Beowulf asks, "Whassup?" 

Jacqueline says, "jacqueline shall reprogram Mo with ABBA" 

Keiko asks, "Howdy, Prof.  You wanna game?" 

Beowulf says, "Excellent choice, Rod. I even have a couple of 
source CD's. ^_^" 

Beowulf says, "If you like. :)" 

Keiko asks, "OOC Okay, you're hanging out and waiting for 
Anthy to call back, right?" 

Beowulf asks, "OOC Actually, was planning on starting down to 
Chaos now; will still try to talk to Anno even if Anthy can't 
make contact with him, and she can trump me just as well on 
the move, ne?" 

Jacqueline asks, "OOCly.... SHE's going down to chaos 
too?!?!??!?" 

Beowulf says, "And if it's going to be a day before she gets 
back in touch, don't really want to waste a day's travel time, 
unless there are other things to do in the meantime." 

Beowulf says, "OOC Although I plan on trumping her if I don't 
hear back in a day, just to make sure things are all right." 

Keiko asks, "OOC Gonna hop in the Humvee and head out, then?" 

Beowulf says, "OOC Yup." 

After several hours, someone trumps you. 

Beowulf gets everyone into the Humvee, waves goodbye to the 
villagers, and heads out. 

Beowulf pulls the Humvee over, nods to Lily, and takes the 
trump call. 

Lian waves through the trump connection, grinning. "Hi Bey." 

Tybalt wakes up. 

Beowulf grins and waves back. "Heyo, Lian -- what's up?" 

Tybalt has left. 

Mercutio has arrived. 

Lian shrugs, "Oh, just came back from a trip to the Library. I 
brought some -very- interesting books with me. How about you? 
Anything new and interesting with the universe's greatest 
archeologist/adventurer?" 

Beowulf grins wryly. "I'd take issue with 'greatest 
archeologist' part... but had a few interesting things 
happening, yes. Found a couple of documents at the dig site 
that were rather interesting, had a bit of stolen property 
returned to me... lotsa stuff." 

Lian nods, "Sounds interesting. What are you up to now?" 

Beowulf asks, "Heading down to Chaos to talk to the Keeper of 
the Logrus. Want to come with, and get caught up on things?" 

Lian grins, "Always. I've got a few questions for the good 
Keeper myself, even though I doubt he'll answer." 

Beowulf asks, "All right... want me to pull you through, or do 
you have some preparations to make?" 

Lian hms. "I still have a thing or two to do. I'll trump you 
again in an hour, I'll be ready then." 

Beowulf nods. "Good enough... talk to you then." 

Lian says, "Later, Bey." She closes the connection. 

Beowulf looks over at Lily and Mitsune. "Well, this could be 
interesting." 

Lily says, "As long as she doesn't try to improve the humvee 
to explode, I'll be fine." 

Mitsune says, "Hey, EVERYTHING needs a button that makes it 
blow up if you hit it." 

Beowulf says, "She'll be all right, I think." 

Beowulf asks, "OOC We anyplace interesting at the moment?" 

Keiko says, "OOC You're cruising through lots of boring 
forest." 

Keiko says, "OOC Down dirt roads not really comfortable for 
driving :)" 

Beowulf asks, "OOC Ah. About what time is it?" 

Keiko says, "OOC Hmm.  Afternoonish." 

Beowulf says, "OOC Might start looking for a good spot to 
camp, then, within an hour; sounds like we're going to have a 
fair amount to catch up on." 

Lian soon joins you. 

You find a nice clearing in the forest to camp at for the 
night that night.  Pattern is good like that. 

Beowulf says, "So, you've been at the Library?" He looks over 
at Lily. "How's Travis doing? Hope he doesn't mind his 
daughters being gone this long..." 

Lian stretches and gets rid of her backpack. "Not the castle 
library. The infinite one. Big place, that." 

Beowulf says, "Ahhhh. Have fun doing the searches? I always 
like going there to study..." 

Beowulf says, "...but finding a specific book can be rather 
tricky." 

Lian blinks innocently. "What gave you the idea that -I- would 
do the searching? That's what I have my droidic minions for." 

Lian says, "Give them a decade or three ... " 

Beowulf says, "Ahhh. Somehow that always felt like cheating. 
:)" 

Beowulf asks, "So what did you find?" 

Lian says, "Books. Lots of books." She grins. "And it's not 
cheating, it's efficient use of manpower. Or droidpower, in 
this case." 

Beowulf says, "Well, yes, I'd gathered the 'books' part." He 
shoots her a dry look. "I was wondering about their contents." 

Lian smiles, "Lotsa little black squiggly things." 

Beowulf mentally debates turning Lian over to Mitsune for a 
little... persuasion. 

Beowulf says, "And did you understand the black squiggly 
things?" He grins even more dryly. 

Lian pulls a strange crystal out of her backpack, about the 
size of a paperback book, with a metal base. "Most of them, 
yes. I got a hopefully accurate Sidar to Thari dictionary. 
Uncle Fuyu said it's accurate, at least. Some info on the 
Spikards, including a full list of them." 

Beowulf says, "Interesting. We'll have to try it on these 
documents." He pulls out the spikard documents he picked up 
from the library at the dig. 

Lian takes a look at the spikard documents, then brings the 
dictionary up on the crystal. "Let me see ... " 

Lian looks over the papers, quickly paging through the 
dictionary in the crystal, nodding every now and then. "This," 
she holds one paper up, the one with the single spikard, 
"describes the various shadows the Spikard is linked to. 
Interesting ... " She puts it aside. "The other's just a 
listing of the various Lion spikards." 

Beowulf nods. "Hm. Does it name the first spikard?" 

Lian says, "This one? Gaerthos, the Ring of Tides. One of the 
water Lion spikards, obivously." 

Beowulf says, "Gaerthos... I had a hunch that might be it. 
Moire's spikard... which is now in the hands of the 
Rebmaquois, I believe." 

Beowulf nods at the document. "This just might help us choke 
off its power long enough to get it away from them, if the 
shadow sources can be closed off." 

Lian says, "Everything can be closed off ... now, if I can get 
Anno to talk to me about Spikard theory we might be able to 
find the way." 

Beowulf nods. "Well, Anthy was hinting that he may have made 
the one we're chasing after..." 

Beowulf says, "Fairly recently, that is." 

Lian asks, "Which one are you hunting for?" 

Beowulf says, "Appears to be Hoard of the Dragon." He ponders 
for a minute. "So much has happened in the last few days, I'm 
not sure what I'd found out last time I saw you and what I 
haven't." 

Lian smiles and puts her crystal away again. "Just tell me 
everything that happened after our little pirate adventure, 
then." 

Beowulf says, "Let's see... Went on the CAFAM trip, and found 
Tirthos, Ring of Storms, on sale there. Snatched it before any 
of the other teams looking for it got it, thanks to some 
*very* good help." He smiles at Lian and Mitsune. "We got it 
back and Aunt Nanami was able to isolate it." 

Aerianne has arrived. 

Tybalt has arrived. 

Mercutio has left. 

Lian says, "Tirthos is found too, hm? Good ... the more the 
better." 

Beowulf says, "Also went to talk with Anthy and see what she 
knew about spikards... and she was able to translate the runes 
I wrote down from the vases." 

Lian looks curious. "And what did those runes say?" 

Beowulf says, "Greetings, oh lucky traveller.  You have found 
a key to the Hoard of the Dragon, a Spikard.  Within this 
temple, you will find many things once hidden beyond the Wall 
of Sleep.  Inside each urn is a clue to one of the three keys 
which will unlock the chest." 

Beowulf says, "Jumping forward a bit, I just had the third 
vase, the one that teleported away, returned to me, by a Cape 
Westburyport firm known for shady dealings." He blinks. 

Lian nods. 

Beowulf says, "Then... let's see. We went back to the shadow 
where I'd found the vases, beat off a chaos group working for 
a so-called 'blood god' named Khorne, and found these two 
documents in the library there." 

Beowulf says, "Didn't find any signs of the clues I thought 
might have spilled out of the vases... but did find out that 
the vases had been planted there three days before I arrived 
and found them. By the Keeper of the Logrus." 

Lian murmurs, "Khorne, hm? What would that idiot want with a 
... nevermind, what every idiot wants with a spikard." She 
blinks. "Anno planted them three days before you found them? 
Now, if I were paranoid, I'd say he wanted you to find them." 

Beowulf says, "Uh-huh. It's certainly an attractive state of 
mind." 

Beowulf says, "You know of Khorne? I knew someone like that 
back at Panopticon, but doesn't sound at all like this fool." 

Lian says, "I've heard something about him. Calls himself a 
God of Chaos. Fairly bloodthirsty guy, from all accounts." 

Beowulf nods. "Certainly borne out by his servants." 

Lian says, "Yay. Good thing I managed to remake Spellbinder." 

Beowulf nods. 

Beowulf says, "Trumped Nanami and Anthy after finding the 
documents... " 

Beowulf asks, "Have you heard about what's been happening to 
Jacqui?" 

Lian shakes her head. "I've heard nothing." 

Beowulf says, "Ah. Well, apparently Jacqui's been down to 
Chaos two or three times, after Morganstern went crazy. She 
lost Justice and the training spikard I'd given her, and 
called me up to apologize." 

Lian says, "... you're joking. I hope you're joking." 

Beowulf says, "Unfortunately, not." 

Lian facepalms. "She really went ahead and lost her father's 
sword?" 

Lian asks, "What did Shaft say about that?" 

Beowulf says, "Shinobu Minor was thrown there, was raised for 
40 years of fast-time, and is now apparently some kind of 
amazon warrior." 

Beowulf says, "...oh. You haven't heard." 

Rabies wakes up. 

Lian blinks repeatedly and holds up a hand. "Wait a moment. 
Haven't heard what? And sweet little Shinobu is now playing 
warrior princess?" 

Beowulf says, "Shaft was murdered. Apparently Lord Lowen of 
Chaos was involved, though I'm not sure he was the mastermind. 
Whoever it was kidnapped Jacqui, drained some of her blood, 
and used it to make blood creatures to destroy Shaft's 
Pattern." 

Beowulf says, "Thus killing Shaft. I believe Moriya and Motoko 
have headed down to Chaos to investigate." 

Lian just blinks and stares at Bey, speechless. 

Kanna OOCly says, "and now, bed." 

Moriya OOCly waves. 

Beowulf says, "I was ready to drop everything and go along to 
help, but Nanami thought keeping on the track of this spikard 
was more important." 

Jacqueline says, "OOCly go! day 15 is but a stretch away! ;)" 

Aerianne has disconnected. 

Beowulf says, "It's been a busy few days." 

Lian nods slowly. "She's probably right ... if Moriya and 
Motoko are already out investigating ... " She sighs. "You can 
say that again." 

Beowulf says, "I suppose I'm still half-stunned by all of 
this. I'm not sure *what* to think." 

Lian says, "Good, at least I'm not alone then." 

Beowulf says, "Let's see... Morgan was lost in Chaos as part 
of this, I believe, and Jacqui was going down there with Hiko 
to try and rescue Morgan." 

Beowulf says, "Ramon was also thrown down to Chaos by 
Morganstern." 

Lian says, "If that goes on, you can hold a family reunion 
down there." 

Beowulf sighs ruefully. "Indeed." 

Beowulf says, "Jacqui was apparently kidnapped by a childhood 
friend she knew named Taylor; he gave her a necklace she could 
use to contact him, but when they checked it out after Shaft 
died, whatever made it work was gone." 

Beowulf says, "He apparently looks like a young King Tylor, 
with white hair and dark eyes, very cheerful. Jacquie asked me 
to look out for him while I was down in Chaos." 

Lian says, "I definitely missed a lot while away." 

Beowulf says, "Um, yes." 

Lian asks, "So what's the plan now? Visit Anno?" 

Beowulf says, "Oh, and Anthy had been held prisoner by House 
Alars... Jacqui and Shinobu managed to get her out, but lost 
Justice and Fred (the training spikard) in the process." 

Beowulf says, "Yes." 

Beowulf asks, "I forget... did you know he was Anthy's 
father?" 

Lian nods. "Yes. Interesting family, no?" 

Beowulf says, "Indeed. Makes him my great-grandfather... 
perhaps that'll help." 

Lian says, "Perhaps. Maybe he likes you ... that'd explain him 
conveniently dropping off the vases just where you would find 
them." 

Foxtrot has connected. 

Foxtrot has left. 

Beowulf says, "Well, I'd hope that's why he did that. Assuming 
he *did* do that, that is... I'm not sure how he could have 
known I was going there, and as far as I can tell I wasn't 
specifically steered there..." 

Lian says, "If Anno is anything like Fuyutsuki, he did know. 
There is no such thing as coincidence when the great powers 
are involved." 

Beowulf says, "Great powers... well, he's certainly *that*. 
:)" 

Beowulf says, "Let's see... oh, turns out the clues are hidden 
inside a secret lining on the urns, not just stuffed in them 
as I'd thought. That knife cut when it was teleported away 
exposed a bit of the clue." 

Beowulf brings out the clue sheet. 

Keiko asks, "OOC Gonna try and translate it?" 

Beowulf says, "OOC Ayup." 

Lian asks, "Can I see it?" 

Beowulf nods and takes out the clue. 

Lian asks, "Let me guess ... written in Sidar again?" 

Beowulf says, "Apparently so." 

Lian takes out the crystal again. 

Lian . o O ( OOC: Okay, let's see if we can make any sense of 
this. :) ) 

wom :hehs. 

Beowulf asks, "Must be very nice to have the dictionary. :) 
How'd you get my other great-grandfather to let you borrow it? 
" 

/In the land of the Golden Chair/Rivers run fast and 
deep/Follow the Way of the Skyfather/ 

/Into deepest jungle/To distant mountain/To find the Stair/ 

Lian says, "Uncle Fuyu sold his dictionary, so I copied all I 
could find at the library and had him point out the correct 
one to me." She looks at the clue, occasionally writing 
something down. "Hm ..." 

/Climb the Stair/Ride the Whirlwind/Pass the Fires/ 

/Cross the Bridge of Swords/Dance with Death/Sing For Joy/ 

/Then answer the oldest question/and take the key/ 

Beowulf says, "The Golden Chair/Skyfather bit sounds rather 
like Ashante... their king sits on a Golden Chair." 

Lian says, "... Iiiiiiinteresting. Very interesting." She nods 
to Beowulf. "And they have the rivers and the jungle, I 
think." 

Lian asks, "Do you have more clues?" 

Beowulf says, "Not yet. I see I'm going to have to get back 
with Lord Khan... fortunately, I have a reason to talk to 
him." 

Beowulf says, "Going to be a bit tricky asking him to check 
the vase linings, if he knows about the spikard hunt, but..." 

Lian nods, "Probably. If he wants the Spikard for himself ... 
" 

Beowulf says, "Exactly." 

Lian shrugs, "We can worry about your Lord Khan after our 
visit to Anno." 

Beowulf says, "Indeed." 

Beowulf tries to think if there's anything else... 

Lian watches Bey. 

Someone is trying to trump Beowulf. 

Beowulf blinks. "I'm being trumped... hang on a moment." 

Beowulf takes the trump call. 

Autolyca has connected. 

Lucien OOC Howdy 

It's a floating cloud of razors holding a Pattern blade.  It 
stares at you and tries to invade your brain.  Beyond it, you 
can make out a pillar of flame and a whirlwind, both chanting. 

Autolyca has connected. 

Autolyca has disconnected. 

For a while, Beowulf stands there, but it's soon pretty 
obvious something is wrong, as his brow is furrowed, and he's 
sweating heavily and doesn't look too happy. 

Lian blinks. "Something wrong, Bey?" 

Lily comes over and puts a hand on Beowulf's shoulder. 
"Trouble," she says. 

Lian frowns and rises. "What kind of trouble?" 

Beowulf gasps out, "House Alars! Trump Attack! Has Justice!" 

Lian looks at Lily and Mitsune. "Can either of you break him 
out of the contact?" 

Beowulf gasps out, "Can you support mind?" 

Lian walks over to Beowulf and puts her hand on his shoulder. 
"We can try. Open up and let me in, Bey." 

Mitsune runs over as well. 

Beowulf opens his mind to Lian, Lily and Mitsune. 

the four of you combined push back at Lord Alars through the 
contact. 

After a little of this, Alars mutters something about 'harems' 
and drops the trump contact, giving up. 

Beowulf drats, then brings everyone in a group hug. "Thanks 
for saving me." 

Lily grins and cuddles up to you. 

Mitsune says, "I wonder what he did that for." 

Lian winks at Bey, "You're too cute to get your mind eaten." 

Beowulf smiles and kisses Lily. "Thank you." 

Beowulf says, "I was hoping we could hold him for long enough 
for me to try snatching Justice from him, but he dropped 
before I could." 

Beowulf says, "A very good question, Mitsune." 

Mitsune says, "I'm sure he was counting on catching you 
alone." 

Beowulf tries to think if he knew anyone from House Alars when 
he was at Panopticon, or whether he knew anyone who knew the 
house. 

Autolyca has connected. 

Beowulf asks, "Yes, that was fairly apparent. The questions 
is, why attack at all?" 

There were a few people from House Alars.  Not very friendly. 

Lian shrugs, "For information? Remote-controlled minion? Who 
knows what lurks in the crazed minds of Chaos lords ... " 

Beowulf asks, "True, true." He smiles. "But why me, and why 
now?" 

Autolyca has disconnected. 

Lily says, "Well, he must have expected you to be alone for 
some reason." 

She continues, "He may be expecting assault from Amber and 
hopes to pick off the family one at a time." 

Beowulf says, "Hm. I suppose so." He thinks. "There's Jacqui 
who's recently ran into him..." 

Beowulf says, "True. Well, anyway." 

Lian says, "That'd explain where he got a trump of you." 

Mitsune says, "Probably thumbing through the deck, taking 
random potshots at people." 

Beowulf says, "Yes. And probably trumps of the whole family as 
well. We should probably alert Aunt Nanami and the King, and 
have them alert everyone else." 

Lian says, "Good idea." 

Beowulf says, "And Mutsumi." 

Lily nods firmly. 

You call the King and Nanami and warn them.  They thank you 
for the information and tell you they'll spread the word. 

Beowulf nods. "Good, that's done." 

The rest of the night goes by quietly unless there's anything 
else you need to do/discuss. 

Beowulf asks, "OOC How long has it been since I talked to 
Anthy?" 

Keiko says, "OOC That was this morning." 

Beowulf OOCly nods. 

Beowulf OOCly will want to know what Lian's found out from her 
research, but that can wait 'till morning. 

You have a good night's sleep. 

And yummy breakfast in the morning. 

In the morning, someone tries to trump you. 

Beowulf smiles and looks at the others. "Another trump call... 
mind being ready, just in case?" 

Lily nods. 

Beowulf takes the trump call. 

Lian yawns, then nods, still looking sleepy. 

It's Anthy. 

Anthy says, "Good morning, Beowulf." 

Beowulf smiles. "Good morning, grandmother. I hope you didn't 
have any interruptions in the night, the way I did?" 

Anthy says, "I slept peacefully, thankfully." 

Anthy says, "Father says he will be happy to meet with you 
whenever you want to drop by." 

Beowulf smiles and nods. "Good. The warning get passed around 
all right?" 

Anthy nods.  "Yes.  Hopefully, we won't have any more 
unpleasant surprises." 

Beowulf says, "Thank you. We'll head down there now." 

Beowulf says, "Any advice on dealing with something like that 
the next time this happens? I was hoping to try and snatch 
Justice back from him once my friends helped support me, but 
he broke the contact before I could." 

Anthy says, "There is, unfortunately, not a lot to be done in 
such situations." 

Anthy says, "I would suggest studying Power Words and learning 
how to disrupt trump calls." 

Beowulf nods. "Ah, well. Something to work on as soon as I get 
a chance." 

Anthy says, "Or possibly asking someone to make you an item 
which contains that power word." 

Beowulf nods. "That would work." 

Beowulf OOCly growls. 

She passes you the translation of the two spikard scrolls. 

Rod has connected. 

Rod has disconnected. 

Beowulf bows and thanks her. "Oh, I received one of the vases 
back -- the one that was teleported away from the zeppelin -- 
and found that the 'clue' mentioned in the translation was 
actually hidden in the lining of the vase." 

Sana_Kurata falls asleep. 

Anthy nods.  "How did you get it back?" 

Beowulf asks Lily to make a copy of the clue. 

Beowulf says, "It was sent to me by a company in Cape 
Westburyport. According to Kozue, it's a company known for 
fencing and shady dealing." 

Anthy says, "How strange." 

Beowulf says, "Indeed. Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, 
but I do want to track down where it came from and who sent it 
back." 

Anthy says, "I'd be inclined to wonder if perhaps they put a 
fake clue in the liner and sent it to you to send you off down 
the wrong track." 

Beowulf hands Anthy a copy of the clue. "Yes, that was a 
thought I had. Which is why I want to find out who sent it 
back to me." 

Anthy says, "Well, you'll probably have to go there to find 
out." 

Beowulf nods. "Yes. Probably first on the agenda after 
visiting great-grandfather." 

Beowulf asks, "Anything else I can do for you, aunt?" 

Beowulf OOCly doh's, make that 'grandmother'. 

Anthy says, "No, I'm fine, Beowulf." 

Anthy says, "Have fun in Chaos." 

Beowulf says, "Thanks, grandmother." He smiles and closes the 
connection. 

Beowulf asks, "Well, shall we roll along?" 

Everyone nods.  "Ready to go." 

Beowulf hums, 'We're off to see the wizard... the wonderful 
wizard of Oz... 

Lian says, "Ready whenever you are." She eyes Bey strangely, 
but says nothing. 

Anthy says, "OOC Okay.  You can either hellride to Chaos (4 
days) or take it at normal speed (4 weeks)" 

Beowulf says, "I think we'd better hellride." 

Beowulf says, "Perhaps we should take a leaf from your book, 
Lian, and fly? The Ajax has the same ability to shadow-travel 
as the Humvee, but would be a bit more vulnerable." 

Lily nods.  "Something flight capable would be good for those 
shadows where conditions become very strange." 

Lian says, "We won't have to worry about falling into suddenly 
appearing acid lakes or so if we fly." 

Beowulf says, "Yes. All we have to worry about is the zeppelin 
going poof if we hit the wrong shadow; fortunately, I've got 
parachutes made out of Real fabric in Amber." 

Lian asks, "Don't you have a reality engine on it?" 

Mitsune says, "We can just grow wi...I guess you guys wouldn't 
have that option." 

Beowulf says, "Yes, I do... but I don't trust it to work 
*everywhere*." 

Lian says, "One has to take chances." 

Beowulf says, "True. And be ready to recover from bad chances, 
hence the parachutes." He smiles. 

Beowulf looks for a place open enough to pull out War Zeppelin 
Ajax and put the Humvee back in. 

Lian says, "I hope though we won't need them. If we hit 
something that'll poof Ajax, it'll poof all my toys too. And 
that will make me one unhappy girl." 

Beowulf says, "Indeed. And understandably so." He smiles 
again. 

Potemkin falls asleep. 

Lucien OOC Night all! 

Beowulf exclaims, "OOC Seeya, Jeff!" 

Anthy exclaims, "OOC Night, Jeff!" 

You switch off vehicles and begin your hellride. 

Four days of flying through increasingly bizarre shadows 
follows. 

Autolyca has disconnected. 

Finally, you find a great city at the edge of an abyss 
spreading out below you. 

Beowulf says, "OOC As we get closer to the Courts, start 
keeping a closer watch for trouble." 

Lots and lots of beings stare up at your zeppelin. 

Beowulf asks, "OOC I thought there was a house here who liked 
zeppelins?" 

Beowulf says, "OOC Balor's house, IIRC." 

Lian . o O ( OOC House Fomorian. ) 

Anthy says, "OOC Why yes, there is.  But you don't have House 
Fomorian's insignia on you, now do you? :)" 

Lian . o O ( OOC He's got a point there. :) ) 

Anthy says, "OOC And even then, blimps are still not an every 
day sight :)" 

Beowulf says, "OOC True. :)" 

Beowulf asks, "OOC Anything like a regular landing field?" 

Lian asks Bey, "You don't happen to know where we can find the 
Keeper?" 

Anthy says, "OOC There's a landing place, but it looks like 
it's reserved for House Formorian.  You could land in the big 
plain outside the city and stow the Blimp in the Bag." 

Lily says, "I know the way to House Gainax." 

Beowulf says, "OOC True enough. Does it look like it can be 
safely tethered, though? I'd rather not advertise the bag 
here." 

Beowulf blinks at Lily. "Have you been here before, then?" 

Anthy says, "OOC Whoever's big field this is might wonder 
where a zeppelin came from and mess with it." 

Beowulf says, "OOC True... ah." 

Beowulf asks, "Lily, do you think you can produce an illusion 
that makes the Ajax look like it's deflating?" 

Lily smiles.  "I have walked through the Courts, yes." 

Lily nods.  "Give me a little while, I think I can whip 
something up." 

Beowulf nods back. "A magic zeppelin that deflates and can be 
packed in a bag is plausible, and won't call too much 
attention to the bag as something special." He smiles. "I 
hope." 

Lian smiles, "We can only hope. If someone tries to get it 
from you, we'll know it didn't work." 

Beowulf says, "Ah, well; ya pays yer dues and ya takes yer 
chances." 

Lily spends a while casting the spell, then unleashes it to 
cover up your bag-stuffing. 

Beowulf bows. "Thank you, Lily." 

Beowulf asks, "Who will we pass by on the way to House 
Gainax?" 

Mitsune assumes the form of a huge nine-tailed fox. 

Beowulf smiles. "Known around here a bit, are you, Mitsune?" 

Lily says, "Quite a few houses.  I'll try and avoid Alars." 

Lian grins at the fox, then at Bey. "Maybe you should find a 
way to look a bit less like yourself too, my comrade in 
piracy." 

Kitsune says, "Ordinary humans stand out here the way 
tentacled gibbering horrors stand out in Amber." 

Beowulf says, "Hm. Quite possibly. And yourself, Lian?" 

Lily turns into a winged cat. 

Beowulf grins. "How about the Beatles again? No? A better 
suggestion?" 

Beowulf scratches neko-Lily between the ears. "And this is 
where Snickers came from?" 

Lian smiles and raises a hand. She starts shimmering, her skin 
turning an interesting shade of metallic blue as her hair 
becomes a mane of red metal spikes, and her clothing changes 
to dark grey armor. 

Beowulf asks, "Taking after your mother, Lian?" He smiles. 
"Well. What would you folks' suggestions for me be?" 

Lian murmurs, "Neo, reload the image inducer." 

Lian asks, "What would you like to be, Bey? A two-legged 
wolf?" 

Kitsune comes over to you.  "Space Elvis!" 

Lian grins at Kitsune. "Good idea. He'll look great." 

Beowulf says, "Why go for the obvious? Space Elvis... well, it 
would be interesting, but I don't want to raise *that* many 
hackle-- well. It seems I'm outvoted." He smiles. 

Lily lands on Kitsune's back.  "..." 

Lian snickers and touches Bey. "Space Elvis you shall be, 
then." 

Beowulf says, "Though warn me if we get too close to anyone 
from Graceland." He smiles. 

Blink, Beo is now Space Elvis. 

Then you head into the city. 

Lian says, "Neo, reload again. We might need more." 

Beowulf asks, "A disguise computer? Or something different?" 

The place is a huge mess of a maze. 

Lian says, "My spikard. Well, not a real one, but not a bad 
imitation." 

Streets twist and bend and tie themselves into knots and klein 
bottles. 

But after much marching through the streets, you come to a 
huge pyramid on an island floating in a small lake with a 
drawbridge out to the street.  A large sign proclaims 'House 
Gainax.' 

Beowulf says, "Ah, indeed." He smiles "Need to see about 
something like that one of these days. Oh, and that reminds 
me..." He gives Lian the watch he'd made for her earlier. 

Lian takes the watch and puts it on. "Oh, thanks." 

Beowulf says, "OOC It's a pocket watch, not a wristwatch. :)" 

Lian pockets it then. 

Beowulf says, "Shall we go in?" He looks to see if there's any 
form of doorbell on this side of the drawbridge. 

There is no doorbell. 

Beowulf crosses the drawbridge, then. 

You head across the drawbridge.  The front door has the 
inscription 'Speak, Friend, and Enter' 

Lian follows Bey's lead. 

Beowulf smiles and looks up at the ceiling of the entranceway. 
"And should that be 'friend', or 'Mellon'?" 

Kitsune says, "I don't see any melons." 

Lily laughs. 

The door opens. 

Lian rolls her eyes. 

There's a young girl on the other side of it, perhaps around 
sixteen, clad in a red and white jumpsuit. 

"Good morning.  Welcome to House Gainax," she says. 

Beowulf bows to the young lady. "Greetings to you. I was 
hoping that Lord Anno might be in? My grandmother Anthy called 
ahead for an appointment." 

She says, "Oh, Anno-sama rarely goes anywhere.  Follow me."  
She turns and leads you through the ever twisty bendy maze 
which is House Gainax. 

Beowulf smiles and thanks her. 

Soon, you are finally ushered into a large theatre, where Anno 
is watching Gekiganger season 3 by himself. 

Beowulf blinks and smiles. "Hm, interesting. I haven't been 
able to find a shadow that's animated Season 3 yet." 

Anno smiles.  "I have connections." 

Rod has disconnected. 

Lian blinks. "Hey, cool!" She smiles at Anno, "Can we have a 
copy? Please?" 

Beowulf smiles back. "I can well imagine. Hopefully, they 
won't have found this for you yet..." He pulls out his 
autographed print of Gone with the Wind. 

Kitsune takes on a bipedal fox-woman form and sits down in a 
chair.  Lily simply perches on top of a seat. 

Anno smiles.  "Thank you.  Not many people think to bring a 
gift." 

He stashes it ina  pocket of his long coat. 

Beowulf says, "A little something I hoped you'd enjoy." 

He says to Lian, "Certainly, young lady." 

Beowulf blinks in surprise. "They don't? If you stop by and 
take up someone's time, I'd certainly hope you'd bring 
something nice for them." 

Anno says, 'Some folk are wiser than others." 

Beowulf shakes his head. "I suppose so.." He smiles again. 
"Anyway, I'm glad to meet you, great-grandfater." He blushes 
slightly. "I'll admit, I didn't *realize* you were my great-
grandfather until just recently, but... After seeing you in 
passing, so to speak, I thought it would be polite to pay my 
respects." 

Lian hangs back, letting Bey do the talking. It's his family 
anyway. 

Anno nods.  "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you.  Your mother 
is a fine young lady." 

Beowulf says, "Indeed. My childhood was a bit... odd, but she 
always took good care of me, and I love her very much." 

Rod has connected. 

Beowulf grins wryly. "It seems a lot of the family has popped 
up down here recently." He frowns for a moment. "Voluntarily 
or involuntarily." 

Anno nods.  "I understand Jacqueline has made a bit of a mess, 
yes." 

Beowulf sighs. "Yes. I'd bought her a training spikard at 
CAFAM in hopes that it would help her gain control, but... 
apparently it was lost to House Alars, along with Justice." 

Anno nods. "Lord Alars has been bragging about his acquisition 
all over the place." 

Beowulf says, "I'd also heard that Morgan and Ramon also got 
thrown down here." 

Beowulf says, "I can imagine. He appeared to be confident 
enough to launch a trump attack on me on the way down here." 

"Lord Alars has a very powerful mind." 

Beowulf says, "Fortunately, I had three good friends who 
helped." 

Kitsune smiles, as does Lily. 

"Sometimes, we all get by with a little help from our friends, 
yes," Anno says. 

Beowulf scratches neko-Lily lovingly between the ears. 

Beowulf says, "Yes. Even though I do sing out of tune..." 

Neko-Lily purrs happily. 

Beowulf asks, "Have you heard anything about Ramon or Morgan?" 

"I understand Lord Alars has Morgan and Lord Darios has 
Ramon." 

Beowulf says, "Ah. Joy. I'm starting to get a little annoyed 
at Lord Alars." 

Anno says, "Well, it might be noted that all the Amberites 
he's captured came to him." 

Beowulf says, "True. Of course, it's rather hard to get the 
folks he already has back without going to him..." 

Anno nods. 

On the screen, Gekiganger battles the Go Lions 

Beowulf sighs. "Well. I suppose that's a matter for later, 
unless you have a suggestion for staying out of trouble?" 

Beowulf's attention swings to the screen for a moment. Go 
Lions? 

Brightly colored Lion Bots!

"I suggest you avoid visiting Morgenstern with Jacqueline." 

Beowulf says, "Ah, yes." He sighs. "Someone really needs to 
take Morgenstern in hand." 

"Not an easy thing to do." 

Lian murmurs, "Not without losing that hand, at least." 

Kitsune laughs. 

Beowulf says, "Well, that's what you build helpers for, yes?" 
He smiles. 

Lian says, "Not everyone can do that, Bey." 

Beowulf says, "True, I suppose. Still, a project worthy of 
working towards." 

Anno nods. 

Beowulf says, "Speaking of projects..." He looks at the Go 
Lions on the screen for a moment. "With several Lion spikards 
still running around free, I admit being nervous about the 
Master Spikard being in the hands of the Outsiders." 

Beowulf says, "One of these days, when I've built up my skills 
enough, I'd like to see about getting the Master Spikard 
back." 

Lian just shakes her head. 

Anno says, "Something which would be very good.  But also a 
good way to die." 

Anno says, "You would need the Gloom Device to even have a 
chance." 

Beowulf smiles faintly. "Funny, that's what people keep saying 
to me." He sighs. "Well, one of these days... Gloom Device?" 
He blinks. 

He continues, "But I had to throw it into the Abyss." 

Lian pales slightly at the mention of the Gloom device. 

Beowulf asks, "You've heard of it, Lian?" 

"It kept damaging my tapes." 

Lian says, "I've seen it mentioned." 

Lian says, "It is said that it has the power to destroy the 
Logrus." 

Beowulf smiles at Anno. "I can understand why, then." 

Beowulf blinks at Lian. "Destroy the Logrus?" 

Beowulf says, "Oh, dear. That could be a bit of a problem." 

Lian nods. 

Lian says, "If it's true, then yes, that would be a bit of a 
problem." 

Beowulf asks, "Failing that, I suppose the best thing to do is 
try to bring as many of the Lion spikards under control and 
into safe hands." He looks up at Anno. "I don't suppose you 
know of a way to remove them from the Outsider's taint?" 

Anno says, "It also fuzzes my tapes, dammit.  But it would, in 
theory, provide a protective field that might keep one from 
beign eaten alive long enough to get at the Master Spikard." 

Lian says, "In theory." 

Anno says, "Well, soap and water doesn't work." 

Beowulf says, "Well, I suppose one of these days we could put 
it to the test... but it'll be a while." 

"Since they were made with the Master Spikard, about the only 
way to avoid outsider taint on them is to recover the Master 
Spikard." 

Lian asks, "Is there a way to shut them off, at least 
temporarily?" 

Rod has connected. 

Rod has disconnected. 

Jacqueline OOCLy throttles his connection 

Beowulf brings out the two spikard documents. "I found these 
two documents in the library at the dig site where you left 
the urns." He smiles slightly. "Thank you for those. I think" 

Beowulf says, "OOC Er, I think." 

Anno says, "Well, they need to be worn in order to do 
anything. An unworn spikard is just a ring." 

He just smiles at the documents. 

Beowulf smiles back with a raised eyebrow. "Ah. It seemed like 
that was a rather large coincidence to find them so close 
together." 

Beowulf asks, "That was rather an extreme protective spell on 
them, wasn't it?" 

Anno says, "One can never be too careful with sensitive 
information." 

Lian says, "Too true ..." 

Beowulf smiles dryly. "I imagine so." He sighs. "I really need 
to learn Sidar; I would undoubtedly have been a bit more 
careful with the urns if I'd known what they said off the 
bat." 

Beowulf asks, "I don't suppose you'd know a good teacher?" 

Anno says, "Anthy's fairly good with Sidar runes.  I think 
some of the professors at Panopticon are as well." 

Beowulf nods. "Yes... I'd hate to bother grandmother, but if 
she has the time she'd be a good choice." 

He says, "I suppose the real question will be when you'll have 
the time for it." 

Beowulf nods. "Yes... we could always find a fast-time shadow, 
I suppose. About how long does it take to learn Sidar?" 

Anno says, "Like any language, it takes several years to get 
very good at it." 

Rod has disconnected. 

Rod has connected. 

Beowulf nods. "Indeed. It would have to be a very fast-time 
shadow, then." He smiles. 

Lian hms. "Think she'd take two students? The dictionary is 
useful, but rather timeconsuming in its use." 

Anno says, "You'd have to ask her." 

Beowulf looks at the Gaerthos document. "Three dozen shadows, 
it draws on for power... my. I had wondered about the chance 
of closing off its sources of power, at least temporarily, but 
three dozen is quite a few to try and control." 

Anno nods.  "It would be quite a challenge." 

Beowulf asks, "Although I do wonder what might happen if you 
visited one of those shadows and sent just the right pulse of 
power into the spikard... would it disrupt it or cause it to 
lose control?" 

Anno says, "Spikards are designed to screen out power fluxes." 

Lian asks, "Say ... how does the power transfer work?" 

Beowulf says, "Ah. Pity, that." 

Anno launches into a long technical discourse, which might as 
well be in Neo-Croatian. 

Beowulf says, "Though perhaps not quite such a pity if you 
actually have one yourself." He smiles. 

Lian listens anyway. One can try to make sense of it later. 

The one comprehensible thing out of it is that the principle 
of 'correspondence' seems to be at work; Spikards are powered 
by shadows which match the principles they embody. 

Lian nods slowly, thinking. 

This means each spikard in a given set has to embody something 
different. 

Beowulf is lost in thought for a moment. Would one of the 
shadows on the list happen to be Talislanta? 

Nope. 

Lian says, "Hmm ... interesting. Very interesting." 

Beowulf says, "It would be rather interesting to see a spikard 
that drew from Talislanta, or others in the Pythagorean 
Circle." 

Anno nods.  "Would be suitable to a spikard of Bending space." 

Beowulf says, "Yes. Not one of the traditional groups, but 
might be fun to come up with someday." 

Lian says, "Don't tempt me ..." 

Beowulf says, "Why not?" He grins. 

Lian grins back. "Because I might actually try to do it?" 

Beowulf says, "I say again: Why not?" He grins wider. 

Lian snickers. "Don't blame me though if I accidentally 
destroy the universe." 

Anno says, "I would be interested to see such a thing." 

Lian says, "I already have a few ideas, actually ... I just 
need to experiment a bit more regarding shadow linkage." 

Beowulf says, "Well, if we get to the point where we have 
enough time to make one, I'd be happy to drop by and show 
you." 

Anno nods.  "That would be good." 

Beowulf tries to collect his thoughts. 

Beowulf asks, "Is there any suggestions you could make for 
getting Ramon and Morgan back?" 

Anno says, "I believe Hiko will soon recover her daughter.  As 
for Ramon..." 

Anno looks thoughtful.  "The head of House Darios is known to 
be very proud of his boat racing skills.  You could always 
challenge him to a race with Ramon as the prize.  Of course, 
then you'd have to put up something of equal value to forfeit 
if you lose." 

Lian looks less than enthusiastic at that. "How good is he at 
that boat racing business?" 

Anno says, "Well, it certainly wouldn't be easy, given House 
Darios are some of the best sailors in all of creation." 

He continues, "But it also provides a way to recover Ramon 
without need for violence." 

Beowulf says, "How friendly is House Jesby? They don't care 
for House Darios, and they might be willing to give a few 
pointers..." 

Anno says, "I'm sure House Jesby would jump at the chance to 
humiliate House Darios." 

Beowulf smiles. "Good, that may help." 

Lian asks, "What would they want for their help though?" 

Anno shrugs.  "No clue.  You'd have to ask and find out." 

Beowulf asks, "Who would the best person to talk to be?" 

Anno says, "You should probably visit their house here at the 
Courts and see about an appointment to see someone in their 
hiearchy." 

Anthy says, "OOC It's 2 am.  We'd best stop, finish this convo 
next time." 

Lian OOC nods. x.x 

Beowulf says, "OOC Ayup. <Sigh>"