord Totoro, I would ask if you are willing to help them stamp out that evil." Totoro blinks audibly. He then nods thoughtfully. Shizumaru says, "I know I ask much of you to leave your forest behind, but if Arden is damaged, then all forests, as they are reflections of Arden, will likewise suffer terribly." He nods again, and rustles with the sound of willows bending in the wind. Then he looks at you curiously, and you feel he is wondering how he's going to GET to Arden. Shizumaru smiles. "Thank you, Lord Totoro. Ah.... I believe that Kafuin...my construct...will be able to pull you through to the Keep." He scratches his head. "A lot has happened in the past few months...among them, I have taken control of the Keep of the Five Worlds, and sealed the Outsiders away from it." Shizumaru says, "Er...before you come over, I do have another thing to ask of you." Totoro looks at you with the curiosity of the quizzical owl. Shizumaru asks, "Ah...I am also seeking my old master, Haohmaru-sensei. You do know of him, right?" Totoro rotates his head like an owl, then shakes it. Shizumaru frowns. "That makes things more difficult...." He thinks, then turns to Kafuin. "Kafuin, I know my sensei pretty well. Is my mental impression of him good enough to attempt opening a trump contact to him?" Kafuin says, "I can attempt it, but there is some danger we would contact a shadow of him instead. Do you know any places associated with him?" Shizumaru nods, and names Haohmaru's hut and training area, within the forest. The place that he first found Shizumaru. Shizumaru turns back to Totoro. "Would you like to come through now, Lord Totoro?" Kafuin begins making a trump. He is soon ready to give ti a shot. Shizumaru nods. "First bring Lord Totoro through to us, while leaving the golem in Lipun, if we need to use it to search out Haohmaru-sensei." Shizumaru says, "With the manifestation, of course." He pulls Totoro through. ================================ ================================ Shizumaru OOCly says, "Pause. I'm being paged for work. -.-" Rod says, "let me get this straight. TAMD now has a big hairy poofball amongst its ranks." Corrine OOCly says, "Yup. Hey, every helping bit helps." Yumi says, "That's one way of referring to lord Totoro, yes." Rod says, "_Lord_ Totoro." Seamus exclaims, "POOFBALL POWAH!" Rod says, "I shudder to think what the hell .... King Pikachu? brrrr." Devan the Horrible says, "King Pantyhose." Seamus says, "King Kong." Rod says, "Queen Barney." Shizumaru OOCly kills stupid technicians who should realize that midnight is a good time for maintenance and they SHOULD expect things in the network to go down for brief periods of time. -.- Shizumaru OOCly says, "I HATE Level 3. Our biggest customers, and our biggest pains in the ass." ============================= ============================= Shizumaru OOCly says, "Okay, John. Totoro is safely with us at the Keep? Let's try the trump of Haohmaru. Carefully." Yumi asks, "OOC Is this a trump of his hut or of him?" Shizumaru OOCly says, "Eh? Er...whichever one that Kafuin felt was a stronger impression in Shizumaru's mind, I guess." Yumi says, "OOC Probably the hut, as I doubt you've had much psychic contact with Haoh." Shizumaru OOCly says, "Ah...okay. Then send the golem through to there." Yumi says, "OOC It's easier to build place trumps than people trumps from people's psychic impressions usually." Shizumaru OOCly says, "Gotcha." Shizumaru OOCly says, "Given that Shizumaru spent a lot of time training near his hut, he should know that area pretty well, also." Yumi says, "OOC Hai." Shizumaru OOCly says, "Okay, send the golem through." The golem steps through into the hut. There is a whir as a man spins and lops off its head. Shizumaru again directs the manifestation to project an image of himself. "Er...hello, Haohmaru-sensei," he says, a bit shakily. The sword stops just short of carving it into wooden giblets. Corrine OOCly says, ""Damn Amway."" He blinks. "What the hell is THIS?" "Boy, did you go off and get yourself turned into wood?" Shizumaru waves weakly. "Your student, Shizumaru. I apologize for the strange way I am using to contact you.... Er, no. This is a golem I am controlling, using my powers as the Child of Wood." Shizumaru says, "And I am projecting an image of myself through a construct of mine." Shizumaru he scratches his head. "Remember Kafuin-sensei? Your old master? I...designed my construct around him, to honor his memory. Say hello, Kafuin." Haohmaru says, "Since when did you become a sorceror?" he sounds puzzled. Kafuin says, "Good evening, Haohmaru-san." Shizumaru shakes his head. "My friends actually did the construction for me. You can meet them in a little bit...." He sighs. "Sensei, the universe itself is in great danger. Terrible beings known as the Outsiders threaten to invade and destroy the Patterns. We need your help." Haohmaru says, "In over your head again?" He smiles. "Is there anyone among these 'Outsiders' worthy of my sword skills?" Corrine OOCly says, "imagines Haohmaru challenging Azatoth to a sword duel." Haohmaru OOC "Bring it on, Demon Sultan!" Shizumaru OOCly says, "No, no, it's more like...." Shizumaru OOCly says, "Haohmaru laughs. "HA! THE DEMON SULTAN WISHES TO CHALLENGE THE GREAT HAOHMARU? THEN, LET'S GO!"" Corrine OOCly says, "..." Gabrielle says, "OOC: Haohmaru strikes me as being liek that Knight in Monty Python; you could hack off all his limbs and he'd be flopping around on the groudn trying to bite your shins." Shizumaru smiles faintly. "Yes, we sort of are, Sensei," he admits. "Among the outsiders themselves? I am not sure. They actually have not fully broken through--that is what we are trying to prevent. They very well might...but I do know that their agents, people of our universe seduced and twisted by promises of power, do have skilled warriors among them. They just may present a challenge to you, Sensei." He looks at you with the look of a man seeing things fly over his head, then says, "Alright. I'm not doing anything much today anyway." Shizumaru chuckles softly, and nods. "Thank you, Sensei. Kafuin, bring him through...but leave the golem there. I want to check on something." He whispers to Kafuin, "Send the golem back through the forest back to my village. I remember the way...make sure that this is the right Haohmaru, in the right Lipun." You pull him through. Yumi asks, "OOC How close to your village did Haohmaru live?" Shizumaru OOCly says, "At most a thirty-minute walk. Shizu was pretty young when they first met; he couldn't have gone too far away from home." The golem takes a walk. It discovers your house is still missing. Shizumaru asks, "By the way, Sensei...do you know why my house is gone, now?" Shizumaru OOCly says, "...waaaaaaaaaaaaaait." Shizumaru OOCly says, "Why do I not understand what Totoro's saying? >.<" Juri of Avalon says, "OOC: Because you've matured too much, probably. Something to do with childhood, innocence, etc." Shizumaru OOCly says, "No, no. I didn't understand him at first until I drank from the well in the tree. After that, I could. Now, I can't, again." Gabrielle says, "OOC: Kinda liek Aslan, only without the blinding religious subtext." Yumi says, "OOC There's a reason, but I can't just tell you :)" You page, "I suspect his multiple pattern walks, etc, wiped any form of translation magic? Or this truly is a ringer/shadow?" to Akemi. Akemi pages, "A drink from Totoro's well only lasts for a day. You have to keep drinking repeatedly or be properly initiated into his power like Mai was to gain the ability forever." to you. You page, "Ahhhh. *nods*" to Akemi. Shizumaru OOCly says, "Okay, John, I do a whole bunch of things to try to confirm that Totoro here and Haohmaru are the ones I know, and not shadows. :P Ask about the war between Lipun and Amber, what happened in recent months, why I can't understand Totoro now." Shizumaru OOCly says, "Starting with the question about my missing house." Haohmaru says, "The villagers told me a woman with long black hair dressed like a priestess came to town, asked for your house, went to it, and then it vanished. She didn't come back out of it, so they guessed she'd done something foolish." Shizumaru stares. "Long black hair, dressed like a priestess.... When did that happen, exactly?" He scratches his head. "Maybe a week, week and a half ago?" You page, "And lemme guess... looks like little miss Rei's been about? *wl*" to Akemi. Shizumaru shivers. "That sounds like Rei, from the Temple of Fire." He sighs. "She may have gone searching for some sort of item that may connect to me. I know there are sorts of magic that can attack a person...." He makes a mental note to consult the mages among the Keep Gumi about how to prevent such attacks. Voodoo, of course, but he doesn't actually know the term. Shizumaru sighs. "How goes the war between Lipun and Amber? The village itself seemed peaceful enough, but then, it is likely far from any fighting." Shizumaru OOCly says, "Oh, and I pull the golem back now, along with the manifestation. If I need to send it back, I can do so later." Yumi says, "OOC Righto." Haohmaru says, "It's all naval fighting, and mostly between us and Hang-Kung so far as I can tell. It's been rather back and forth. There's rumors that Cathay's junks are on their way to reinforce the Hang-Kungers, in which case it may all be over for us." He continues, "The Izumi clan has seen the writing on the wall and risen in rebellion against the Shogun. Too early, though. They'll be crushed before any outsiders can help them." Shizumaru shakes his head. "We must stop this foolishness. Lipun made a mistake in challenging Amber, but I do not want to see my homeland fall for that mistake." He smiles wryly. "I have heard that the Cathayan ambassador to Amber is pushing to have Lipun split between Hang-Kung and Cathay. I will not allow that to happen." Shizumaru wilts. "Civil war, too? Damn." Haohmaru nods. "The Izumi clan says the Shogun is betraying the will of the Emperor and want to 'liberate' him." He snorts. Shizumaru OOCly sees the Lipunese version of Meiji happening. o.o; Corrine OOCly says, "Wheee!" Yumi says, "OOC You are wise in the ways of science" Shizumaru OOCly chuckles. Shizumaru mutters darkly. "All right." He shakes his head. "Well, one thing we do have is the luxury of time, at least within the walls of the Keep. Right now, a year will pass in here, while a second passes in Amber and Lipun." Shizumaru proceeds to introduce Haohmaru and Totoro to everyone, show them around the Keep, demonstrate some of the things he's learned, et cetera. Haohmaru boggles a lot when he thinks you aren't looking. Juri of Avalon greets Haohmaru politely and eyes him speculatively once she finds out he taught Shizumaru how to fight. Totoro nods sagely a lot. Autolyca has connected. Autolyca OOC howdy! Shizumaru OOCly says, "Yo." Shizumaru OOCly says, "There's definitely going to be a friendly duel between Juri and Haohmaru sometime. :)" Corrine smiles at Totoro and Haohmaru, makes trumps of the two in their 'free time', and ponders the possibility of Totoro Plushies. Roderick chatters away with Totoro, apparently unhampered by the language barrier, making forest noises back at him. [spoofed by Akemi] Shizumaru OOCly says, "Oh, good, we have a translator on hand. o.o Ask via Roderick why I can't understand Totoro now." Juri of Avalon watches Roderick and Totoro, both amused and slightly disconcerted. Roderick chatters with the voice of squirrels hunting for nuts. [spoofed by Akemi] Totoro replies with the rippling of a pond. Roderick says, "He says the water of the pond's magic only lasts for a day normally, and then you have to drink again, unless you've undergone the..." He makes racoon noises at Totoro, who replies with the sound of a waterfall. "The immersion of second birth." [spoofed by Akemi] Corrine just arches an eyebrow at all this funky linguistic stuff. Shizumaru ahs, and nods, smiling. "I see. When I suddenly realized that I could no longer understand you anymore, it was disconcerting--I thought that, perhaps, a mistae had been made somewhere, and you were only a shadow, instead of the true Lord Totoro." He bows deeply. "I apologize for my doubts." Totoro replies with the rippling of trees in the wind. Roderick says, "He says it doesn't bother him; he assumed you'd ask for more if you needed it." [spoofed by Akemi] Shizumaru nods. "At the moment, having Roderick-san translate will do. If he does not mind, of course," he says, glancing over at Rod. Roderick says, "No problem." [spoofed by Akemi] ========================== ========================== ==========================