Date sent: Thu, 06 Dec 2001 00:48:09 -0600 From: Travis Butler Subject: [UnS] The Passing of Moriya To: Alan Harnum , RPM - acct 3/5 , Ranma al'Thor , MercutioV@aol.com 11/20/01 Akemi pages, "You gonna be around very long? Drew wanted to talk to Beowulf." to you. You page, "Can do that... will need to break sometime to start laundry at the hotel's guest laundromat, but should be available for quick breaks. :)" to Akemi. Akemi pages, "You wanna have that convo with Beowulf now, Drew?" to Shizumaru and you. Shizumaru pages, "If Travis is up for it." to Akemi and you. You page, "Like I told John, I'll have to break sometime to start laundry, but can run something short." to Akemi and Shizumaru. Shizumaru pages, "That works for me." to Akemi and you. Akemi pages, "Okay, both of you head into Skippy" to Shizumaru and you. Moriya OOCly says, "Okay, so I trump Beowulf, then." Beowulf takes the trump. "Hello, Moriya. What's up?" Moriya blinks, then smiles. "Ah. Wasn't sure I'd get through. You've finished with that fellow Mobius, then?" Beowulf nods. "And had a near-breakthrough by another Outsider, but fortunately a Logrus bomb sealed him out." Moriya says, "Er. Ah. Well, I'm glad it all turned out." He pauses. "I was wondering if you had a little time to help me on something. At least, I'd appreciate your advice." Beowulf says, "Certainly. I'd be happy to give advice; I was planning on trying to take out the battleship next, if Lucien hasn't done it by now, but if it's something time-critical I'd be happy to help you." Moriya nods. "Well. As you know...." He looks vaguely uncomfortable, but proceeds. "There are a few artifacts of power out there that I've been thinking of getting, for various reasons and possibilities. One of them is a Logrus jewel, apparently being held by a greater dragon of Chaos. To lure it out of its lair, though--since I don't want to fight it on its home turf--I'd need bait." Beowulf nods. "What did you have in mind?" Moriya says, "One thing that could serve as bait is a Logrusfoil that is currently residing in a museum in shadow. I'd like to procure it in a nonviolent manner, and you seem one of the more knowledgeable people when it comes to museums." Beowulf asks, "How long were you planning on using it?" Moriya hesitates. "Well, to be honest, I want to take it permanently. I'm not likely going to keep it, but eventually return it to the house of Chaos it belongs to. Where it should be. In other words, I'd be purchasing it, or trading something else for it." Beowulf nods slowly. "I see. What can you tell me about this museum?" Moriya shakes his head. "I don't know even that much, presently, another reason I wanted to call on you. Mitsune had the insight to remember that Panopticon University would be able to find which one it is, and your connections would be helpful in that." Beowulf nods. "Ah. I would need to know what the museum is like before I could suggest something to trade for the Logrusfoil... what information do you have at the moment?" Moriya chuckles nervously. "The one thing that I know is that it's in a shadow completely barred to Logrus. That's why it stood out to the Logrus when it told Jacqueline about this blade." Beowulf rubs his chin thoughtfully. "Which might make the Logrusfoil just an ordinary sword there? Hmmm." You page, "Would a shadow barred to Logrus make a Lfoil essentially just another sword?" to Akemi. Akemi pages, "Primal Blades work everywhere because they carry the power of their source inside them. However, you couldn't find such a blade with Logrus if it was in a Logrus barred shadow." to you. You page, "Ah." to Akemi. You page, "I'd probably need to check with my sources at Panopticon to see what they knew, then?" to Akemi. You page, "Probably should check in with them anyway and let them know Mobius is down. BTW, did I find any of the artifacts Mobius had stolen from the expedition teams?" to Akemi. Moriya shakes his head. "In the same way that a Pattern user with enough skill or time can reverse a bar on Pattern on a shadow he's in, I'm sure the Logrusfoil is still pretty powerful within that shadow." Moriya says, "So it might well be worth a lot still." Beowulf nods. "Yes, now that I think of it. In fact, it might be worth a bit more because of that." Moriya says, "Of course, the question is if the shadow it's in...well, whether or not its denizens know of the existence of shadow and such. If they're ignorant of the boundaries of their own universe, it would be pretty easy to convince them to let it go. If they're wise to the way of infinite shadow, though, it would take more doing." Beowulf nods. Akemi pages, "Pretty much everything he stole blew up in the palace" to you. Akemi pages, "Yep. You'd need to check with your sources" to you. You page, "Drat. :( Oh, well, they should at least be happy he won't be attacking them again." to Akemi. Beowulf says, "I'd probably need to check with my sources at Panopticon for any further information on the shadow, since it's not one I'm familiar with; I should go there anyway and let them know about Mobius, since he was attacking their expedition teams." Moriya nods. "When are you going? I'd like to head over with you then and get this plan rolling." Akemi pages, "Yep. A lot of the stuff, he'd already melted down or taken apart anyway." to you. You page, "What's left on cleaning up in Mobius' shadow? Hmm, if I'm going to keep it, we should probably give it a new name. :)" to Akemi. Beowulf thinks for a moment, trying to figure out how much clean-up he has to do in Mobius' wake. Akemi pages, "Well, properly cleaning up the shadow would probably take more time than you can really afford to invest right now, as it will likely take weeks to round up all of Mobius' henchmen, etc." to you. You page, "Hm. Would it be safe to leave most of it in the hands of the Mystery Men, now that he's gone? :)" to Akemi. You page, "Thinking mostly of dangerous stuff he might have left behind, like the artificial sun, that someone on an Amberite's level would be needed to deal with." to Akemi. Akemi pages, "Yep. Ahh, that's true. You might want to do something about the Artificial sun. Most of Mobius' other toys have all been blown up by Robosphinx landing on the Palace" to you. You page-pose, "The_Prof nods. Nothing much besides the sun?" to Akemi. Akemi pages, "Not that didn't blow up. And can find without searching the entire shadow. :)" to you. Beowulf says, "There's Mobius' artificial sun... which really needs to be disarmed with some care, since if it explodes it'll take out most of the Shadow. I think that's the major thing." Moriya says, "How long will that take? If you need help, I suppose I'm available." You page, "How long would it take to disarm the sun?" to Akemi. Beowulf asks, "OOC I suspect it wouldn't take very long to disarm the sun, and it's probably not something Moriya could help with, but I'm not sure -- John?" John says, "OOC Moriya could probably help with his sorcery, even though he's not an expert on high tech fusion devices :)" Beowulf says, "OOC Ahhh. :)" Beowulf asks, "OOC Want to pull Moriya through and fork briefly, then, and pick up in 10-15 minutes after I've started laundry?" John says, "OOC Sounds good" Moriya OOCly says, "I'll be grabbing Mitsune and Rimururu as well." John says, "OOC Righto." Beowulf nods. "You could probably help with the sun; hopefully it shouldn't take too long. Want me to pull you through?" Moriya says, "Ah. Sure thing. Would you mind if Mitsune and my mother came through as well?" Beowulf nods. "Not at all. I'm sure Lily would love to see her sister again, too." He smiles. "Are you ready now, or would you like a couple of minutes?" Moriya says, "Hold on a second; I'll get them now." Moriya maintains the trump and gets Mitsune and Rimururu, then has Beowulf pull everyone through. Beowulf bows in greetings. "Good to see you all again. The artificial sun is over this way..." Beowulf says, "OOC And fork here for a few moments? Anything we need to RP out about the sun? I admit I'd love to see the look on the three's faces when they see what the sun *is*... ^_^" John says, "OOC Okay, we pause." Beowulf says, "OOC back... will need to break again around 10." Moriya OOCly says, "I'll have to stop sooner, 'cos I need to do my shift turnover and all before heading home." Beowulf OOCly nods. The artificial sun turns out to be a huge sphere, hundreds of feet across, covered with tiny little jet holes from which its plasma would spill forth if it wasn't turned off. There's a large internal access hatch on one side. Beowulf thinks over the plans he saw in the library... what sounded like the best way to disarm it? And does Bey's 8 point scanner item pick up anything to be careful of when entering? The key thing is going to be shutting down all of the 530 microfusion reactors so that they can't be turned on, which is going to mean disconnecting them one by one from the central control device. With the sun shut down, getting inside is fairly easy. Beowulf nods. Any special tools or procedures needed to disconnect them? Beowulf says, "OOC Oh, and did anyone check out the ruins of the palace and make sure there weren't any shorts in the sun's controls? Might be worth turning on that jamming device we made up, just to be sure. From a safe distance. :)" The controls were basically blown to bits by Robosphinx You page, "Nothing left to send signals, then, just to make sure I'm understanding you correctly? :)" to Akemi. Akemi pages, "Exactly." to you. Following your directions, your crew of people soon start snipping wires. Beowulf snips wires with the rest, keeping an eye out for how the thing's reacting to the shutdown. It's a long tedious job, but with the thing turned off and you having proper equipment to study the situation, it's not very hard. Several hours later, the sun has been disarmed, though you now need to find a good way to dispose of 530 microfusion reactors, any of which could blow up a city. Beowulf says, "OOC Anything I can think of that could use the power? Or anyone? Wasyuu, Lian, Fuy and Anno are the folks who come to mind." John says, "Lian or Wasyuu might put them to good use." Beowulf says, "OOC In fact, if they're tech-based, taking them to Amber would probably safely inert them until they're ready for other uses." John exclaims, "Yep!" Beowulf says, "OOC I would check with Lian first, but since Chris isn't on, probably just take them to a safe spot in Amber for the moment." John exclaims, "OOC Righto!" You page, "Probably Fuy or Misato would be a good caretaker, right? :) Or see if Uncle Tylor will let me store them in the vaults." to Akemi. Beowulf smiles at the others. "Thanks for all of your help. Off to Panopticon, or does anyone want to be dropped off somewhere else?" You page, "Think Lian could make use of some of the 530 microfusion reactors we just removed from Mobius' artificial sun? :)" to Aerianne. Aerianne pages, "Ohhhhh, I'm sure she could get -some- use out of them, though she could likely make her own as well. *wg*" to you. You page, "Heh." to Aerianne. Akemi pages, "You probably should ask Misato (or Makoto, since he's castellan). Or maybe Fuyutsuki, but he might forget he had them :)" to you. You page, "Probably ask Makoto, then. Though we don't need to RP it, especially if Drew's running short on time." to Akemi. In a page-pose to you, Akemi nods You page, "Was wondering if Keitaro would have heard about Begma yet... if he hasn't, I'd expect he'd want to head by Panopticon, as he's also studying to enter, ne?" to Akemi. Akemi pages, "Hmm. Keitaro hasn't heard about Begma yet. Op. word is yet. :)" to you. Shinobu and Keitaro say, "We'll tag along for now." You page, "Yup. Yet. " to Akemi. John says, "OOC And I assume Drew needs to pause for his shiftchange and stuff." Beowulf nods. "Let's go, then." Beowulf asks, "OOC Righto. Drew?" Moriya OOCly says, "Yep. Heading home now." Moriya OOCly says, "We going to do any more tonight? I'm fine either way, if Travis needs to rest or something." Beowulf says, "OOC Will need to check the dryer in about 10 minutes, but probably good to go until 11:30 or so." John says, "OOC Alrightie, I'm ready." Moriya OOCly says, "Okay." Beowulf trumps the group to Panopticon. Hmmm... only data we had so far is that it's in a Logrus-barred Shadow? Moriya OOCly says, "Yes. The fact that it's in a museum was a little more than what the Logrus was able to tell Jacqui." John says, "OOC Yep. Logrus-barred, in a museum." Beowulf turns to Shinobu. "I don't suppose you still have your mouse? We could always hit the Panopticon library and pull the same trick with one of their Shadow atlases that you did to find Mobius' construct." Beowulf says, "OOC We could probably use another mouse, but this one has sentimental value. ^_^" Shinobu pulls out the fortunetelling mouse. "Alright, we can give him a shot." The fortunetelling mouse soon proves to have a knack for finding books on cheese. Lots and lots of cheese. Moriya looks at the mouse curiously, but says nothing. Shinobu sighs. "Looks like fortunetelling mice are too improbable in Panopticon." Beowulf shrugs. "Oh, well... it was worth a shot." Beowulf turns to Moriya. "In Mobius' shadow, she used Pattern to tweak the probabilities so that the 'fortunetelling mouse' actually gave real answers to our questions. Such as the construct's location." Moriya says, "Hm. Quite ingenious. Just not effective here, unfortunately." Keitaro says, "Well, I'd assume Panopticon probably has search engines and the like which could be similarly manipulated." Moriya tilts his head, and walks around a bit, to see if Pattern can give him a lead on 'the shadow where a true Logrusfoil resides in a museum'. Pattern gives you a direction to start walking. Beowulf nods. "The cataloging system here is quite extensive." He tweaks probabilities as he walks over to the nearest search terminal, so that 'books describing the shadows we want' pop to the top of teh search list. Moriya says, "Well, all else fails, I believe Pattern can track down where the Logrusfoil is. Assuming it isn't a trap laid for us." Moriya says, "First let's see what you can turn up here, though." Beowulf manipulates the catalog. The book '101 shadows to visit on a rainy day' pops up by itself. Beowulf goes to where it's supposed to be on the shelves, half expecting to find an empty spot where it should be. Beowulf says, "OOC AFK for a couple of minutes while I check the dryer." It proves to be written by a Mr. Kiat Rio-oh, who the author blurb indicates was from the shadow of Markane. The book is fairly long, devoting 6-8 pages to each of the shadows. And the GM pauses Beowulf OOCly returns. Beowulf skims the book, doing a first approximation winnowing for shadows barred to Logrus, or any other interesting characteristics. You page, "Oh, did you get the 'log' of the Mobius takedown all right?" to Aerianne. Looking through the book, you quickly find one of them, the Shadow of Partov. Partov is noted for its many museums, and the author notes that one of them had what he suspected was a Logrusblade or a shadow thereof. The shadow itself seemed to be barred to Logrus use, though not Trump or Broken Pattern, which he assumed was why no Chaosians had shown up. Aerianne pages, "Yup, got it and converted it jhust fine." to you. Beowulf nods, and shares the information with the others, then does a quick catalog search for books on Partov, tweaking probability again for best results. Further search reveals three other brief mentions, all of which note the Partovians are fanatical academics, who live in a no-magic, no-logrus shadow. They have thousands of museums, many of which are full of items of little use. (The world really doesn't need bellybutton lint museums.) Beowulf nods in interest... nothing particularly pointing to the location of the Logrusfoil? Next step... who on the faculty would have an area of expertise covering the shadow? None of the books pinpoint where in the shadow the Foil is, but if Pattern works to get in, you could probably shadow walk right ot the front door. Moriya OOCly says, "What does it say about the Partovian's knowledge of shadow and such?" You get the impression this shadow is so obscure, probably no one is going to know much about it. However, there are three professors who specialize in that region of shadow you could check with anyway. Beowulf asks, "OOC What other information do the books have on the shadow in general?" The Partovians are blissfully oblivious to the existence of shadow. Moriya OOCly says, "All righty." It's an early 21st century style world, full planet, normal science works there, fairly similiar to Shadow Earht except for the heavy academic inclination of the populace. Beowulf says, "OOC Any local customs we should be aware of, or attitudes they value that might be helpful in trading? Besides the fixation on museums? :)" The locals are human, the planet is fairly well balkanized, money economy, computer network communications. Think customs of academia; most people act as if they were university professors. Beowulf says, "OOC Might be helpful to get personal comments on the area from profs who've been in the region, then probably have to head there for a personal recon." John nods OOC. Going to make the rounds, then? Moriya lets Beowulf take the lead, as this is his home turf. Beowulf OOCly nods. And pass along the news about Mobius to the appropriate folks as he goes. You go talk to the professors. Two of them know nothing of it. Professor Z'chia however, tells you, "Oh yes, I've visited that shadow briefly. You have to be VERY careful. Otherwise, even asking for directions can spark off a five day long debate on how we can know that reality exists." Beowulf nods. "Sounds like a place folks here would enjoy," he comments, smiling a bit. "Some folks, anyway. The folks seem like pretty nice people?" Moriya OOCly says, "We still alive here?" John says, "OOC Sorry, got distracted by RL." Moriya OOCly says, "Okay." Beowulf OOCly nods... thought so... asked the prof what he thought of the people, aside from the arguing philosophy. :) He says, "They're decent enough folk, but fairly argumentative and fairly stubborn about their specialties." Moriya nods slowly, and finally speaks. "How would one best go about negotiating to acquire an item from them?" "Well, depends on the item, but usually money is acceptable." Moriya says, "Hmm, all right." Beowulf nods. "There's an item we suspect is in one of the museums there that we'd like to pick up... I was going to track down the museum first and see what else they collect before seeing what price or trade they might accept." He nods. "Yes. That would be a good idea. Depending on the historical significance, it may be difficult to convince them to sell, though." Beowulf says, "Exactly. Which is why finding something sufficiently attractive to trade to them is what I'm leaning towards, though that will depend on who exactly has it. " He nods. "Well, in shadow, most things can be found easily." Moriya says, "We can search specifically for 'the item that would be an acceptable trade for the Logrusfoil'." Beowulf says, "Indeed." Beowulf OOCly facepalms, as he'd been trying to keep 'Logrusfoil' out of the conversation. Moriya OOCly says, "Whoops. :>" Beowulf asks, "OOC Did prof Z'chia have any expeditions that were caught in Mobius' raids?" John says, "OOC Nope. He doesn't do Pre-Logrus work." Beowulf says, "OOC Oh, well; so much for giving him a reason to be personally grateful to us. ^_-;;" Beowulf sees if there's anything else Z'chia might know about the shadow, including the best/fastest way to get there, before bidding him farewell. Moriya OOCly says, "I'm thinking of walking the Pattern and teleporting there, actually. Want to make this happen quickly." Beowulf OOCly nods. That works too. John says, "OOC He says the easiest way to get there is to just shadow walk from Panopticon. It's about a week away, or a day by hellriding" Beowulf says, "OOC Oh, and any interesting comments from folks when they find what happens to Mobius? Bey's sure to apologize to folks who lost items when the palace was destroyed." John says, "OOC You get a lot of Thank yous from folk who had their projects wrecked." Beowulf OOCly nods. Always good to build up goodwill. :) Beowulf bids Z'chia farewell and wishes him well. Any other interesting news bubbling around Panopticon before we set off? Professor Amberson has completed what he claims will be a fully functional Abyss Diving Vessel. Most people are still wondering how he survived the first four being destroyed. Beowulf makes a note of the information for later reference, since he might find the abyss info useful going up against the battleship. Professor Idiane has announced he finally has conclusive proof the entire universe is just a big old hunk of pie. And Professor Harlane is rounding people up for the annual expedition to the Sidar Mill. Moriya OOCly says, "..." Beowulf OOCly groans. :) You page, "Would Bey know what the Sidar Mill is? :)" to Akemi. You page, "Aside from a bad pun? :)" to Akemi. Akemi pages, "Yes. It's a place with an odd device which causes those who visit to relive their lives as if they were some of the other people on the expedition. A very strange experience." to you. Moriya OOCly says, "Should we pause here?" John says, "OOC I assume we should pause here if Travis wants sleep." Beowulf says, "One of these days, it might be interesting to visit the Sidar Mill..." He turns to the others. "Essentially, the visitors get to relive the lives of one of the other people in the expedition." Moriya blinks. "Hm. Interesting." Beowulf OOCly nods... this seems like a pretty good breakpoint. Though we've probably got enough info for Drew to go on with this, if he doesn't want to wait for my next playing shot? Keitaro says, "That seems like a pretty potentially messy thing." Moriya OOCly says, "I'd like to have all the help I can get, actually. :) Although moreso for the dragon than acquiring the Logrusfoil, I suppose." Beowulf says, "I imagine it could be. It all depends on who you're going there with." Beowulf says, "OOC Ahhh. :) Dragon? o.o" Moriya OOCly says, "I definitely don't want to face a Chaos dragon with just myself, Rimururu, and Mitsune." Moriya OOCly says, "The thing guarding the Logrus jewel that's the eventual prize of this little quest." Beowulf says, "OOC Ah. I don't believe Bey's got the news about the dragon IC." Moriya OOCly says, "Um, yes, I mentioned the Logrus jewel and the dragon as a leadup to the Logrusfoil. Needing bait and all." Beowulf asks, "OOC Hmmm... since Chris is on, is Lian in sync enough for Bey to quickly trump her and offer her some microfusion engines?" Beowulf says, "OOC Oh... I must have skimmed past that part. See it now." John says, "OOC No, she's 3 days ahead of you" Beowulf says, "OOC Drat. :(" John says, "At this point in time, she was on Dragonback on her way to Cathuria" You page, "Want a few microfusion engines? I've only got about 530 to spare at the moment. :)" to Chris. Chris pages, "We can always use microfusion engines. I'm currently upgrading my Borg anyway." to you. You page, "Finished disassembling Mobius' artificial sun, wound up with 530 microfusion engines each capable of destroying a city. :)" to Chris. Chris pages, "Whee. Just the thing to use as tertiary power systems for the Black Moon. :)" to you. Moriya OOCly cuts logging here, then. You page, "Heh. :) Imagining 530 of them in one item tells you why we were so careful in our 'blow up construct' mission. :)" to Chris. Chris pages, "Ayup. That's planet go boom level." to you. You page, "Anope. That's *Shadow* go boom level." to Chris. You page, "Or at least the majority of it." to Chris. Moriya OOCly says, "Sunday's probably the best bet, though Thursday is a possibility." Chris pages, "Nah. Shadows are too big to go boom from that. A planet, though, or maybe half a system ... depends on how close together they are. Spread them out for max effect." to you. You page, "Well, John specifically said that if it exploded, it would take out most of the shadow." to Chris. Chris pages, "It depends on the shadow, I guess. If your shadow -is- just one planet ... if your shadow is a whole galaxy, though, I'd imagine it'll destroy a lot less." to you. You page, "Well, the relevant point is that it's big enough to take out most of everything worth anything there. :)" to Chris. Chris pages, "And now you have it all. ;)" to you. You page, "Well, sort of. :) Right now, they're stored safely in Amber, since tech doesn't work there. :)" to Chris. You page, "Was going to offer 'em to Lian first, Washu second... not sure who else uses lots of tech stuff." to Chris. Chris pages, "Lian is currently somewhat difficult to reach, due to being in Chaos." to you. You page, "John's already said you're too far ahead to contact now." to Chris. You page, "Wish I knew what you were doing ICly... while Moriya and I were at Panopticon, we heard about a professor who just finished developing what he claims is a working Abyss diving craft." to Chris. Chris pages, "Wah. I hope Moriya remembers that, as I will likely contact him to help deal with Hendrake's reluctance to free Shizu.:)" to you. You page, "Hopefully. Though when you talk to Bey, he'll probably mention it; he took a few notes, because his next project is going to be going after the battleship." to Chris. You page, "And Abyss stuff might be helpful going up against it, since it uses an Abyss engine." to Chris. You page, "Bey's helping Moriya track down that Logrusfoil at the moment." to Chris. Chris pages, "That's why I'm about to recruit some Hendrake kids to hunt down some Abyss Monks. Eat their brains for Abyss knowledge, and use them to power an Abyss engine. >)" to you. You page, "Um... right. o.o" to Chris. Chris pages, "See my doing. ;) I'm going to see if I can come up with a variation on certain spelljammer helms to use in the Abyss. (Powered by Abyss Monks can take on a whole new meaning there.)" to you. You page, "...yeesh." to Chris. Chris pages, "What? O:)" to you. You page, "I forsee much potential for disaster. o.o" to Chris. Chris pages, "There is always much potential for disaster. When has that ever stopped me? ;)" to you. You page, "Not often enough, apparently." to Chris. Chris pages, "Heh. Well, a lot of stuff depends on what I find out about the Abyss." to you. Chris pages, "And that in turn depends on me being able to convince my support staff to just maim them. Now THAT will be difficult." to you. You page, "Uh-huh." to Chris. You page, "Just remember, you'll have to worry about Abyss Pirates as well. Though if you're going to be capturing Monks, you could get their help; they hate the Monks, and vice versa. :)" to Chris. Chris pages, "Well, if there are any pirates around ... I'll likely need some valued cannonfodder/distraction/allies anyway." to you. 11/26/01 John says, "OOC Okay, let's rumble, Moriya and Beowulf. When last we played, y'all were at the library at Panopticon" Moriya OOCly says, "Yur." Beowulf OOCly nods. "Did some research on chaos dragons off-screen, as well... want me to summarize?" Moriya OOCly says, "Please." John says, "OOC Naah, hoard the info so you all die :)" Moriya OOCly beats John with a torpedo. Beowulf says, "OOC Remind me if I forget anything, John. ^_^ Basically, they have the following behavior cycle: 1. Hibernate/grow more powerful." Beowulf asks, "OOC 2. Go into 'feeding frenzy' raiding surroundings to get its energy levels back up. 3. Forage for its hoard. Was there a 4th, John?" Beowulf says, "OOC Safest time to go after one would be when it's in feeding frenzy, as it's less likely to be reacting intelligently." Moriya OOCly says, "If it's at that time we catch him, of course. We don't have much of a window of opportunity." Beowulf OOCly nods. Beowulf says, "OOC They tend to have at least some amount of control over their home shadow. All of them have some degree of Logrus powers, and very old/experienced ones can spit Primal Chaos... though they're very rare, and it's not terribly likely that we'll run into one." John says, "OOC 4 was a period of contemplation and magical/power experimentation." Beowulf says, "OOC Ah, right; that makes sense." Moriya OOCly says, "Anything else?" Beowulf says, "OOC Last thing I can remember is that they tend to have pretty eclectic hoards, with many odd and unique things, often with a fair amount of power." Akemi pages, "Also, that they often have 'control' of the shadow their hoard is in." to you. Moriya OOCly nods. You page, "Think I mentioned that they have some degree of control over their 'home' shadow." to Akemi. Akemi pages, "And that you can be fairly sure this isn't one of the most powerful dragons, because all the incredibly strong ones are well known." to you. Moriya OOCly says, "Anything else before we go to the museum?" Beowulf says, "OOC Clarifications: They often have control of the shadow where their hoard is. And we can be pretty sure this isn't one of the *most* powerful chaos dragons, because the strongest are all well known." Moriya OOCly says, "Right." Beowulf says, "OOC Time to scout out the museum, I'd say." Moriya OOCly says, "Let's go, then." Moriya OOCly says, "Walk the Pattern and port there, to save time." Beowulf OOCly nods, and will walk the Pattern and trump everyone else through once he gets there. You page, "As it'd be logical for Bey to do it now, since he's got the highest Endurance. Hmmm, with what he's got now, how tired does he feel after a Patternwalk?" to Akemi. Akemi pages, "You are somewhat tired, but not debilitatingly so." to you. You page, "Ah, so." to Akemi. John asks, "OOC Okay, so the plan is to trump to Amber, Beo walks the Pattern, then teleports to the blade and trumps everyone else in?" Moriya OOCly says, "Well, I'd suggest to a place in the shadow where they wouldn't be noticed appearing, which is close to the museum." Beowulf says, "OOC Going to try teleporting to a safe spot in the shadow where the blade lies, not teleporting directly to the blade. ^_^" John says, "OOC Okay, so you're going to go to a safe spot in the shadow where the blade lies." Moriya OOCly says, "Yur." Beowulf OOCly nods. Safe, including 'won't be noticed.' :) John says, "OOC Okay, gimme the precise phrasing." Beowulf says, "OOC Teleporting to 'A safe spot in the shadow where the Logrusfoil we're looking for lies, where no one will notice himself or the others arriving." Beowulf asks, "OOC That sound OK?" John says, "OOC 'Tis fine with me." John asks, "OOC Okay, we going to go with that, then?" Moriya OOCly says, "Maybe name the shadow as well." Beowulf asks, "OOC Would that make much of a difference?" John says, "OOC saying 'The shadow where the Logrusfoil we're looking for lies' identifies the shadow pretty precisely" Moriya OOCly shrugs. Just me being paranoid. :) John says, "OOC It also covers things in case someone's already nicked it :)" Moriya OOCly says, "That's true. :P Okay, we'll try it." Beowulf walks the Pattern. Beowulf phrases his request. Beowulf goes poof. Beowulf, go into Skippy. You page, "Uh-oh. :)" to Akemi. You land next to a large pile of rocks in some very dry countryside. Fish frolic in a stream nearby, and the hot sun beats down on you. A few dozen feet away, a snake lies curled on a rock, sunning himself. Beowulf looks around to measure the surroundings, then checks his watch to see what's active here. Your watch begins to spin wildly. It indicates that 'Yrok sldiu sid!' Beowulf shuts the watch. Any sense of immediate danger? You sense no danger, since you aren't a rat, and therefore the snake has little interest in you. And the water means you can't die of thirst, not that you'll get thirsty too soon, though it is rather hot. Beowulf asks, "OOC Given that I made it, what's the most likely reason I can think of for the watch's malfunction?" Perhaps something is protecting the shadow from its scanning abilities. The watch continues to spew nonsense words on its screen. Beowulf says, "OOC Hmmm. It doesn't actually *scan*, it tries to use various powers to perform various functions. Like Trump for synching with Amber time, or magic to make the dial glow." Beowulf says, "OOC So it doesn't actively try and measure the surroundings; you deduce what they are by what works and doesn't work." Beowulf asks, "OOC So presumably the complete gibberish means something's actively jamming it?" Could be. Or it could be that the powers it depends on to be able to try to test powers are dysfunctional. Beowulf asks, "OOC Hm. Would that be conjuration, or magic in general?" Could be either. Beowulf asks, "OOC From what I know of Patternsight, are there any notable risks to using it?" The only risk is if the shadow is rigged to attack people who use it. You page, "Being as it's a new power for me... any notable cautions I was told about when I learned it?" to Akemi. Akemi pages, "Pretty much just that someone could rig a shadow to attack you if you used it. For the most part, unless you're trying ot pass as not Amberite, it's safe." to you. You page, "Righto. And from what I remember, didn't the description of the museum shadow say that magic as well as Logrus were blocked there?" to Akemi. Akemi pages, "Yes, it did" to you. Beowulf Patternsights the shadow to see what's active. Nothing works here except Broken Pattern and Pattern. Both work for getting in and out of the shadow only at a location that is somewhere you aren't at the moment, though you can do other things with them. As you concentrate, you hear the river starting to flow faster. Also, the shadow seems rather infused with Logrusy goodness, as if a Logrus wielder had heavily molded the shadow, then locked out all other logrus users. Beowulf relaxes his concentration and moves somewhat away from the river. The river begins to rise up, forming itself into a miles-long serpent. Beowulf says, "OOC Does the river slow down when I relax... oh. o.O" Your watch insists, "Cast in the Name of God, Ye Not Guilty." Beowulf asks, "OOC Any sense of threat from the serpent, or merely watchfulness?" You hear it bellow, "DEATH TO THE WHITE MAN!" Beowulf says, "OOC Uh-oh." Beowulf asks, "OOC Tactical evaluation of the situation?" It turns and glares at you. You estimate that you could be in serious trouble. A flamethrower would be very handy right now, or some way to fly. Beowulf asks, "OOC Does my link to the bag work?" If you flee across the desert, there's some chance that the sands of the desert might drink it right up. You try reaching into your bag and find only a normal, empty bag. Beowulf asks, "OOC Am I wearing enough clothing to do at least a limited parasail from the top of the pile of rocks, out into the desert?" Beowulf asks, "OOC Or would it be faster to run?" You page, "...wonderful idea to pattern teleport. x.x" to Shizumaru. Shizumaru pages, "Uh-oh. c.C" to you. You page, "Uh-huh." to Shizumaru. Ooh, what a funky idea. Hmm, given your skills and your mad Warfare, I will let you get away with that because it's such a cool idea. Beowulf runs up the rocks, tying-off appropriate clothing to make the best sail he can, and jumps off the pile to go parasailing out into the desert. Beowulf says, "OOC This probably is the kind of thing covered by Pulp Acrobatics, after all. :)" You begin to sail off across the desert as the snake chases after you. Then you begin to hear the sound of humvees in the distance as you continue sailing along. Beowulf asks, "OOC In which direction?" John asks, "OOC How high up do you want to try to get?" Off to your right. Beowulf asks, "OOC Hm. In a desert, there'd be thermals to help him maintain altitude, right? Normally I'd go for a fair amount of altitude to increase gliding time, but it sounds here like staying low and hard to spot would be better. Or would a tactical analysis suggest something different?" John says, "OOC Tactical Analysis says to get high enough the Serpent can't reach you. " Beowulf OOCly nods; does it appear to be shrinking at all in the desert? It seems to be slowly shrinking. Beowulf asks, "OOC Right... is the whole area desert? Or would turning away from the humvee sound take me out to an area where the Serpent might last longer?" You see desert to the horizons. You think turning away from the Humvees won't help the Serpent any. Beowulf asks, "OOC Tactical skills think there's the possibility that I'm being herded into a trap?" You think that's a possibility, though it's rather unlikely your foes anticipated you'd take to the skies. Beowulf asks, "OOC Right... Sounds like my best option is to bank away from the humvees, then? Anything I can do in the air to make myself less visible?" Unfortunately, there's not much, as you can't really function in clouds very well when parasailing, so trying to ascend to the clouds would mess you up more than it helps. OOC PRobably your best bet is to bank away from the Humvees and keep going until you find somewhere worth landing or avoiding Beowulf OOCly nods. Beowulf banks away from the Humvees, staying away from the serpent, and does the best he can to stay hard-to-spot while he runs. Shizumaru has arrived. You page, "Well, it's interesting, as you'll probably see in a moment. o.o" to Shizumaru. Shizumaru pages, "Great. o.o;" to you. There is a blink, and next to Beowulf (who has turned his clothing into a parasail and is flying along desperately), Moriya, Mitsune, Keitaro, Lily, and Shinobu appear. You're hundreds of feet up in the air. A giant serpent made of water some forty miles long is chasing Beowulf over a desert. And a flock of dozens and dozens of humvees are coming towards Beo from another angle. He's trying to fly to keep both threats behind him. Gravity now asserts itself over the newcomers. Moriya changes into flying demonform and catches Keitaro, trusting the others to shapeshift accordingly. Beowulf says, "OOC ...oh, crap. ;_;" Beowulf asks, "OOC They close enough for me to shout at them?" Good thinking. Lily, Shinobu, and Mitsune all sprout wings (in fact, Mitsune goes to Angel Form) The Humvees begin firing rockets wildly. Beowulf asks, "OOC Can I use Mork or the whip to try and ward rockets away from those less warfare-skilled, and still fly?" You can try using the whip, though your effectiveness with it will be reduced. ATM, the humvees are such extreme range they aren't likely to have much luck. Beowulf says, "OOC Right." You can see the humvees drawing closer. One of them seems to be piloted by a tall lanky fellow in shades, wearing a shirt that says 'Humbug'. Another is driven by a...blonde...Asian woman in her early twenties, wearing a 'University of Queensland' shirt. Many others seem to be driven by Crocodile Dundee clones, although one seems to be driven by a tall, thin dark-haired woman in a ninja outfit. Beowulf shouts, "Everything's turned off but Pattern and Broken Pattern, and something seems to watch for them... this was set off when I tried using Patternsight." Lily frowns. "Delightful." Beowulf OOCly groans and thwaps the GM. Welcome to Continent XXX. :p You hear the sound of jet fighters in the distance. Moriya curses, and shifts Ilvig into energy rifle form, and tests it out against the incoming rockets from the humvees. The energy rifle fails. Moriya changes it into assault rifle form and tests that. Beowulf shouts, "The whole shadow reeks of Logrus, though, like it was molded by a powerful Logrus user who turned it off after himself!" You discover it works but is unable to make its own ammunition. but a Humvee explodes and burns from your careful shooting as you discover this. Lily tries calling up the Logrus with no success. Moriya asks, "Right. What do you suggest?" Beowulf asks, "OOC Well, since things seem to be shot to hell already... can I feel what direction the Pattern 'exit' from the shadow is in?" Yes, you have a directional fix to it. Perhaps by the whims of fate, you're even headed in the right direction. Moriya OOCly says, "Yay Good Stuff. o.o" You page, "Any of the humvee crew look familiar to Bey ICly? As I suspect who some of 'em are OOCly. :p ^_^" to Akemi. Beowulf asks, "OOC What direction are the jet fighters coming from?" Akemi pages, "They aren't IC familiar." to you. The Jet fighters are coming from the direction the Humvees are coming from. But much faster. Keitaro tests a trump card. "Had to be sure. I think we need to find somewhere less exposed, as we're sitting ducks up here." Beowulf says, "OOC All right... best tactical estimate? Right now, the best thing I can think of OOCly is run like heck for the shadow exit, unless my fighting skills suggest that we actually stand a chance of beating both groups of attackers. o.o" Moriya goes over to join Beowulf, and indicates for the others to gather closer. "Shinobu, can you use your Pattern abilities to try to turn on magic while we continue running?" Moriya OOCly says, "By the way, if I try feeling for a directional pull for the Logrusfoil (or the shadow that the Logrusfoil is in), do I get an indication?" You might actually be better off at this point trying to fly down and overwhelm the Humvee drivers, as up close and personal, you can put your Mad Fighting Skillz to use. While up here, you're going to be shelled, unable to retaliate, and then the jet fighters will bake you. Not that you'll be much safer from the fighters with the Humvees, but at least you'll be able to arm yourselves with ammo. You do get a fix on the foil, and it's off in another direction. Shinobu says, "I'll try." Moriya OOCly says, "What about the shadow?" Moriya nods. "Don't start yet, though." Then he looks at Beowulf. "Do we continue to run, or fight?" You sense you're in the correct shadow. Moriya OOCly says, "Right." Beowulf says, "Right now, it looks like we've got the whole danged Shadow on our case, and we'd have to fight through the entire thing to get to the foil... at a severe disadvantage." As you think, the jet fighters roar past you, unleashing the first flight of missiles. Moriya curses. "Try it, Shinobu!" You page, "Ack. Any other way I can think of to try and back off and start this thing over peacefully?" to Akemi. Shinobu says, "I'm trying! I'm trying!" Akemi pages, "You have a feeling the shadow has been rigged to kill Pattern Users, and that you probably are going to need to get out of the shadow or successfully mold it somehow." to you. The missiles subtly all realign to come at Shinobu. You page, "And molding it under these conditions is going to be Very Hard, right?" to Akemi. Moriya fires at the missiles, conserving ammo carefully. Akemi pages, "Yep" to you. Beowulf tries to knock the missiles away with the whip as best he can. Moriya blinks, and starts flying in a slightly different direction. "Keep it up, Shinobu! I'll try to split their attention!" He now starts trying to mold shadow as well, moving away from the others. Beowulf exclaims, "This place has been rigged to kill Pattern users! I think we need to get OUT and regroup!" With your mad skillz, you manage to block the first wave of missiles. The Jet fighters are now circling round for wave two, and you hear the sound of more of them approaching. Lily says, "Getting out's a little easier said than done!" You page, "Best way I can think of to retreat to the spot where we can exit?" to Akemi. Moriya OOCly says, "Does it look like we're going to have to beat these people off in order to get past them all?" Akemi pages, "You need a fast vehicle. Otherwise, planes are going to keep coming at you." to you. You page, "Will doing the Pattern use and trying to split targets help?" to Akemi. Akemi pages, "It might, but it may just end up making the Pattern users more vulnerable." to you. It looks like the planes are going to keep coming until they run out of missiles or run out of you. You page, "Hmmm. How much Mad Skillz would it take to try and land on one of the fighters' cockpits and take it over, towing the rest along?" to Akemi. You page, "The rest of the group, that is." to Akemi. Moriya OOCly says, "What do I think of my chances to bust my way into one of the planes, take control of it, and use it?" Beowulf says, "OOC Same thing I just asked John. >.<" John says, "OOC THe planes move at a factor of somewhere around 200 times your speed. You can try, but you stand a good chance of being rammed by the plane, which would be REAL BAD" You page, "Would the humvees be enough faster to help in this situation?" to Akemi. You page, "Getting to the exit, not trying to take over a plane? ^_^" to Akemi. Akemi pages, "The humvees can't outrace the planes, but they're a lot faster than flying with wings." to you. Moriya OOCly says, "Okay. Better chance of busting up some humvees and taking their ammo to fight off the planes, then?" Beowulf OOCly tries to keep Snickers away from his dinner. John says, "OOC Yes, you think so." Beowulf says, "OOC And use the humvees to make our break, as they're faster than we are flying." Moriya OOCly says, "Will suggest the plan, then, and move to put it into motion." Beowulf OOCly nods, and gets ready to do the same. You dive down towards the humvees, dodging bullets desperately. Lily, Keitaro, and Mitsune all get clipped a time or two, while Moriya, Shinobu, and Beowulf have no trouble dodging bullets. You hear the roar of bombers in the distance as you plunge into the midst of the Humvees and proceed to beat the inhabitants into the ground. Is anyone going to try to block any incoming missiles while the others work on the Humvee drivers? Beowulf says, "OOC Yup, unless the others look like they need the help too badly." Moriya will, after grabbing some more ammo. Beowulf asks, "OOC Hm, at our level, how well should we be able to read each other's moves and coordinate our actions?" Moriya and Beowulf fend off more missiles. You can now see a flight of bombers approaching, Shinobu and the others finish off the Humvee drivers. And yet more fighters are coming. Beowulf asks, "OOC Any anti-aircraft weapons in the humvees, while we drive like hell for the exit?" Moriya says, "Beowulf, you and I will try to take out approaching planes. Grab al the rockets and such that we can. Someone else will have to drive us." Yes, there are some anti-aircraft weaponry. Beowulf nods, and does the best grab-and-go he can. Shinobu drive, perhaps? Moriya OOCly says, "I suggest taking at least two humvees." Beowulf says, "OOC Would multiply the targets, but also risk someone getting left behind." Beowulf asks, "OOC And do we have a fourth pattern user to drive the second humvee to the exit?" John says, "OOC People with Pattern: Shinobu, Moriya, Beowulf. People with Broken Pattern: Keitaro. People up a Creek: Lily, Mitsune" Beowulf asks, "OOC Six people would fit fine in a humvee... do I tactically think splitting the targets would be worth the additional risk?" John says, "OOC Well, it means that you can't all be crushed bya single bomb if you spread out enough in two" John says, "OOC On the other hand, it's easier to keep the missiles off your craft if you're all in one." Beowulf asks, "OOC And in some ways, it'd actually be easier to shoot away bombs than missiles, right?" Moriya OOCly says, "Hm. I think it'd be better to take our chances in one Humvee. Beowulf and Moriya working together to keep missiles and bombs off us should work well." Beowulf OOCly nods. Actually, you fear bombs are more likely to go off regardless of what you do. ^^;; John says, "OOC Basically, you have a trade off between better bomb defense if you split up, and better missile defense if you don't." Moriya OOCly says, "John, would our combined warfare be good enough to shoot bombs just as they drop from the bays, blowing up the bombers in such a way that the debris scatters around us harmlessly? :)" Moriya OOCly says, "Anyway, I have to pause now." Beowulf OOCly nods, and should hit the restroom himself. Long pause, or short? John says, "OOC Even with your mad warfare, you're going to have a hard time shooting a bomb before it gets too far away from the plane to destroy it; better in that case to shoot the bombers directly with what Anti-plane weapons you have." John says, "OOC Long, as I assume Drew goes home from work now." Beowulf says, "OOC Ay. Wans't sure if it was *that* time yet. o.o Right, then." You page, "...well, you did warn me, twice." to Akemi. In a page-pose to you, Akemi nods You page, "I just thought the chances of it being set to deliberately trap Pattern users were low enough that it was worth the risk to see what I was facing. o.O I'm trying to think if there was any way to get out of this otherwise." to Akemi. Moriya OOCly says, "Crap. I was hoping for this to be a little easier. c.c" Beowulf says, "OOC Yah. o.o" Akemi pages, "You should have asked yourself why this logrus foil was still in this museum when you had such an easy time finding out about it." to you. Moriya OOCly says, "It's the right shadow, but they aren't argumentative academics." John says, "This is a left over plot thread from TAMD" You page, "...yup. o.o And Pattern-teleporting in there just made things worse." to Akemi. John says, "Except it never came up there." Beowulf OOCly nods. Ahhhh. Moriya OOCly says, "Oh." John says, "One of about two dozen things which never showed up in TAMD because no one did the right things or went the right places." Moriya OOCly says, "Okay, I'm off." Beowulf OOCly waits, nibbling his fingernails. You page, "Maybe I should have let Drew make the Pattern teleport. Though I wonder if he would have reacted any better than I did? " to Akemi. Akemi pages, "He would likely have made exactly the same mistakes, except that he couldn't have made the Parasail" to you. You page, "Oh, well. Now we just have to worry about how to get out of it, as I think it's pretty clear we won't be able to get it on this run." to Akemi. Akemi pages, "It seems unlikely." to you. You page, "And it's an open question whether any of us involved in this run will be able to go back and try again, peacefully. Did the fellow at Panopticon say how he came to the shadow?" to Akemi. Akemi pages, "He shadow walked in and ended up in a major city near the minor city the museum was in" to you. You page, "Hm. We'll have to talk to him afterwards and confirm, but it also sounds like he didn't use any Broken Pattern while he was here. o.o" to Akemi. Akemi pages, "He used it to get in and out, but that was about it." to you. You page, "Well, we'll have to see how well Drew and I can get out of it. I've been trying to think if things would have been better if I'd tried to make it out by myself then they are now." to Akemi. Akemi pages, "It would probably just mean you'd get slaughtered by yourself. ^^;;" to you. Akemi pages, "As you'd be facing the same threats...alone." to you. You page, "Aieee. Oh, well... now I just have to worry about *everyone* getting slaughtered. " to Akemi. Moriya OOCly says, "Okay, I'm back." Beowulf OOCly nods. John says, "OOC Okay, y'all need to decide whether to split into two vehicles or just one." Beowulf OOCly recaps... we're about to run off in one or two Humvees, running straight for the exit, doing evasive patterns as necessary. Beowulf asks, "OOC I'd probably suggest one... as it'd be easier to defend against missiles, and hopefully the bombers would be bigger and slower enough that we could shoot them out of the air. Sound reasonable tactically?" Moriya OOCly says, "Yes." John says, "OOC That seems reasonable tactically." Moriya OOCly says, "One of us concentrates on taking out missiles, the other concentrates on the bombers once they draw into rocket range." Beowulf OOCly nods. Shinobu driving, probably, as that's IIRC a WF skill and we probably want as good an evasion as we can get. Beowulf says, "OOC Any other thoughts come to mind? If not... probably time to see if we can make it." You begin racing along. Your driver drives madly, enabling you to avoid some missiles. Beowulf and Moriya begin shooting down missiles and sniping bombers with their anti-aircraft weaponry. More planes keep coming. Fortunately, y'all massively outskill these people. You race along for several hours. You're now running low on ammo and you're still in the damn desert, and the air force keeps throwing in planes to die. Beowulf says, "OOC Now the worry is what's waiting for us at the only possible exit. o.o" Beowulf asks, "OOC We seem to be making any progress at all towards the exit?" OOC Unfortunately, Pattern cannot tell you how close you are, just that you're going the right way. On the other hand, you loaded up the Humvee with lots of gas cans, so at least you're in no danger of running out of gas. Beowulf asks, "OOC What kind of cover has there been in the desert?" Not much. The occassional rock outcropping, and there's lots of gulleys, but mostly it's fairly flat rocky desert. Great for driving, crappy for hiding. It does look like off to your left, the ground may start to rise towards highlands which would offer more cover, but also take you off the straight line to the exit. Beowulf asks, "OOC Hm. Based on what I know about shadow molding, would it be possible and/or likely to mold the shadow so that Pattern would point you at a false exit, or lead you around in circles?" OOC Yes, it is quite possible. John says, "OOC It's also possible this shadow is the size of the earth and the exit is on another continent." Moriya OOCly says, "Can one of us hold off the attack, while the other tries to use Pattern to manipulate the Shadow?" Beowulf asks, "OOC One thought I had is whether Broken Pattern sets off the same kind of reaction as pure Pattern does. Has Keitaro tried leading us to the way out yet, or testing his BP abilities?" John says, "OOC There's a strong risk of a bomb or missile getting through if one of you tries using Pattern. Keitaro has not really tried using his Broken Pattern" John says, "OOC Since normally, Broken Pattern is not as good as the real thing, so he deferred to y'all." Moriya OOCly says, "Ask him to give it a try, see if it indicates anything." He tries and gets the same directional fix as the rest of you with Pattern. Beowulf asks, "OOC How about if he tries to mold the shadow so that we can simply 'exit peacefully'? As opposed to doing anything offensive against the Powers That Be here?" John says, "OOC You have no idea what that will do." John says, "OOC HE is, however, willing to try." Moriya OOCly says, "If that fails, I suggest that we go for the cover, and stop using Pattern, in order to shake our pursuers." Beowulf says, "OOC Sound good to you, Drew? The one loophole I'd worry about is 'exit peacefully', as that peaceful exit might lead to the heart of a sun or something." Moriya OOCly nods. Beowulf says, "OOC Exit peacefully and safely, say." Beowulf asks, "OOC Has the pursuit seemed to slacken at all when we refrain from using Pattern?" John says, "OOC Just a reminder...Broken Pattern does have a tendency to find the most dangerous routes." John says, "OOC Nothing but killing the people seems to make them slack off." Moriya OOCly says, "I think we're going to have to get out of range of them in order to shake the ones chasing us, and stop using Pattern so that they can't find us again." Beowulf OOCly nods. "Reminder definitely noted. The issue I was trying to think of is whether BP angered/stirred up the locals as much as pure Pattern did, and whether that'd offset the normal dangers of using BP." John says, "OOC Well, the BP guy you talked to had no trouble with the locals." John says, "OOC but he didn't use BP inside the shadow particularly, either." Beowulf OOCly nods. Beowulf asks, "OOC From what we can see of the terrain and our running progress so far, is there much chance of being able to get out of range of them and hide in that terrain?" Moriya OOCly says, "Pause a moment." John says, "OOC It's rather hard to get out of range of jets. If you head for the highlands, you may be able to find some caves and other cover, but it'll take you off your track." Moriya OOCly says, "Ah, never mind." Moriya OOCly hmms. Beowulf says, "OOC Well, I'm pretty much fresh out of clever ideas at the moment, unless it turns out that BP isn't the problem Pattern is here." Moriya OOCly says, "Likewise." John says, "OOC Well, your best option from your tactical sense seems to be to make for the highlands, as you can hopefully get where you can't be bombed. As y'all can fight people on the ground a lot better than you can find endless parades of airplanes." Moriya OOCly nods. Beowulf OOCly nods. John says, "OOC Because soon, you're going to run out of ammo, and then you're likely going to be mowed down." Beowulf says, "OOC Let's make for the highlands, then." You make for the highlands, and manage to find some caves to take cover in. John says, "OOC And at this point, while you guys can hold out in the caves for a very long time, unless you come up with a good idea, I think you're stuck." John says, "OOC As I the GM am not sure of how you're going to get out of this, other than being rescued." Moriya OOCly says, "Frick." Beowulf OOCly hmms. Given that we have 8 pt. weapons, can we burrow through the rock at all in the direction of the exit? Moriya OOCly says, "It'll probably take forever." John says, "Yes. It's going to be damn slow, but yes." John says, "OOC You could spend some time going down deep, then slowly carving yourself a tunnel off to somewhere else, so that you could then hopefully head for the surface somewhere they won't expect you." Beowulf says, "OOC Hm. Given what we saw of the countryside as we came through, could we at least get far enough away from where we entered to... yah, something like that." John says, "OOC As it's very hard to find people who are deep underground at this tech level." John says, "OOC good thinking with the tunneling idea :)" Moriya OOCly says, "Can we also keep our sense of direction toward where the exit is without using Pattern while we dig?" John says, "OOC Not really." Moriya OOCly nods. Beowulf asks, "OOC How good is our sense of direction?" Beowulf says, "OOC As hopefully we could at least keep aimed in the right general vicinity. :)" John says, "OOC Good enough to keep digging in a straight line." Beowulf says, "OOC Better than nothing, I suppose. " Moriya OOCly says, "By the way, what's the timeflow here, relative to Amber?" Beowulf asks, "OOC Another thought... with my alchemical skills, is there anything that I could work with to soften up the rock and make digging go faster?" John says, "OOC The time flow is one to one, you were told. Yes, you can use your chemistry skills and juryrigging to whip up a crude chemical lab and make stuff which will speed things up somewhat." Beowulf asks, "OOC Every little bit helps. How about scrounging/kitbashing to make more effective digging tools out of what we've got?" You page, "Sigh... so much for peaceful intentions." to Shizumaru. Shizumaru pages, "Yeah." to you. OOC Okay. You can dig about ten miles a day. How many days do you want to invest in digging? Beowulf asks, "OOC From what we saw of the terrain, how far did the highlands stretch? IOW, what would moving 10 miles, 20 miles, etc. get us in the way of scenery change and/or good emergence locations?" John says, "OOC The highlands stretch for dozens of miles. You're probably going to want to dig at least 30-40 miles." Beowulf asks, "OOC Right... you want to go for 3 or 4 days, Drew?" Beowulf asks, "OOC Or more?" Moriya OOCly sighs. I didn't want to take this much bloody time, but that'll be what it takes, I guess. Moriya OOCly says, "On the other hand, I did tell Nanami, and she might be inclined to do something if she doesn't hear back from Moriya soon." Beowulf OOCly nods. "And it's possible someone else will notice and manage a rescue in that amount of time, but at least we'll be working on getting ourselves out if no one else does." Moriya OOCly says, "Exactly, I guess." John says, "OOC You think the more time you spend digging, the better off you'll be when you emerge as far as throwing off pursuit." Beowulf asks, "OOC How did you bring the rest of the crew with you, by the by? Trumped 'em to yourself and pattern teleported, or did you force a trump through to reach me?" John says, "OOC He p-teleported after trumping them to the center." Beowulf OOCly nods. Figured, but was still halfway hoping that he might have trumped. :) Beowulf asks, "OOC Any tactical feel for the best balance between spending time underground and speed getting us out?" Kuonji Ukyou says, "OOC: John must reboot." Beowulf OOCly nods. Spellvis falls asleep. Kuonji Ukyou says, "OOC: John says, basic trouble is that if you get spotted, you're back where you started, so you're better off digging a tunnel." Beowulf OOCly nods. Moriya OOCly says, "At least we were toward the back of the timeline when we started. Still on day 72 or so." Beowulf says, "OOC And hey... at least if it's on another continent, tunneling will get us under the ocean. ^_^ Of course, by that time the campaign will probably be over, so... ^^;;;;" Spellvis wakes up. John asks, "OOC Can someone grab out of their backscroll what exactly Moriya told Nanami?" Beowulf OOCly didn't see it. :( Moriya says, "Moriya says, "I'm all right, but there might be a problem." He quickly describes their plan, and what's happening with Beowulf. "I'm planning to walk the Pattern, trump our group into the center, and have us all teleport to where he is, in case he's in trouble."" Moriya says, "Nanami nods. "Alright. Good luck."" Moriya says, "Moriya says, "Thanks. Hopefully we won't need it. Just wanted to let you know in case we do, though."" Moriya says, "She nods. "A wise choice. Good luck, Moriya."" Moriya OOCly says, "Moriya would have told Nanami also what shadow they believed it to be in. Besides which, Moriya reviewed this briefly with Nanami before, when he told her about the Chaos dragon, and trying to lure it with the Logrusfoil." John now tries to decide how long Nanami would wait before worrying. Moriya OOCly points at his mega Good Stuff. o.o; John says, "OOC Yes, but Nanami does have some regards for your capabilities :)" Moriya OOCly whines. Beowulf OOCly shrugs and keeps plugging on as best he can. :) Good stuff or no. Moriya OOCly says, "Yeah, yeah. :>" Moriya OOCly says, "Well, we'd best dig for at least 3 days, then." John says, "OOC Hmm. I think Nanami would probably start to worry at around 4 days." Beowulf OOCly says, "I'd go for 4.... oh." John says, "OOC And that we'll need to stop with you guys still digging, because if one of the other PCs tries to contact you and fails, tha tmight motivate a rescue faster." Moriya OOCly grumbles. Beowulf OOCly nods and sighs. "Well, that's the way it goes." Moriya OOCly says, "Okay." John says, "OOC As it's that, or I have to cheat in some way to ensure no one comes looking for you before whatever point in time we stop you at." Moriya OOCly says, "Yeah, true." John says, "And it's probably best I not keep Travis up late since he has to work tomorrow anyway." Beowulf says, "OOC Although given what we went through so far, I'm a bit worried about what'll happen to anyone *else* who tries a rescue. o.o" Beowulf OOCly nods. Beowulf asks, "OOC So where was our biggest screwup so far? The p-teleport, my patternsight, or what?" John says, "The Pattern Teleport. You'd have been in much better shape if you'd shadow walked here, gotten to the entry point, studied the shadow, and worked from there, instead of being somewhere that was safe, but only if you didn't use Pattern." Beowulf OOCly nods and sighs. Moriya OOCly sighs. John says, "OOC The really big mistake wasn't asking yourself why, if the shadow looked as easy to deal with as it did, somene else hadn't found this thing by now." John says, "I mean, the mistake was not asking yourself." John says, "Sending Beowulf ahead by himself instead of all of you trumping to the center and then riding out with him was another." John says, "As it would have caused no more exhaustion than what you tried to do, but as it stood, Moriya had to end up wearing himself down some in order to come after you." John says, "Setting a definite 'Come find me if I am gone beyond X days' would have been a good thing to tell Nanami." Beowulf nods. "I'd hoped going in peacefully and wanting to trade for it would defuse potential hostilities, but I wasn't counting on it being that hostile from the get-go." John says, "Still, you're doing better than Chris in his last venture. ^^;;;" Moriya says, "I imagine so." Beowulf says, "Um... right. " Moriya idles. You page, "And at least we're not *completely* stuck waiting for a rescue. :) Maybe it's not all that effective, but at least I feel like we're doing *something* to help ourselves." to Akemi. Akemi pages, "Yeah, the tunneling idea was really good." to you. You page, "Glad I did *something* right. :)" to Akemi. 12/02/01 Okay, you spend several days tunneling. Once you come to the surface, how are you going to go about finding your way out of here? You come up at what you think is the northern edge of the highlands. There's no particular evidence of anyone searching for you, so you assume your bluff with the blood creatures worked. Beowulf asks, "OOC What direction was our last PatternFix, before we went into the highlands?" Or else they've moved on to look elsewhere. Moriya OOCly says, "Disguise ourselves with shapeshifting, just to be sure." Beowulf OOCly nods. John says, "OOC Your last fix was northeast." John says, "OOC Keep in mind that only three of you have enough shapeshifting to disguise themselves, and noen of you have Shapeshift other." Moriya OOCly says, "Mitsune does." Moriya OOCly says, "Unless all those times she's shapeshifted me was some sort of GM brainfart. :)" John says, "OOC Mitsune has Shapeshifting magic." John says, "OOC But Magic doesn't work here." John says, "OOC WIthout it, she can't shift other people." Beowulf OOCly... oh. For some reason, I thought it was shapeshift other. Moriya OOCly says, "Huh. I thought she did." Beowulf OOCly hmmms, and sees what his alchemical and kitbashing skills can do to come up with a disguise kit. :) John says, "OOC Davros does, but he's not handy :)" You can whip up decent mundane disguises with your mad skillz, though. Beowulf grins slightly at the group. "Kinda wish we had a working camera here, but oh well." John says, "OOC Hmm, actually, we'd better move this to Skippy" Moriya OOCly says, "Oh, okay." Beowulf asks, "OOC All right... are we currently up high enough to get a decent view off to the northeast?" Looking northeast, you can see desert for a long ways which gradually seems to turn into dry grasslands. There's a dinky ass town that direction, near the fringe of the desert, perhaps some 30 miles away from you. Beowulf hmms and turns to the others, after looking northeast. "I'd suggest we head for that town. Call me crazy, but I doubt the only exit to this place is going to be in a completely deserted area." Moriya nods slowly. "If nothing else, we can get some supplies and try to find some information." You page, "Also, what's my tactical sense think of the idea that they might be waiting in ambush for us at the nearest exit?" to Akemi. You page, "Er, at the only exit?" to Akemi. Beowulf asks, "OOC Also, is there any kind of identifying information in the humvee?" Beowulf asks, "OOC Logbooks, vehicle registration papers, or the like?" Akemi pages, "You think that's probably pretty likely." to you. You were not able to take the Humvee down into the caverns with you. Beowulf says, "OOC Argh... wish you'd mentioned that earlier. Oh, well." John says, "OOC Dude, natural caverns are not the sort of place you can generally drive large military vehicles into. ^^;;;" Beowulf says, "OOC Hey, it's only about 10-12' across, and many caverns are bigger than that. :)" You take off across the desert after stocking up on water. Beowulf says, "I suspect they're probably going to be waiting in ambush for us at the only exit to the shadow, given that it is the only exit." You spend two days walking across the desert at night. What sort of story are you going to feed the locals? Beowulf says, "That means we'll have to be careful when we approach likely spots, but we might also be able to use that to help us find the place." Beowulf asks, "OOC That's what I wanted the ID info from the humvee for. :) Hmmm... could we tell anything in general from our brief encounter with the humvee brigade? Look like a university expedition, or anything like that?" Beowulf says, "OOC Probably some variation on lost in the desert -- we probably look ragged enough for that by now -- but trying to figure out how we would have gotten there." Moriya OOCly says, "Beg it off as something really embarassing that we'd rather not talk about." You page, "Hm. I would expect Bey's been in first contact situations before in his expeditions... what's he found that tends to work best? And what would his Savoir-Faire notable skill suggest?" to Akemi. Akemi pages, "You probably should pose as foreign tourists who got caught in the military hunt for the terrorists and lost your vehicles, wallets, etc." to you. Akemi pages, "As it's about the only plausible explanation for you wandering out of the desert with nothing but your clothing" to you. John says, "OOC From what you saw of the vehicle, you seem to have been attacked by the Canberran Army, whatever that is." Akemi pages, "And given the amount of damage done by the hunt for you, it's pretty plausible you were just poor trapped innocent bystanders." to you. Beowulf says, "We should probably try to pass ourselves off as foreign tourists who got caught in the battle and lost all our equipment --" Beowulf says, "--it's about the only plausible explanation, and given the amount of damage that happened in the hunt, well..." He looks a bit sheepish. Keitaro says, "We're going to need to think of a way to get money, as it's likely going to be hard to get around without any." Moriya says, "Unfortunately, using Pattern to uncover chests of gold may be hazardous to our health." Keitaro sighs. "I know. I hate to mug people, but..." Moriya says, "Perhaps there are some bounties on wild animals or something around." Moriya says, "This looks like ranching territory. If something's preying on livestock, they might offer rewards for taking predators down." Beowulf nods. "Right. I suspect we'll be running on charity for a while, or working our passages." Lily says, "Mitsune can always make us some predators to take down if she has to." Mitsune says, "I could always try posing as an Archangel and try to awe them with my divine aura." Keitaro says, "And of course, that worked so well the last time." Moriya says, "It's probably better not to attract attention like that, Mitsune." Mitsune says, "I suppose not." Beowulf nods to Lily. "That probably would work best... it's more plausible than finding valuable minerals in the desert, at least." He smiles a little. You head into the town, where with your superior psyches, you're able to get the locals to overlook any holes in your story. You're able to find out you're in the province of Darwin in the nation of Canberra, a huge island nation in the southern hemisphere of this planet, which Beowulf can identify as roughly similiar to Shadow Earth in geography. Apparently, there was a massive hunt recently for the notorious terrorist Beowulf ben Tenjou and his band of terrorists in the desert nearby; the government reported success in reducing him to a pile of ash. Beowulf OOCly facepalms. Moriya OOCly snickers. Though the hunt continues for other members of the Al-Ambar terrorist network. Beowulf shudders a bit at the thought. "What's the best way to avoid running into the terrorists? They've caused us enough trouble already." "They say you can recognize them by their bad hair and the foul smell they give off. And they like Pepsi and Mustard." Beowulf nods. "Where were they last seen? *Outside* of the battle we just got caught in?" The town is a small ranching town; a lot of the local labor got blown up in the recent fighting, so there's a lot of ranchhand jobs available. "Oh, they like to crash planes into buildings, so if you avoid large towns, you're generally safe. I understand it's rather like lemmings." Beowulf nods at the job listing. Anything a bit less, ah, permanent or more lucrative, as we're just trying to earn enough to get home? The town really isn't much of a place to find lucrative work, though if you work a bit, you can get enough money to pay someone to drive you to a larger town where your chances would be better. Beowulf OOCly nods. Well, I suppose it's better than dishwashing... John says, "OOC Trust me, I've done dishwashing. Being thrown from the top of the Empire State every day would be an improvement." Beowulf OOCly grins. You spend a while working as ranch hands, hunting predators, herding sheep, and generally 'enjoying' the rural lifestyle. Given your competences, they're all very, very sorry to see you all go. After a few weeks, you get a ride down to Darwin itself, a port city home to about a million people. Beowulf OOCly grins. Hey, at least we get to 'relax' for a while and work away our troubles... :) Moriya OOCly says, "Weeks? Hell. What's the timeflow here?" You've noted that the cultural stuff you were told about this shadow does seem to have been pretty accurate, except for leaving out the 'People with Pattern get hunted' thing. John says, "OOC You don't know what the timeflow is." Moriya OOCly says, "Boy, I hope it's considerably faster than Amber. -.-" John says, "OOC On the other hand, you'd have expected the universe to die by now if it wasn't at least somewhat faster." Moriya OOCly says, "That is true. c.c" Beowulf OOCly nods. Darwin is home to about a million people. With a little effort, you're easily able to find the black market and get fake identification. Beowulf asks, "OOC All right, then... where did the Panoptiocon professor mention he'd come in? Or did he give enough info about what he saw for us to deduce it?" John says, "OOC He said he arrived in a place called 'Cheyanne City' in the state of 'Cheyanne' in a country called 'The North American Confederation'" Moriya OOCly says, "And he had to depart from the same place?" John says, "OOC And he left from the same place." Moriya OOCly says, "Where did he say the Logrusfoil was?" Beowulf says, "OOC I don't think he mentioned the Logrusfoil, though I could be misremembering." John says, "OOC The Logrus Foil was in a town about forty miles west of it called 'Douglas City'" Moriya OOCly says, "Right." Moriya OOCly says, "Let's get to Cheyanne City, first." John says, "OOC Cheyanne City is in roughly the center of North America." Beowulf says, "OOC At least it's not New York City, though... I was halfway expecting to get sent there just as the planes slammed in. " John says, "OOC Okay, you're going to need more money in order to book a plane or a boat." Moriya OOCly says, "Let's go hit a casino." John asks, "OOC Going to try using Probability manipulation?" Beowulf OOCly nods. Hm, what's the local museum and university like? :) Moriya OOCly says, "No." Moriya OOCly says, "Good stuff and superior psyche/warfare." John says, "OOC Just going to try using your mad skillz, right :)" John says, "OOC The local university is very nice." Moriya OOCly says, "Win modest amounts, not enough to make them suspicious of us and get us onto a blacklist." John says, "OOC as the Provincial University Main Campus is in Darwin." Beowulf says, "OOC Yah, that would probably work. Just use those same mad skillz to keep it from being too obvious, since that'll get us kicked out... right." You go gamble. With your mad skillz, you're able to win a few thousand each, which is enough for travelling, but not so much it screams 'Cheating' Beowulf says, "OOC And so the academic 'who's got what skillz' test actually becomes useful. :)" John says, "OOC Heh :)" John asks, "OOC Anything you wanted to look up before you hop cross country?" Beowulf says, "OOC First off, what's the status of the hunt for Al-Ambra terrorists? :)" Beowulf asks, "OOC And does it seem like there's anyone actually directing the hunt?" Beowulf says, "OOC One figure directing the hunt, that is, so we have some idea who we're up against." Each country seems to have its own person in charge. In the NAC, it seems to be a man named 'Terry Allen', who is in charge of the war on the Al-Ambra terrorist network. Beowulf OOCly groans and decides to shoot John next time he sees him. :p The media seems to be hounding him because he isn't having very much luck, though. Beowulf says, "OOC Terry Allen is the KU football coach who just got fired, Drew. :p" Moriya OOCly says, "Ah." Beowulf asks, "OOC They hound him enough to get him to give out his plans?" Moriya OOCly says, "As I've been hearing, he kind of had it coming. :)" Allen has announced he plans to make Al-Ambra run extra laps if he catches them. Moriya OOCly says, "..." Beowulf OOCly just shakes his head. Most of his plans seem to consist of putting up posters of Al-Ambra members (who look like various members of the second generation) everywhere. Beowulf says, "OOC *Second* generation? Hmmm." You also notice the airports keep blaring, 'Warning, Passengers. If anyone has given you luggage with a small red gem attached, please toss it into the shafts marked 'Bomb disposal'" Beowulf OOCly groans again. Moriya OOCly snickers. A lot. You can see that no one born in the last forty years seems to be on these posters. No Vash, either, althoguh all the other members of his generation show up. Beowulf says, "OOC Sounds like I'm the only one they might stand a chance of looking for, then... *if* we can trust the posters." You can also see Shaft, Ramon, and Michelle on posters. GM now notes for clarification that he means 'Second Generation from Fuyutsuki', where Gendo is Gen 1 by himself. The media seems quite convinced that Beowulf has been killed. Along with some group of anonymous supporters. Beowulf says, "OOC Greeeaaaat. :)" Beowulf says, "OOC All right... from the info we've got available here, does it look like they've got any special focus on Cheyenne? Is NORAD still there? ^_^" The NAC seems to have 52 states, many of them larger than the US states, since most of Mexico and Canada are part of it. Quebec seems to have the special status of 'Nuclear Test Zone' Beowulf OOCly thwaps the GM. ^_^ Cheyanne City is roughly located where Kansas City is on Shadow Earth. NORAD is a fair distance away. Moriya OOCly cheers. There's no particular indication of any special guards in Cheyanne City. Beowulf OOCly nods. You page, "So the lfoil is in Lawrence? ^_^" to Akemi. And they seem blissfully oblivious to the existence of other universes. Akemi pages, "Yep" to you. Moriya OOCly says, "Did the Panopticon prof say where specifically within Cheyanne City the shadow gate is?" You page, "Trying to figure out whether we should go ahead and take a look at it, given the way that the heat seems to have eased, or whether we should just shoot for getting out." to Akemi. Akemi pages, "Up to you." to you. He was blissfully unaware that you had to enter by a special route. He just shadow walked in there. Moriya OOCly says, "Using BP?" You page, "Well, a lot's going to depend on what we can read of the situation. :p How heavy do current security precautions look?" to Akemi. John says, "OOC Using Broken Pattern." Moriya OOCly says, "He didn't run into any sort of trouble when leaving the shadow with BP? And how long ago was his visit here?" Beowulf says, "OOC We should try walking out from the location of Zarda's, given its role as a nexus for Good Stuff. :)" He was there several years ago. Moriya OOCly says, "Okay. Given the nature of the trap, it was definitely in place by the time he swung through here." John says, "OOC He didn't have any trouble getting in or out." Moriya OOCly says, "So we'll try having Keitaro lead us out with BP once we arrive in Cheyanne City." Beowulf OOCly nods. Beowulf asks, "OOC One other thing we should look at, I think -- who set this shadow up as a hiding place?" John says, "OOC A good question." Beowulf asks, "OOC It was apparently a fairly powerful Logrus user, from what I saw in the brief Patternsight. Asking Lily, could a Logrus user molding the shadow have chosen to turn off Pattern and BP?" John says, "Yes, they could." Beowulf says, "OOC So he deliberately chose to leave P and BP intact, but shut off everything else. I'm tempted to think it was either Anno or the unknown Logrus user who slipped those trumps into my deck, though I don't have any rational reason for thinking so. o.o" John says, "OOC IT's pretty obviously a trap for Pattern users. " Moriya OOCly says, "They left Pattern on in order to set off the trap. If it was shut off, exerting it would do nothing, and hence, no trap." John says, "OOC Well, yes :) It's on, you just can't get out with it." John says, "OOC Except at the right place." Beowulf OOCly nods. "For some reason, I was thinking of it more as a safe hiding place for the lfoil, not as a deliberate trap." Moriya OOCly says, "It's a pretty trapalicious trap, I'd say." Beowulf OOCly nods. You page, "So... at this point, do you still want to try for the lfoil?" to Shizumaru. You page, "Right now, I'm not sure if we're just being lulled into a false sense of security, or whether the pressure is really lifted." to Shizumaru. Shizumaru pages, "Yes, but first I want to exit, regroup, contact the family to tell them what we've found out about this place, then go back in. Perhaps see if we can grab someone who's better at molding shadow to fight what they've done to this place." to you. John asks, "OOC Anything else you want to look into?" Shizumaru pages, "As John said that a better way to have done this is to shadowwalk into the place, study it, and then proceed from there." to you. Autolyca has disconnected. You page, "Yah, I agree about what would have been best to do; the question is whether we've bollixed up things enough with this aborted attempt to leave open the possibility of a second attempt." to Shizumaru. You page, "But I'd agree, first thing is to get out of here safely." to Shizumaru. Beowulf asks, "OOC I forget, did you say whether there were any kind of travel restrictions going on?" John says, "OOC There are currently no travel restrictions, since they think they killed Beowulf ben Tenjou." Beowulf says, "OOC Unless they've got roadblocks set up, I'd guess the best way to get to Cheyanne City would be to drive, as there's no 'choke-points' for them to find us, like bus or airline terminals." You page, "Greeat, I'm a wanted criminal again. x.x" to Aerianne. John asks, "OOC Going to fly to the west coast of the NAC, then drive cross country?" In a page-pose to you, Aerianne patpapts. John says, "OOC As right now, you're on a continent with no land routes to the NAC :)" Beowulf says, "OOC Yup. :) Well, we could always swim... ^_^" John asks, "OOC Okay, anything else to check, or do we rhumba?" Beowulf says, "OOC I can't think of anything else. :)" You page, "'John says, "OOC There are currently no travel restrictions, since they think they killed Beowulf ben Tenjou."'" to Aerianne. Beowulf asks, "OOC Drew?" Moriya OOCly says, "I'm ready to go." Beowulf OOCly nods. Let's do it. Aerianne pages, "Wheee!" to you. You hop a plane to San Benedicto, then rent a car and drive several days across the NAC. You page, "I'll be interested in seeing your reaction when I send the log. :) Was holding off because there was a chance someone else would mount a rescue mission, and didn't want to prejudice things, but it's looking like we'll be able to get out on our own." to Aerianne. You reach the fine city of Cheyanne, where you then start trying to use Broken Pattern. Aerianne pages, "Heh. Have the two of you managed to succeed in your missions as it was? *wl*" to you. Beowulf OOCly ooops, he jumped ahead. o.o John asks, "OOC I'm sorry, did I miss something you wanted to do?" You page, "Nope. Right now we're shooting for getting out of the trap. o.o" to Aerianne. Aerianne pages, "Wheeeee." to you. Beowulf says, "OOC Wanted to watch out for waiting enemy forces when we arrived. o.o" John says, "OOC Righto." You keep an eye out, but no one seems to particularly notice your car going into the city any more than the tens of thousands of other cars on I-70. To your surprise, Broken Pattern seems to indicate you need to head west out of the city, in the direction of Douglas City. Beowulf says, "OOC Hokay. Well, it was logical that they'd wait for us at the exit point..." Moriya OOCly says, "Huh. Odd." Beowulf asks, "OOC Does the BP seem to stir up any unhealthy attention?" You don't seem to have attracted any unhealthy attention. Beowulf OOCly nods. Thank Ghu for Keitaro, it seems. o.o Now we just need to worry about the usual BP hazards. Beowulf says, "OOC Follow the yellow brick road, Drew? :)" You find yourself wending your way to Douglas City. When you reach Douglas City, however, BP indicates you need to go straight up. Which would seem to indicate the exit is somewhere up in the air over Douglas City. Beowulf says, "OOC Oh, great... cropdusters. :p" Moriya OOCly says, "Well, as long as we're already in Douglas City, let's go check out the Logrusfoil." Beowulf asks, "OOC Does Douglas County Airport have ultralights flying out of it in this universe?" Yes, it does. The man told you the foil was on display in the Dyche Museum. Beowulf OOCly hmms. Well, ultralights normally fly without licensing, so that way of getting caught is hopefully not an issue. :) Moriya OOCly says, "Let's just go tour the museum. Only take a look, don't display particular interest in the foil specifically, other than another exhibit in the museum." Beowulf OOCly tries to remember if Dyche is the natural history museum, and whether the lfoil might be next to Trigger. :) You go to see the museum. Oddly, it appears to be a Natural History Museum, not the sort of place you'd expect to find a Logrus Foil. Beowulf says, "OOC... Custer's cavalry saber. :p" You head inside the several story stone building, which is full of rocks, stuffed animals, fossils, and other interesting things. You wander around for a while, and eventually, come to a display with a stuffed horse named 'Trigger'. He apparently belonged to a 'General Custer'. Apparently, some other Custer Paraphenalia was here with Trigger, but has been moved to Watson Library for a special display of Custer related memorabilia and books. Beowulf uses his navigating academia skills to engage the tour guide in conversation, putting him at ease, asking him about the museum exhibits in general, etc. The Museum guide happily rambles on about how the horse and the Custer Memoriabilia was donated to the University, how it sparked a 3 year local civil war with Haskell Indian Nations University over its display, and how the war ended when both sides decided to burn Manhattan to the ground to relieve stress. Moriya moves closer to the others and murmurs, in Thari, "The eyes in that stuffed horse just moved." Mitsune whispers, "I could go over, put a hand on it, and see if it has a brain to invade." Beowulf whispers, "If it's any kind of guardian, it's probably very strong." Moriya whispers back, "Not now. Not while there are others around." Mitsune nods. The guide rambles on about how Custer thought his sword would let him fight the entire Sioux nation by himself, and thus he died horribly. Moriya asks the guide, "What sort of paraphenalia was there? Both what's being displayed here, and what was sent to Watson?" Moriya OOCly says, "Oh, strike that. :)" He says, "Well, we have Custer's uniform, his sabre, his bible, and a picture of some woman we've never been able to identify. She wasn't his wife, though." Moriya raises an eyebrow. "Was there something special about that sword that particularly made him think so?" He continues, "Well, it's a very strange weapon. It's made of some black metal that defies chemical analysis." Beowulf hmms, and tsks at that story. "Just goes to show you, eh? What kind of man was Custer? I know, we've heard the public stories, but I'd imagine you've heard a lot closer to the straight truth." "He was a demented, bigoted, egotistical freak with a streak of overconfidence the size of the Stony Mountains." Moriya scratches his head. "Interesting. Where is it right now? Here, or at Watson?" "But also a very lucky one, until he pushed his luck too far. Oh, the sword's with his uniform and the picture at Watson, up on the forth flour." Moriya nods. Then he thinks. "That picture of a woman--also at Watson?" Beowulf shakes his head, grinning a little. "Just the kind of man you want to have around, right? Any particular hobbies that he had? I suppose that kind of humanizes you a little." He nods. "Pretty much everything except Trigger went to Watson." He continues, "We didn't think it was worth moving him." Beowulf nods, sighing. "Poor horse." He says, "I understand Custer was into hairdressing." Moriya says, "I see. Thank you." Beowulf asks, "I hope you've at least got someone to keep him company?" Moriya pauses and frowns slightly. "Right. Hairdressing." The man says, "To keep who company?" Moriya says, "The horse. I'm afraid my cousin Beowulf here has an odd sense of humor." The man says, "Ahh. I'm sure Trigger isn't lonely here with all the other animals we have." Trigger says, "CHILDREN OF AMBER! NOW YOU MUST DIE!!!!!!" The museum man blinks. Beowulf OOCly facepalms. Beowulf OOCly was going to try and make it clear he was talking about stuffed animals needing company, but it's too late now. x.x You hear rustling noises, as if all the animals on display were coming to life. Whatcha going to do? Moriya says, "I think we need to evacuate this place. Quickly." Beowulf asks, "OOC What's the clearest path to the exit?" You page, "You had to use my name, didn't you? o.o " to Shizumaru. You hear noises that sound suspiciously like doors slamming themselves. If you want to head by the clearest route out, just tell me. :) Shizumaru pages, "Sorry." to you. Beowulf says, "OOC Actually, is the way to the tower clear? If we can make it to the top, we could try flying from there for the exit, as our cover seems to have been blown anyway." John says, "OOC You'd need to head out the front door, then circle round, as you don't know if there's a back door to the museum, or the route to it if there is one, though you could take the chance of going searching for one, or just use Pattern or BP to find the back door." Beowulf says, "OOC Not the Campanile, but the tower on the history museum. IIRC it's at least 4-5 stories tall." John says, "OOC Ahh, yes, you could try heading up there if you like." Beowulf says, "OOC Anything else look like a better option, given what's starting to wake up? It sounds like the closest place to take off from." John says, "OOC IF you are going to try flying up, it seems like a pretty reasonable plan. You might want to do something about Trigger, too :)" You page, "Is Trigger moving yet? :) If so, any kind of WF/strength read from him?" to Akemi. Akemi pages, "He is starting to move, and you get the sense your warfare is superior, but he has a lot of strength" to you. You page, "Right... he far enough away to use the whip at the moment?" to Akemi. Moriya OOCly says, "Pause." Beowulf asks, "OOC Homeward bound?" Akemi pages, "Yes, you could use the Whip for an attack." to you. You page, "All right... well, we have to wait for Drew to get back, anyway." to Akemi. You page, "I wish Drew hadn't gotten so specific with his questioning... though I'm not sure I did any better with my 'gosh-wow, what was this history like' attempt. o.o" to Akemi. Akemi pages, "Actually, you chose a reasonably good line of questioning :)" to you. Akemi pages, "Drew's big mistake was calling you Beowulf :)" to you. Moriya OOCly says, "No, dad needed the computer." You page, "Ahhh. :)" to Akemi. Beowulf OOCly nods. Ready to re-start? Moriya OOCly says, "Yes." John asks, "OOC So, whatcha going to do about Trigger?" You page, "Head for the roof and try to fly to the exit sound like the best plan?" to Akemi. In a page-pose to you, Akemi nods You page, "After taking care of Trigger. :)" to Akemi. Moriya OOCly says, "Cut his head off? I dunno. o.o" Beowulf OOCly says, "Try to knock him out, I think." John says, "Well, he looks like he's about to wrench himself loose from his stand and attack. :) " John asks, "OOC Right. Beo going for a knock out. Drew?" Moriya OOCly says, "Help him, I guess. Tell the others to act as well. Subdue, then escape." Beowulf lashes out at Trigger with the whip, calling to Moriya, "He's not as good with weapons as us, but he's very strong." Beowulf says, "OOC Using the whip while he's at a distance, going to Morkeleb if he gets too close for the whip, but try to keep out of trampling range." Beowulf nails him with the whip, then Moriya begins beating on him with the staff. Everyone else rushes Trigger, and you successfully pull him to the ground and pin his head so you can keep him from biting anyone (or breathing fire as he now demonstrates he can do). Meanwhile, more exhibit animals close in and start attacking people. You all take a few blows by the time you manage to knock out trigger and start running for the stairs up. As you start up the stairs, you now spot the pressure plates further up the stairs which probably indicate they're designed to be some sort of trap. Those of you who can fly could try carrying the others up the stairs, or you could look for another route. Beowulf says, "OOC Hm, can I lift and carry everyone in the party, or can they grab on? And is there something above the stairs that I could lash on with the whip and swing over the plates? :)" Moriya OOCly says, "Flying's easier, I think." John says, "OOC Yes, there is; you have several people who cna fly, which would likely be easier, though." Beowulf OOCly nods. Oh, well, at least it was an idea in character. ^_^ John says, "OOC Yep :)" Beowulf points out the plates to the others and asks the flying people to carry them over. Moriya OOCly says, "Actually, wait." Moriya OOCly says, "Why are we leaving Trigger alive?" John says, "OOC You can finish him off if you like :)" Moriya OOCly says, "This is why I'm reluctant to game while tired. Letting Beowulf's name slip, and then not realizing this until now." Beowulf OOCly "Um, did we? I was just using the whip while at range... though I think time is of the essence." Beowulf asks, "OOC How tired are you, Drew?" John says, "OOC Once he's down, you can kill him pretty easily." Moriya OOCly says, "Moderately." John says, "OOC Well, if you're too tired to game, just say so, as I don't want to run you into the ground or anything." Moriya OOCly says, "I'll keep going." Beowulf asks, "OOC If we can get out of this to the exit and out, want to pause there, then? Or when d'you want to call it a night?" John says, "OOC Righto." Moriya OOCly says, "I'll see how far I can go." Beowulf OOCly nods. Just don't punish yourself. :) John asks, "OOC Are you going to go ahead and finish off Trigger before you run, then?" Moriya OOCly says, "I think it's a good idea." You pause and shoot Trigger in the head. He dies, then you move on. Moriya OOCly says, "There's no real reason to keep him alive, unless we can capture him for interrogation later." Beowulf OOCly nods. Well, done now. Moriya OOCly says, "But as he's a large horse, and we're running...anyway." You fly up the stairs, fighting your way through endless attacks by the displays and past many, many nasty traps. You make your way up to the top of the tower. You can see waves of crazed students pouring out of buildings towards the museum, lead by platoons of crazed frat boys. Many building tops are opening up and cannon are emerging from the tops. A helicopter is taking off from the Military science building. Beowulf asks, "OOC ...aieee. x.x What's my estimate of the situation?" Flying upwards would make you a really fine target for thousands of people with rifles, anti-aircraft guns, etc. On this bright, sunny, cloudless day. Beowulf says, "OOC What's the best-looking route to stay under cover? Go back inside and try going through the steam tunnels? Though that doesn't solve the problem of how to get *up* to the exit." You think retreating inside and trying to flee into the steam tunnels might be best. As they are fairly defensible, although there's risk there's some way to flood them. John says, "Alternately, you could try breaking out of the museum, stealing motorcycles and trying to fight your way off-campus, out of town." John says, "Although fighting all the way out of town to lose yourself inthe countryside wouldn't be easy." Beowulf asks, "OOC What do the odds look like either way?" John says, "OOC The steam tunnels is probably safer, but also leaves you basically trapped. The motorcycles is a LOT riskier, but doesn't leave you in a place that could be flooded or collapsed on your heads." Moriya OOCly says, "Try the decoy trick again?" Beowulf says, "OOC How about using the steam tunnels to come out at some other part of campus and stealing vehicles there? KU Police might be a *bit* obvious..." John says, "OOC THat's another option. You could try sending decoys out in public, then slipping into the tunnels, crossing campus, and popping up somewhere else and stealing vehicles." Moriya OOCly says, "Other thing that occurs to me is that now would be an ideal time to try to take the foil." Beowulf says, "OOC Drew, we've currently got the entire town converging on us, plus whatever *other* safeguards they've got on the lfoil itself." Moriya OOCly says, "Drat." Beowulf says, "OOC Now is *not* a good time." Moriya OOCly says, "Okay, let's try the decoy thing again." John says, "OOC It would be risky, though a nice thing to have." Mitsune drains herself of a fair amount of blood and makes some quick duplicates, which she sends off to die gloriously, while you fight your way past more angry displays, including a dinosaur skeleton, down into the steam tunnels. Beowulf OOCly nods, and moves to get them out of the tunnels as quickly as possible into a safe area. Moriya OOCly says, "I'd also like to try to go back to Cheyanne City and see if Keitaro can force a shadowwalk out there, since getting pointed at that midair spot may be a trap as well." Beowulf says, "OOC IOW, go to the closest exit from the steam tunnels that would be safe." The steam tunnels soon turn out to be a nasty death trap of a place. Swinging blades, spears, hidden machine guns and worse. Beowulf says, "OOC Keitaro may have been suffering from typical BP ...argh. :P" It quickly becomes apparent that Mitsune, Keitaro, and Lily are going to be in trouble if you continue this way. You think if you surface now, you'll come up somewhere near the Carillion. Beowulf says, "OOC All right..." Beowulf OOCly pounds his brain looking for inspiration. Did it look like the mob could get to the Campanile easily from where they were? John says, "OOC Some of them could fire at it from the valley, but they'd have to run back up the slope. However, the Spencer did seem to be bristling with rifles from the windows. You'd have a head start on the big mob, though." Beowulf asks, "OOC Hm. Did it look like there were many cars parked on Memorial Drive? Enough to provide cover, at least?" John says, "OOC YEs, there's a pretty good number of cars. For that matter, you could steal one to use as your escape vehicle :)" Beowulf says, "OOC Yep, though Memorial Drive isn't the easiest place to get out of. :) This is actually one time when my OOC knowledge is better than the character knowledge. :) I'm almost tempted to take that winding back way past all the greek houses to 9th street, in hopes that the houses would be caught in the collateral damage. :) But I suspect the winding way would give them an opportunity to catch up... hmmm. Hang on." Beowulf says, "OOC Would WF let Bey drive that route at a much higher speed than normal shadowdwellers could manage? IOW, would it let Bey use his skillz to improve their situation? :)" John says, "OOC Yes, WF would let you drive you a lot faster more safely than us mundane shadow people can." Beowulf says, "OOC Can't think of anything better than stealing a car outside the Campanile myself, and making a run out of town. Which still leaves teh question of how to get to the exit, unfortunately, but hopefully it'll get us out of immediate danger." Moriya OOCly nods. Beowulf asks, "OOC Drew, it's 11:30 your time... how're you feeling?" Moriya OOCly says, "I'm fine. Waking up slightly." Beowulf OOCly nods. Good. :) John asks, "OOC Going to go with stealing a car, then trying to escape via the back roads, then?" You page, "I can't think of anything better OOC. Bey have any bad feelings or tactical misgivings?" to Akemi. Moriya OOCly says, "Suppose so." Akemi pages, "Bey has the feeling that y'all are in big, big trouble again. The thought does come to mind that something is probably controlling this shadow, and finding and dealing with it might be a good idea." to you. You page, "Yup; this is beyond a static shadow molding. x.x" to Akemi. Akemi pages, "As otherwise, you may end up going down this road over and over, so to speak." to you. You page, "Dang it, we were *so close* to getting out, too... though if someone's controlling things actively, the one little slip might not have made much difference in the long run." to Akemi. In a page-pose to you, Akemi nods. You page, "Any ICly misgivings about the plan for getting out of immediate danger, anyway?" to Akemi. Akemi pages, "Well, there's probably going to be bombers showing up again soon, and they may well have spy satellites watching the University if the exit is around here." to you. You page, "Well, *if* we can get out of town safely... John pointed out that it's looking like there's someone actively controlling the shadow, and dealing with it would be a good idea. x.x" to Shizumaru. Shizumaru pages, "Yeah." to you. Akemi pages, "Unfortunately, unless the person controlling things happens to be on campus, you can't think of a better way to escape." to you. You page, "Right. Hm... best place I can think of to go to ground would be either heading down towards Baldwin, or northeast on the old county roads towards Topeka; both routes have a lot of cover." to Akemi. You page, "I'd bet they *are* on campus, since canons/steam tunnel death traps/etc. are not typical campus architecture. :) Unfortunately.." to Akemi. In a page-pose to you, Akemi nods. Northwest to Topeka. :) You page, "Ack. Right. :)" to Akemi. In a page-pose to you, Akemi nods. You'd rather not risk it while the Campus is up in arms? You page, "Anyway, I think they probably are on campus, but it also seems like the local situation is awfully... right." to Akemi. You page, "If I could go by real-life KU, I'd guess they were in Strong Hall. :)" to Akemi. Okay, done confabbing with Travis by page, I think. Or do you have anything else you need to ask me, Travis? Beowulf says, "OOC Might have." John asks, "OOC Okay, what you need to know?" Beowulf asks, "OOC Since our cover's pretty well blown, how dangerous does it seem like it'd be to use Pattern at the moment?" Beowulf says, "OOC Because if the controller is at Strong Hall, we're right close to it now... but going in there if it's not there would be a dangerous wild goose chase. But if we could quickly use Pattern to see if it is there..." John says, "OOC You think at this point, you're already screwed enough that using Pattern probably won't screw you more." You page, "Argh. Hope I'm not making a big mistake." to Akemi. John asks, "OOC Going to go ahead and do it?" Beowulf OOCly nods. Pattern indicates that the source of control of the shadow is off in the direction of Watson. Beowulf says, "OOC ...right. x.x Not going to make it through there right now, I think." John says, "OOC Well, you could probably make it in, but it wouldn't be easy." John says, "OOC And the less warfarey of you might suffer some injuries." Beowulf OOCly arghs, and is not sure he's thinking straight at the moment. :p John says, "OOC Well, while I would like to keep going, we can stop here to give you all a day to think if you want. " Beowulf says, "OOC What do you think, Drew? As I'm starting to fade, as far as coherent decision making goes." Moriya OOCly says, "WE'd best wait, then." Beowulf OOCly nods. Gomen, John; it's been a long day. Moriya OOCly says, "This is bloody frustrating." John says, "OOC That's fine. I'd much rather nothing bad happen because you feel too tired." John says, "OOC We can continue tomorrow." John says, "OOC When you're both rested and up to full capacity." Beowulf OOCly nods to Drew. "We were so close to gettting out... but if something is controlling stuff, we proably wouldn't have been able to get that final straw." John says, "OOC As there's a lot of potential for ugliness here, and I'd rather not chance anythign going wrong due to exhaustion." Beowulf OOCly nods. Beowulf says, "A lot oa lot." Kuonji Ukyou says, "Could be worse." Beowulf nods. "True. Someone could be dead by now." John says, "Yep." 12/03/01 You page, "I'm not liking the direction my thoughts are taking me, but I don't see much alternative, especially given the pretty pickle we're in." to Akemi. Akemi pages, "What direction are your thoughts taking you?" to you. You page, "Well, having something actively controlling that we're going to have to deal with changes a lot of things..." to Akemi. In a page-pose to you, Akemi nods. You page, "It makes it a lot less likely that we'll be able to escape and go to ground, I'm guessing, and it means our attempt coming back would probably be harder, since he'd know it was coming and have more time to prepare." to Akemi. You page, "Which suggests going after the controller right now would be the best plan... which I don't like the idea of, since it feels like we're already at a serious disadvantage." to Akemi. You page, "But I'm not sure I see much alternative." to Akemi. In a page-pose to you, Akemi nods. You page, "So right now I'm trying to think of how to keep folks from getting hurt, as much as possible. IIRC, Bey and Keitaro are the only ones who can't use shapeshifting to disguise themselves, and Keitaro's one of the flimsiest folks in the group, which makes him the prime target to be protected." to Akemi. Akemi pages, "Well, Moriya can only turn into a tiger or a gargoyle. :)" to you. You page, "Ah, right, didn't know about that." to Akemi. Akemi pages, "Neither of which exactly blends in well." to you. You page, "Though Moriya is probably in the best shape for survival, except possibly for Bey. :)" to Akemi. Akemi pages, "Well, you, Shinobu, and Moriya are in the least trouble here, while Lily and Keitaro are in the most (Mitsune can take on forms where bullets bounce off)" to you. You page, "Right. I was thinking she should probably have her Form of Power ready. :) I thought Lily's shapeshifting would help her at least a little, though. o.o" to Akemi. Akemi pages, "Well, it'll help, but her warfare, though better than any single individual here, is pretty crappy, and the powers she depends on don't work." to you. You page, "Yah. Not denying she's in bad shape, but I figured her shapeshifting would help her toughen up at least a little. And her demon form might help as well." to Akemi. Akemi pages, "It'll help, but it can't compensate for the fact that she has only slightly over Amber warfare." to you. You page-pose, "The_Prof nods." to Akemi. Akemi pages, "Now, you are up against mostly human warfare chuds. but enough of those can mow down even the mightiest Amberite." to you. You page-pose, "The_Prof nods again. It's not a good situation. :(" to Akemi. You page, "One thought I did have is seeing if we could capture someone and mind-control them to lead the chase in another direction... IIRC, pure psychic combat doesn't require a power if you can make eye contact. Though that might be an unnecessary complication." to Akemi. Akemi pages, "Yes, you can do pure psychic contact by touch." to you. Moriya says, "Okay." John asks, "OOC We ready to rumble?" You page, "Ah, well. These are the kind of situations I hate most, probably because it feels like so much more is at stake online. o.o" to Akemi. Moriya OOCly says, "As ready as I'll ever be, I think." Akemi pages, "Well, there is a lot at stake. Your lives. Well, your IC lives :)" to you. Beowulf OOCly nods. You page, "IC lives, yup. :) I just don't remember getting so stressed out in live gaming. ^_^" to Akemi. John asks, "OOC Okay, last time, y'all had a plan of stealing a car and trying to break out for the country roads. Are we going to do with that, or have y'all thought of a different plan?" Beowulf says, "OOC Having someone controlling the shadow actively changes things, I think. Drew, want your take on this:" Moriya OOCly says, "One thing. If everyone who has Pattern uses it, including Keitaro and BP, independently at the same time, with Lily and Mitsune backing up the weaker psyches, do we still get Watson as where the control is coming from, from everyone?" John says, "OOC Yes, you do." Moriya OOCly says, "Okay." Beowulf says, "OOC If we're going to have to fight this guy to get out, trying to break out is probably just goign to give him more time to prepare and get set, unfortunately." Moriya OOCly says, "Yeah." Beowulf says, "OOC I don't like the situation and the odds, but I'm guessing they'd probably get worse if we break out and try to get back in." Moriya OOCly says, "The problem right now is that with the plug on powers, the only useful thing right now really is Warfare, and three of us aren't very warfare-adept." John says, "Yep. Any of Shinobu, Moriya, or Beowulf could whip all three of the rest of you by him or herself with weapons." Beowulf OOCly nods. Mitsune can go Form of Power, which will help, but Lily and Keitaro are going to be in trouble. Moriya OOCly says, "Mitsune and Lily can at least shapeshift themselves into very hard to hit targets, like insects. Keitaro's the problem, here." Beowulf OOCly nods. Pretty much what I figured. John says, "OOC Yep" Beowulf says, "OOC I can think of two ways to try and protect him -- leave him behind when we go on the attack, which I don't like at all, or else keep him protected in the center while we fight around him." Beowulf says, "OOC One good thing, at least -- he's got a tough and devoted bodyguard in Shinobu." Moriya OOCly says, "So do you want to go after the guy, or try to escape?" Beowulf says, "OOC If we're going to have to go after the guy to get out, I'm guessing now is probably our best chance. I don't like the thought, but I can't see much alternative." Moriya OOCly nods. Beowulf says, "OOC As if there's an active opponent, our chances of fooling them in an escape go well down, and so do our chances of getting back in to go after him." Moriya OOCly says, "Okay. To Watson, then?" Beowulf asks, "OOC One other thing to consider -- what's our opponent going to be like. If he's controlling the shadow, he'd almost have to have Pattern or BP, right?" Beowulf asks, "OOC As they're the only active Powers?" John says, "You'd expect that, yep. Or some sort of item that controls the shadow." Moriya OOCly says, "Wait. John, you've said that a sufficiently advanced Logrus master can control a shadow remotely?" John says, "OOC YEs." John says, "OOC Stick a tendril into it, and mold it from a distance." Moriya OOCly says, "If that's what's happening here...man, I really hope there's something that we can actually do. -.-" You page, "I've been half-wondering if the lfoil itself might be controlling the shadow. Especially if it can be used as a remote. x.x" to Shizumaru. In a page-pose to you, Shizumaru nods. Beowulf OOCly nods. x.x You page, "The other thought I had, for some odd reason, is the woman's picture. o.o" to Shizumaru. Shizumaru pages, "Yeah." to you. Moriya OOCly says, "Damn. Well, what else can we do?" Beowulf asks, "OOC If there is some item being used to mold/control the shadow, what could be done to stop it? Destroy the item?" Beowulf asks, "OOC Or if the item is being controlled by someone, could we all join together and try to pry his control away via psychic combat?" John says, "OOC IF it's an item, destroying it would be best. You could try psychic combat, but you'd all need to grab hold of it, since no powers allowing psychic contact at range are working here." Beowulf OOCly nods. I was thinking of what we could do if we couldn't destroy it, say if it's the lfoil itself. John says, "OOC Ahh, then you'd want to get it out of his grip and try to overwhelm his control of it." Moriya OOCly says, "Right." Beowulf asks, "OCO Hmmm. I'm guessing Lily, Keitaro and maybe Mitsune have the strongest psyches?" John says, "OOC Yes." Moriya OOCly says, "Okay. I guess we should try gunning for Watson, then." Beowulf OOCly nods. John says, "OOC Okay, you have a couple of options:" John says, "OOC Come up and make a break straight for the front doors. Easiest way in, but probably also the way they most expect people to come in. Make a break for the doors under the stairs. Circle around to the west side and go in the side door. Or try to get all the way around it to the back doors." Beowulf asks, "OOC It's not going to be easy to get through to any of them, probably. I'd guess either the west side doors or the door under the stairs as a compromise between ease of getting to and what's waiting for us there. Or would my tactics suggest otherwise?" John says, "OOC The door under the stairs has the advantage of providing cover once you reach it." Aerianne pages, "*nod* I doubt she'd want to use 'em for Tharkhold takedown, actually... despite their space capability, they were part of the gorup that was apparently -led astray- by the Thakhold Construct, so best not to tempt fate." to you. Beowulf OOCly nods; that makes sense. Moriya OOCly says, "Hm. Can we steal a car, drive it at full speed up the stairs at full speed, bail out over the edge of the stairs and smash through the door beneath the stairs?" John says, "OOC HEh. Yes, you can do that :)" Beowulf says, "OOC I should have thought of that... it's Bey's kind of stunt. ^_^ Good thinking, Drew." Moriya OOCly says, "Basically, make the car a decoy to bust through the front door, while we get out at the last moment to get into the door below the stairs." Moriya OOCly says, "Okay. Have Mitsune and Lily shapeshift into hard-to-hit targets, while the warfare types guard Keitaro." Beowulf asks, "OOC Wouldn't Mitsune do better in her Form of Power?" Moriya OOCly says, "Does Mitsune have her extra power in archangel form?" John says, "OOC Mitsune is bulletproof in Angel form." Moriya OOCly says, "Ah. All right, then." Moriya OOCly says, "Let's do it." Beowulf nods. John says, "OOC Righto. Who's goign to drive? :)" Moriya OOCly says, "Beowulf, as this is the pulp adventure type of thing to do." Beowulf says, "OOC Probably myself or Moriya... righto, I'll drive. :)" You page, "Hm, would Pulp Acrobatics figure into it? ^_^" to Akemi. You race out of the tunnel and up the slope towards the cars as the cannon open fire, and the rifle toting students open up on you. Then you manage to hotwire a car, though it gets shot up somewhat. Still, the car holds together long enough for you to race under heavy fire up the hill, across the street, and Beowulf is good enough to avoid being rammed by all the cars that try to crush you on Jayhawk Boulevard. You send the car towards the front doors, and then you leap out of the car, leaving it to crash into the front doors. You all dive down out of the car, rush under the stairs, and find yourself confronted by a huge green troll. Beowulf asks, "OOC Any obvious strengths or weaknesses it has, or just start beating on it?" John says, "OOC It has the 'I am a big strong troll, who fights moderately well' look to it." It is armed with a large woodaxe. Moriya OOCly says, "Go chainsaw on it together, I guess. Coordinate our attacks the way that our mad warfare enables us to." Beowulf says, "OOC Right... start in on it with Morkeleb if it's close enough, trying to stay out of hand-to-hand with it where it can bring its strength to bear." Moriya, Beowulf, and Shinobu go after the creature while Mitsune tries to watch over the entrance to the area. The creature is pretty strong, and it gets a few good whacks in, but you manage to hack it to bits. You then kick in the doors and find yourself in a twisty, bendy maze of cubicules, all alike. How do you want to navigate in here? Beowulf asks, "OOC How hard would it be to smash straight through the ceiling to move up to the next floor?" Moriya OOCly says, "Use Pattern in brief bursts to get directional fixes, perhaps?" John says, "OOC You don't know how sturdy the ceiling is, but you could have three of you hoist the other three up to start hacking through it." John says, "OOC You could use Pattern to navigate if you like." Moriya OOCly says, "My worry is that it'll trip the shadow trap enough to have the shelving start flying at us or something." John says, "OOC THat is a concern." Beowulf asks, "OOC I'm guessing the cubicle maze might be a trap... in which case, wouldn't the best thing to do be bashing out of it in another direction?" John says, "OOC Possibly. IT's also possible that it's intended to make you try to break out, and thus set stuff off on you. Or the wisest version--Follow the maze, land in traps, break out, land in traps." Beowulf says, "OOC Wisest version? o.o" John says, "OOC Well, wisest for the death trap builder." Moriya OOCly whines. Moriya OOCly says, "I'm sick of this quest." John says, "OOC Fair enough. Unfortunately, you jumped into it without being sure you could get back out, and now you're stuck in it. " Beowulf OOCly nods. "Well, we're in it now, and we've got to get through it." Moriya OOCly says, "Okay. Have Keitaro try using BP in short bursts to navigate." Beowulf asks, "OOC Compromise -- try going through the first bit of the maze and see if it's rearranging itself around us or leading us into traps, then try breaking through if either happens?" John says, "OOC That's certainly an option as well." Moriya OOCly says, "All right." John asks, "OOC Do you want Keitaro to navigate you as you do this?" Beowulf asks, "OOC Can he do it from his protected position in the center of the group?" Moriya OOCly says, "Let's first have him do it very quickly, get a feel for the general direction that we have to go in." John says, "OOC Yes, as he can get a fix, then point out the way to go at turns." Beowulf OOCly nods in agreement with Moriya. Keitaro concentrates and points off down one of the maze tunnels. John asks, "OOC How often do you want Keitaro to take fixes? Each intersection? Or will you try to steer in that general direction until you can't?" Moriya OOCly says, "Every three or so intersections?" John says, "OOC Righto." Beowulf OOCly nods. You start off through the maze. Almost immediately, guns start firing from cubicles, blades jut up through cracks in the tiled floor, and all sorts of hideous things erupt out of cubicles as you go by them. You fight off the first wave of creatures, then hit a wall; Keitaro takes another fix, and you head off down another passageway. The loud speakers begin to pipe an unpleasant hideous flauting into the airwaves. Beowulf says, "OOC One more trap, and I vote we bash... uh-oh. x.x" You page, "Crap. I was wondering if Annadil might have set this thing up..." to Shizumaru. Beowulf asks, "OOC Any feelings of mental assault?" John says, "OOC No feeling of mental assault, just awful music." John asks, "OOC Going to press on through the passages or try bashing through the ceiling or cubicle walls? Or something else?" Beowulf says, "OOC Well, anyway... I vote we try bashing through to the next story." Moriya OOCly says, "Through the ceiling." John asks, "OOC Okay, do you want to hoist one person up and have hm or her do it, or break into pairs and have the three people with either high strength or nasty weapons (Shinobu, Beo, Moriya) all hack at once?" John says, "OOC The latter leaves you more vulnerable to attack, but means you'll hack through a lot faster." Beowulf asks, "OOC I'd keep at least one good fighter on the ground... how well has Shinobu been handling herself agains tthe foes so far?" Moriya OOCly says, "Have two do it, while the third pair remains on guard" John says, "OOC SHe's been handling herself pretty well." John says, "OOC Her weapon's a lot less potent for cutting than you guys' weapons, so she might make a good ground guard." Beowulf says, "OOC Or since she's stronger, perhaps her and Bey hacking, Moriya on guard... oh, yah, that does make sense." John says, "OOC That also makes sense." John says, "OOC Because her Physical Strength is pretty huge." Moriya OOCly says, "Moriya and Shinobu can trade weapons, Moriya guards." You page, "Is the whip shapeshifted into jitte a good candidate for hacking?" to Akemi. John says, "OOC That works. Shinobu has a big ass two handed sword." Beowulf asks, "OOC Moriya's also got highest WF, so would he probably spot threats faster?" Akemi pages, "That will work." to you. John says, "OOC That too." Beowulf says, "OOC Since the whip is 8 pt. and should work for cutting in shifted form, probably lend that to Shinobu." John says, "OOC Moriya was going to lend his weapon to Shinobu. Which backed by her strength will be enough." Beowulf OOCly nods. Mitsune and Keitaro hoist up Beowulf and Shinobu, while a micro-Lily sits in Beowulf's shirt pocket, and Moriya stands guard. Hack. Hack. Hack. First you slice through flimsy ceiling funky stuff (you know those white panel things made out of weird alien substances you find in colleges), then hack into the more solid ceiling above it. It suddenly crumbles, and massive amounts of boiling water pours out. This is not fun for anyone involved. Beowulf scalds nicely, while Shinobu starts to burn and her shifting kicks in. Moriya, you have enough mad skillz to jump out of the spray of water 'afore it hits you if you so desire. Moriya tries to yank Keitaro out of the way of the water. Moriya OOCly says, "And then get out of the way myself." Mitsune leaps out, still carrying the now scaled Beowulf. Moriya leaps through, pushes Keitaro out; he and Shinobu fall down. Keitaro gets a little bit of scalding, but only enough to annoy. Moriya manages to avoid anything significant as well. Akemi pages, "You feel mildly woozy, as if perhaps there was contact poision in the water." to you. At this point, five slavering hounds without any skin and long razor=like tongues charge around a corner and come running towards y'all. Moriya OOCly says, "Is there still boiling water pouring out of the ceiling?" Beowulf asks, "OOC Argh. :p How badly are folks hurt?" You page, "Tactical analysis-are we still being set up for traps?" to Akemi. You page, "Shinobu burns? o.o Does it look like Logrus/Patternfire?" to Akemi. You page, "Argh, lag. :p" to Akemi. Beowulf OOCly lags like there's no tomorrow. x.x Beowulf OOCly lags and lags and lags... You page, "Ack. And since Lily is in my pocket, she probably got it... would it be worse for her given her smaller size?" to Akemi. John says, "OOC There's still boiling water coming down behind you." Akemi pages, "She has shapeshifting and could adapt to it fairly quickly, so you're worse than her, as your clothing protected her somewhat." to you. Moriya OOCly says, "Feasible to grab Ilvig from Shinobu, change it into umbrella form, and deflect the water onto the dogs?" You page, "And same for Shinobu? How 'bout Keitaro?" to Akemi. John says, "OOC When I say 'burn', I don't mean 'on fire', I mean, as in flesh gets burns on it." Akemi pages, "Keitaro's not too badly hurt, as Moriya saved him in time. He just took mild annoyance wounds." to you. Beowulf says, "OOC Ah." John says, "OOC As it's boiling water, not flamey water." You page, "Any signs of poison, then? I'd almost think it's Logrus-charged water." to Akemi. John says, "OOC 'scald'. There's a good synonym." Akemi pages, "You think it may have some contact poison mixed in." to you. You page, "Ah, right. So, backing up, does this feel like being herded into more traps, or anything else I can determine of the tactical situation?" to Akemi. John says, "OOC ATM, Beowulf is worst hurt, followed by Shinobu and Lily, but their autoshifting kicked in and they're not as hurt as they would with without it. Keitaro and Moriya suffered only annoyance damage, Mitsune is basically fine and dandy." Akemi pages, "You think hacking through the ceiling will just drop more stuff on you." to you. Akemi pages, "Hacking through the walls might be an option." to you. You page, "Oh, and how long does it feel like I can last? I think I'm glad I took the endurance upgrade... o.o" to Akemi. Akemi pages, "It looks like the hounds will try to push you back into the boiling water." to you. John says, "OOC To finally answer Drew's question, you think that's a viable option, except it's so crowded, you may deflect it onto your buddies too." You page, "So we're between the hounds and water?" to Akemi. John says, "OOC Situation is Hounds Group Water With cubicle style walls on either side of you." Moriya OOCly says, "Then tell everyone to retreat behind the water, trying to hold off the dogs, until we can get into position to do my idea more safely." Beowulf says, "OOC Can we? I was thinking the water pretty much blocked the passageway." John says, "OOC That would expose everyone to the water as they ran through it, but they can get through it quick enough it won't take anyone out." Moriya OOCly says, "Oh." John says, "OOC AS it's not a hugely wide wall of water." You page, "How bad am I starting to feel, besides woozy?" to Akemi. Akemi pages, "You're hurt, but you can keep going." to you. You page, "Right. How long does it feel like I can keep it up?" to Akemi. Akemi pages, "If you don't take more injuries, likely long enough. You really don't want to do that too many more times, though." to you. Beowulf says, "I'm starting to feel a bit woozy; I think there was some kind of contact poison in the water." Moriya OOCly sighs. John asks, "OOC Do y'all want to charge the dogs or try the retreat through the water and let Moriya redirect it onto the dogs thing?" Beowulf says, "OOC Breaking through the ceiling would probably dump more stuff on us; the walls might work." Beowulf asks, "OOC How nasty do the dogs look?" Moriya OOCly says, "If there's @#$%ing poison in the water, then forget it." John says, "OOC They look fairly nasty, but you think you can beat them." John says, "OOC You could also try basically using them as springboards to get past them, but then you'd be running the maze with them chasing you. OTOH, it would put them between you and the water and you could try driving them into it." Moriya OOCly says, "Do that, then. Get over them, push them into the water." Beowulf OOCly nods... like they're trying to do to us, right. You all charge and vault over them. They are surprised by this tactic. Then Shinobu, Beowulf, and Moriya attack and drive them intot he water, where they scald horribly, get woozy, then die. You can hear the sounds of more dogs baying in various directions. Beowulf says, "OOC Right. Bash through the walls? o.o" You page, "I'm trying to think of a way to go outside the box on this trap, and I'm not coming up with one. x.x Especially since the first attempt failed miserably." to Akemi. Moriya OOCly says, "Stab the walls in a few places, and get out of the way to see what comes out." Akemi pages, "Without a map, you're gonna have a rough time of it." to you. You page, " Did Keitaro's BP attempts seem to do any good at all?" to Akemi. Akemi pages, "Also, you could try using Probability Manipulation to try to make the traps malfunction more often, though that risks bringing down Pattern related problems. Without a 'base sample' to compare to, you don't know." to you. You stab the wall. It explodes massively. With little room to dodge, you take a nasty beating, although with your mad skills you avoid taking the full force of it. There is, however, now a hole into one of the cubicles which would let you cut across to another 'hallway', once you deal with the eight armed ape which now charges out. You page, "How about Probability Manipulation to find an accurate library map along the hallways, since the real Watson has photocopied maps everywhere?" to Akemi. Beowulf says, "OOC The ape look hurt at all by the explosion? ;_;" Moriya OOCly says, "Beat the hell out of it, push