Beowulf bows to the GM. 

Nanami tests. 

Okay you trump Nanami 

Beowulf asks, "Aunt Nanami? Do you have a moment?" 

Nanami asks, "I am not too busy at the moment.  How goes your 
expedition?" 

Beowulf says, "Found a couple of very interesting documents, 
that you might also like. We may need Queen Anthy's help 
translating them, though. And found out a... rather surprising 
fact about the dig, which she might also know more about." 

Beowulf asks, "Would you and she have time to meet with us?" 

Nanami nods.  "What did you find out?" 

Beowulf says, "Apparently the Keeper of the Logrus buried the 
vases there three days before I arrived for the first time." 

Nanami blinks 

Beowulf says, "I was a bit boggled when we found that out." 

Nanami says, "Well, he did make the Dragon spikards, so I 
suppose he must have taken an interest in one of them." 

Nanami says, "Oh, you might wish to trump your mother; she 
said a package came for you from Cape Westburyport." 

Beowulf says, "Indeed. And when we investigated the library at 
the site, we found a couple of documents that appear to bear 
on the Lion spikards." 

Nanami blinks.  "Interesting.  What sort of documents?" 

Beowulf says, "From Cape Westburyport?" He blinks. "That's... 
interesting." 

Nanami says, "If you can get me a copy of those documents, I'd 
appreciate it." 

Beowulf says, "One that shows what appear to be nine Lion 
spikards, plus a plain ring that also appears to be a spikard; 
the other is a detailed examination of another spikard. Both 
labeled in Sidar." 

Beowulf asks, "I think we can probably manage copies for you, 
Aunt. I take it coming back to Amber would not be wise at the 
moment?" 

Nanami says, "Not at the present time." 

Beowulf nods. "Very well, then. I was hoping Queen Anthy would 
be able to translate them for us, but perhaps we'd be better 
off... what do you know of the Keeper of the Logrus?" 

Beowulf looks aside to Lily and Mitsune. "Could one of you 
make copies of the spikard documents?" 

Lily says, "I can."  She starts using an optical stenographer 
to copy them. You page, "As I suspect this is a subtle hint 
that I should be going to talk to Anno. <wry g>" to Akemi. 
Akemi pages, "No comment :)" to you. You page, "All right, a 
not-so-subtle hint. :)" to Akemi. 

Nanami says, "Well, if you supplied Anthy with a copy as well, 
she could no doubt give them a shot." 

Beowulf nods, and asks Lily to make a second copy. 

Beowulf hands the first copy to Nanami through the trump 
connection as soon as Lily finishes it. 

Nanami takes it.  "Thank you, Beowulf." 

Beowulf says, "I'd appreciate it if you let me know anything 
you find out from them; I'll do the same with anything I find 
out." 

Nanami nods.  "I will." 

Beowulf asks, "Anything else going on up there that I can help 
with, or that I should know?" 

Nanami asks, "Have you heard about the business with 
Morgenstern?" 

Beowulf says, "Just that he had gone crazy, again, and that 
Jacqui had lost Justice and Fred in Chaos... she called me up 
to apologize." 

Nanami says, "In her infinite wisdom, she's managed to fling 
Ramon and Morgan off into Chaos." 

Nanami says, "However, he is now being fixed, thankfully." 

Beowulf says, "Oh, dear. Yes, that would be a very good 
thing." 

Nanami says, "Although I think this demonstrates it would be 
wiser to shut him down." 

Nanami says, "One moderately insane construct is enough." 

Beowulf asks, "I have wondered, sometimes. Perhaps if we could 
find someone to exert a stabilizing influence on him?" 

Nanami says, "He's built on a Broken Pattern, using a Flawed 
Fire Jewel.  That's like making a sword of pre-rusted metal." 

Beowulf says, "True. Although Kafuin is built on a flawed 
Jewel of Judgement, and he seems fairly stable." 

Nanami says, "All constructs tend to go mad sooner or later." 

Nanami says, "But you need not worry about that." 

Nanami says, "I just suggest avoiding going anywhere with 
Jacqui if you don't enjoy disasters." 

Beowulf nods. "Anything I can do to help them? I've already 
promised to keep an eye out for this Taylor fellow." 

Nanami says, "If you end up in the Courts, you might keep an 
eye out for Morgan and Ramon." 

Beowulf nods. "And I was hoping that she would mellow out some 
with experience and a little help... well, maybe not." 

Beowulf says, "I have a suspicion I'll end up there; I'll see 
if any of the folks I knew at Panopticon can help." 

Nanami nods. 

Beowulf says, "I'll report back if I find anything helpful." 

Nanami says, "Thank you." 

Beowulf asks, "Thanks for the time, Aunt Nanami. If you can't 
think of anything else, I'll get the second copy to Anthy and 
set off. Talk to you later?" 

Nanami says, "See you later." 

Beowulf says, "Take care." He breaks the trump contact, and 
trumps Anthy. 

Anthy takes the call. 

Beowulf asks, "Your majesty? I hope Mutsumi got the fertilizer 
to you all right?" 

Anthy nods.  "Yes, I'm very grateful." 

Beowulf says, "You're very welcome." He smiles. "I just came 
across a couple of documents that seemed... rather 
interesting, about spikards. I'm not sure if you'd be 
interested in them or not, but I made a copy to send along to 
you." 

Beowulf passes her the spikard documents through the trump 
connection. 

Anthy blinks.  "what sort of documents?" 

Beowulf says, "One appears to detail all of the Lion 
spikards... the other seems to be a thorough examination of 
one." 

Anthy asks, "Hmm, that does sound quite interesting.  Where 
did you find it?" 

Beowulf says, "I went back to the ruins where I found those 
vases, with Lily and Mitsune... these documents were in a 
scrollcase in the library there, protected with a rather nasty 
spell that would turn the sun nova if it was set off. Someone 
*really* wanted these kept out of prying hands." 

Anthy blinks.  "How strange...why not take them with them?" 

Beowulf asks, "Take them... with them?" 

Anthy asks, "Someone wrote it, correct?" 

Anthy asks, "Why would anyone capable of a spell that powerful 
leave such a scroll lying around untended to be found?" 

Beowulf says, "That's a very good question. Unless the spells 
were to make sure only the right person found them?" He looks 
a bit puzzled. "Along those lines... when we ran a temporal 
mirror on the site where I found the vases, it appears that 
they were put there for me to find, 3 days before I arrived." 

Beowulf says, "By the Keeper of the Logrus, according to 
Lily." 

Anthy frowns. 

Anthy says, "Hmmm.  He must be up to something." 

Beowulf asks, "Indeed. The question is, what?" 

Beowulf thinks back to try to remember just what led him to go 
digging there in the first place. 

You'd heard about the ruins from some friends from Panopticon 
who had conducted a dig there. 

At a different ruins.  This shadow hadn't been studied much 
yet, and you weren't busy, so you decided to check it out. 

Beowulf asks, "OOC Hmmm. Who was it, by the by?" 

Anthy says, "OOC Hmm.  We'll call him...Bob Hannas." 

Beowulf asks, "OOC So he was a friend of mine... what did I 
know about him?" 

Anthy says, "OOC He's from one of the shadows near Panopticon. 
A fellow archaeologist just starting out his career." 

Beowulf says, "Hmmm. It seems... well, suspicious, to say the 
least, that these vases would be planted there for me to find, 
and doubly suspicious that they were right next to some 
significant documents about spikards." 

Anthy nods. 

Anthy says, "I'm not sure why Father would want you to have 
the information." 

Beowulf says, "On the other hand, I don't remember being 
steered to this place in particul-- Father?" His eyes widen. 

Anthy. o O (I see not everyone knows...) 

Beowulf nods. "I see... I'd heard that might be the case, but 
I wasn't sure... well, never mind." 

Beowulf says, "I did hear something that might be relevant 
from Jacqui... Odin had her drink from a well that 'answered 
questions'. One answer had some hints as to the location of 
Hoard of the Dragon." 

Beowulf says, "It seems like something thinks it's time for 
the spikard to surface. Or many somethings." 

Anthy nods 

Anthy says, "I suppose Father may have made a new one." 

Beowulf asks, "Made a new spikard?" 

Beowulf says, "Ahhh." He smiles a bit. "So the assumed ancient 
history of it might be a bit of a put-on." 

Anthy says, "Or possibly he's recovered one of the Dragon 
Spikards and planted it somewhere to be found.  He does that 
every so often." 

Beowulf says, "I see. Rather sporting of him, to scatter 
information about it around like that." 

Beowulf asks, "I wonder why he wants it to be found, though?" 

Anthy says, "With Father, you can never be sure." 

Anthy says, "He may simply be bored and want to amuse himself 
watching people scramble for the prize." 

Beowulf asks, "When we scryed back, he seemed to see us and 
waved at us. I wonder... do you think he would mind our paying 
him a visit?" 

Beowulf says, "He certainly seemed cheerful enough." 

Anthy says, "It probably wouldn't hurt to try." 

Beowulf nods. "What sort of things is he interested in? If 
we're going to be taking up his time, I do think we should 
bring along a little something nice for him." 

Anthy hmms.  "He likes really angsty fiction, especially if 
everyone dies at the end." 

She continues, "Perhaps a collection of Shakespeare's 
tragedies." 

Beowulf nods. And gets a thought about Lear, but suppresses it 
before he says anything. 

Beowulf says, "Is he a fairly depressed gentleman?" He mutters 
to himself, "I wonder if there's anything we can do to cheer 
him up..." 

Anthy says, "I think he likes being depressed." 

Beowulf says, "Ah. No Happy Helmet for him, then." 

Anthy laughs. 

Beowulf says, "Let's see... oh, has he seen Gone with the Wind 
yet? I might be able to find a nice print of that for him." 

Anthy says, "Oooh, good idea.  He'd like that." 

Beowulf OOCly wonders if Vivian Leigh is taking visitors at 
the moment. Or if she'd be willing to come out to meet Anno. 

Anthy says, "OOC In shadow, there's an infinite number of 
Vivian Leigh's willing to go visit Anno :)" 

Beowulf says, "OOC Well, true. I was thinking of the Fibber's 
Closet Vivian. :)" 

Beowulf nods. "I'll do that for him, then." He stands lost in 
thought for a moment. "Before I go, what did those spikard 
documents say?" 

Anthy says, "OOC Heh.  Sure, she'd be willing.  " 

Anthy starts examining the documents.  "Let me take a look." 

Beowulf OOCly smiles. "And I'll get her to autograph the film 
print before giving it to him." 

Anthy exclaims, "OOC Heh!" 

Anthy says, "Hmm." 

Anthy says, "One of these seems to lay out the shadow sources 
that one of the Lion Spikards connects to." 

Beowulf nods. "I'd figured it was some form of analysis, but 
not exactly what." He thinks for a moment. "I'd heard that 
Moire's spikard was possibly a Lion spikard, and this one 
looks like it could be a ring of Tides..." 

She continues, "The other one lists the nine lion spikards, 
names them, and identifies their specialties" 

Beowulf nods. "That could be very useful information at some 
point." 

Anthy nods.  "Three of air, three of water, three of fire, and 
the Master Spikard." 

Beowulf says, "As if the Master Spikard is in the hands of the 
Outsiders, and can control the Lion spikards, we may need to 
see that they're brought under control." 

Anthy nods.  "Yes." 

Beowulf says, "And a chart of what they are would be very 
helpful." 

Anthy says, "I will try and write this all out for you and get 
it to you soon." 

Beowulf says, "Thank you. I found Tirthos at CAFAM when I 
picked up the fertilizer and turned it over to Nanami for 
safekeeping, and having this practically drop into my hands... 
I'm beginning to think this is a hint." 

Anthy boggles.  "The Ring of Storms was on sale at CAFAM?" 

Beowulf says, "Yes... for one Sun. I was a bit surprised 
myself." 

Anthy says, "Well, CAFAM does at times, have strange things 
for sale." 

Beowulf nods. "Well, thank you for your time. If there's 
anything I can do to help?" 

Anthy asks, "Oh, I'm fine.  I'll get this translation for you 
soon.  If you see Father, tell him I said hello.  Would you 
like me to try getting ahold of him and set up an 
appointment?" 

Beowulf blinks. "If you could, that would be most helpful. 
Anything you'd like me to bring him on your behalf?" 

Beowulf says, "Or anything I should not mention to him on your 
behalf? I know how parents can be, sometimes." He grins wryly, 
and reminds himself to trump Mother as soon as he gets done 
talking to Anthy. 

Anthy laughs.  "No, I can't think of anything you need to 
hide." 

Beowulf smiles back and nods to her. "In that case... thank 
you, and could you let me know if you do talk to him?" 

Anthy exclaims, "I will!" 

Beowulf smiles again. "Take care, then." 

Beowulf breaks the contact. 

Beowulf says, "OOC Probably talk to Mother, and then break for 
the night, unless calling Wakaba is likely to lead to more 
immediate activities. :)" 

Anthy says, "OOC THe momma call should go quick." 

Beowulf OOCly nods. "Want to get to bed at a hlaflway decent 
hour. :)" 

Beowulf trumps Wakaba. 

Wakaba takes the call. 

Beowulf smiles. "Hello, Mother. Nanami mentioned I should give 
you a call?" 

Wakaba nods.  "Oh yes, this import company sent you a package. 
Carter Imports." 

Wakaba fumbles around the lab. 

Beowulf blinks. "Carter Imports?" 

Wakaba says, "In Cape Westburyport.  " 

Beowulf nods. 

Wakaba hands you a two foot on each side box wrapped in tan 
paper. 

You page, "I don't remember you mentioning a company by that 
name when we toured Westburyport... o.o" to Akemi. Akemi 
pages, "You don't remember visiting any such place." to you. 

Beowulf examines the box. "Interesting. Was there any notice 
with the package?" 

Wakaba says, "Nope. Just the package." 

Beowulf hmms. "Well, thank you, Mother. How are things going 
for you back there?" 

Wakaba says, "Well, things have been going okay for me." 

Beowulf nods. "Anything I can do for you at the moment?" 

Wakaba says, "Things have been pretty calm here, althuogh I've 
heard Jacqueline's gotten into more trouble." 

Wakaba says, "no, I'm fine, honey." 

Wakaba asks, "Have you been having fun out in shadow?" 

Beowulf says, "Yes. She called me up to apologize for losing 
the training spikard I gave her, and said she was going to try 
and get it back." 

Beowulf says, "Reasonable fun, yes. Taking out mad cultists of 
a bloodthirsty god, that sort of thing." 

Wakaba asks, "How tough were they?" 

Beowulf says, "Well, the leaders were fairly tough, especially 
with the armor they had on -- called themselves servants of 
Khorne. The beastmen they had as henchmen were fairly weak, 
and the goblins they'd enslaved weren't any problem at all." 

Wakaba nods.  "So where are you off to now?" 

Beowulf says, "It seems the last dig I'd made was planted for 
me to find by the Keeper of the Logrus. Since he waved at me 
when we scryed back to see him bury them, I thought it was 
only polite to stop by and pay our respects." 

Wakaba hmms.  "Well, he did once save me from being killed." 

Beowulf says, "Indeed?" He blinks. "I hadn't heard that 
story." 

Wakaba says, "It was a very unpleasant experience, and I'd 
rather not talk about it, but from what little I know, Lord 
Anno isa good man, if strange." 

Wakaba says, "And he's your Great-Grandfather.  " 

Beowulf says, "My... Great-Grandfather. I see." You page, 
"That's right, Anthy is my grandmother, isn't she? D'oh; I 
should have been warmer to her. :(" to Akemi. Akemi pages, 
"Silly white man" to you. You page, "Indeed. :( Well, I hope 
she doesn't mind me calling her Grandmother from now on. <wry 
g>" to Akemi. 

Wakaba says, "Mother can probably put you in contact with him 
if you need to talk to him." Peorth falls asleep. 

Beowulf says, "Yes, she offered to set up an appointment with 
him, and I accepted." 

Wakaba says, "Good, good." 

Beowulf asks, "Well, I suppose I should take a look at this 
package, before we set out again, unless there's anything else 
going on up there you think I should know about." He smiles 
slightly. "If you hear an explosion out this way, take care of 
things for me, will you?" 

Wakaba laughs.  "I will.  See you later, son."  *kiss on the 
cheek* 

Beowulf hugs her back. "Take care, Mother." 

Beowulf breaks the contact and examines the box more closely. 
Any packing list on it? 

No packing list. 

Beowulf hmmms, and looks over at Lily and Mitsune. "You might 
want to stand back a bit when I open this... unless you can 
see if it's trapped?" 

Lily takes it and casts a few spells.  "There's a vase in it." 

Beowulf blinks. "A vase? Interesting." 

Beowulf opens the box. 

"And lots of packing peanuts." 

You extract oneof the three vases you dug up. 

To be precise, the one that got a knife stuck in it and was 
teleported away. 

Beowulf says, "I'd halfway expected this, but I am a bit 
surprised." 

It's still got the damage to it from the knife. 

Beowulf checks inside to see if the ashes are still there. 

Which reveals there's an inner lining which contains a piece 
of paper. 

The ashes are gone, replaced with styrofoam peanuts 

Beowulf ahhhs, and gently works out the lining. 

Beowulf asks, "OOC Any notes or anything in the peanuts?" 

Wakaba says, "OOC No notes." 

The lining contains some sidar runes. 

Beowulf shakes his head. "I really need to learn to read Sidar 
one of these days." 

Mitsune says, "Cool." 

You page, "Actually, could I pick that up as a point skill 
when we come to the first advancement time?" to Akemi. Akemi 
pages, "Might be a good idea." to you. You page, "Indeed. I 
was planning on it if it's possible, but wasn't sure if that 
was something you could pick up along the way." to Akemi. 
Akemi pages, "You'd need to find a teacher and game time to 
learn it in though." to you. You page, "Well, you mentioned I 
knew someone at Panopticon who knew Sidar... and of course 
Anthy, if she has the time. Heck, maybe even Anno. o.o" to 
Akemi. In a page-pose to you, Akemi nods. You page, "And there 
is the Closet for time, though I don't want to abuse the fast-
time as a gaming trick." to Akemi. In a page-pose to you, 
Akemi nods. 

Beowulf asks, "OOC How long do I think Anthy might take to try 
contacting her father?" 

Wakaba says, "OOC Could be anywhere from a  few minutes to a 
day, depending on how her luck goes and if he's taking trump 
calls." 

Beowulf nods. "OOC I'll wait a day to ask her to translate 
this, then, as I don't want to joggle her elbow if there's a 
good chance she'll call back within that time." 

Beowulf asks, "OOC Do I know anyone who has contacts in Cape 
Westburyport, aside from Lord Khan?" 

Wakaba says, "OOC Kozue might, since she's sailed all over the 
place." 

Beowulf says, "OOC As while I don't want to look a gift horse 
in the mouth, I would like to know who might have sent it to 
me." 

Beowulf OOCly nods. 

Beowulf trumps Kozue. 

Kozue takes the call.  "Oh, hello, Beowulf." 

Beowulf smiles. "Hello, Aunt Kozue. Do you have a moment or 
two?" 

Kozue asks, "Are you any good at pirate hunting?" 

Beowulf says, "Well, my one recent nautical attempt didn't 
turn out too well, but I'd be willing to give it another shot 
one of these days." 

Kozue smiles.  "I've been trying to trap the Recreational 
Pirate Roberts." 

Beowulf asks, "Ah, yes. I've been wondering about him, ever 
since Kanna and I saw that whale eat the remains of the 
zeppelin we were on... she'd said she was going to talk to you 
about that little fracas?" 

Kozue says, "We discussed it some, yes." 

Beowulf says, "I'd wondered if he might have been in league 
with the Rebmaquois folk, since the timing of that whale was 
awfully convenient." 

Beowulf says, "And I do intend to remonstrate with them at 
some point in the future; I didn't particularly enjoy having 
them poke a hole in the dirigible I was riding on." 

Beowulf says, "Would you like a little help at that point?" He 
smiles. 

Kozue says, "I would be very appreciative." 

Beowulf bows. "I should be honored to help." 

Beowulf asks, "Did Kanna also mention the vase that was stolen 
from me on that flight?" 

Kozue says, "Not that I can remember." 

Kozue says, "She said something about you selling vases, I 
think." 

Beowulf says, "Hm. Well, before the Rebmaquois folks showed 
up, a group of slightly demented Egyptian cultists showed up 
to disturb the sale I was making, and in the process managed 
to teleport one away." 

Beowulf says, "It was just returned to me, in a package from a 
Carter Imports of Cape Westburyport. I've never heard of them, 
and was wondering if you'd heard anything about them." 

Kozue says, "Hmm." 

Kozue says, "They're notorious for covering up criminal 
activities--smuggling, theft, fencing, etc." 

Kozue says, "Fairly corrupt." 

Beowulf rubs his chin thoughtfully. "Hm. I could understand 
how they would get their hands on it, then. What puzzles me is 
why they'd return it to me. Unless whoever found it wanted to 
return it using their good offices to keep from revealing 
their own identity." 

Kozue nods.  "That would make sense." 

Beowulf says, "Which still leaves the question of who found it 
and decided to return it... but makes it that much harder to 
answer. Oh, well." 

Beowulf says, "The one person I *know* of who would recognize 
its connection with me is the gentleman who I was going to 
sell it to in the first place... and in that case, I'm 
surprised he didn't keep it himself. Oh, well." 

Beowulf asks, "You wouldn't happen to know a Lord Khan from 
Cape Westburyport, would you?" 

Kozue says, "Vaguely." 

Kozue asks, "Tiger head, collects art, right?" 

Beowulf says, "Right. He was the one I was selling the vase 
to. Struck me as a dangerous but honest chap when I dealt with 
him, but it never hurts to have a cross-check." 

Beowulf asks, "Well, it's looking like I'm going to be heading 
out Chaos way in a little bit; is there anything I can do for 
you down there?" 

Kozue says, "No, what I need is this stupid pirate caught." 

Beowulf nods. "Right. If I can find anything out about him -- 
I wouldn't be surprised if he were associating with the 
Rebmaquois, and I wouldn't be surprised if the Rebmaquois have 
had dealings with Chaos -- I'll be sure to pass it along. Same 
if I can find anything or anyone who can help." 

Kozue says, "Thank you, Beowulf." 

Beowulf bows back. "You're very welcome, Kozue. And if I can 
get this thing I've got hanging over me resolved before you 
catch him, I want to help myself." 

Beowulf says, "Take care, Aunt." 

Beowulf asks, "OOC And unless Anthy calls back with an 
appointment right away, shall we cut here?" 

Kozue says, "OOC CUt here, it's late."