From tbutler@birch.net Fri Aug 24 14:50:40 2001 Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2001 18:42:56 -0500 From: Travis Butler To: Philip J. Moyer , Chris Bremner , Andrew Huang Subject: [Amber/UnS] To the Yellow Priest's Stronghold Jacqueline says, "Yo prof" Beowulf waves. "How goes?" John says, "Oop." Jacqueline says, "Gonna go talk to the logrus. maybe later." Beowulf asks, "Um, should I leave?" Jacqueline says, "i think we was gonna run me till you arrived. I think. :)" John says, "Actually, we'll put the Logrus trip on hold, Rod, as I was gonna...yeah, as you said, Rod. :)" Beowulf says, "Up to John, yes? :)" John asks, "Okay, Travis, Chris, y'all ready to rumble?" Jacqueline says, "travis should go, he doesn't get as many hours available" Beowulf says, "I don't mind waiting, but since Brem's here... right." Lian says, "Ready." Beowulf asks, "OOC Would it be the next morning, then?" John says, "OOC Yep. " Beowulf says, "OOC Righto... gather together the rest of the group who's here in Amber, then trump Lian." ===================================== ===================================== Okay, your team assembles the next morning. Mitsune joins you, having trump-hopped across shadow to hook up with you. And then you trump Lian. Beowulf asks, "Heyo, Lian! Ready to do nasty things to evil Outsider priests?" Lian nods, "As ready as I can be ... phase one of my work here is finished, phase two doesn't need me, only time." Beowulf nods. "I'd like to hear about it, once we're on the road." Beowulf says, "Ready to come through?" He holds out a hand. Lian grins, "Not much to tell, really, but if you want ... " She takes the hand. "Pull me through." Beowulf pulls Lian through to Amber. "Keitaro was kind enough to give us trumps to three spots in Leng -- Taylor's tower, the Great Lo's tower, and the pass where they came through into Leng. So we can trump directly there instead of shadow-walking." Beowulf says, "From what Naru's described, most of Leng is open countryside and no hazards except from occasional monsters, dotted by tower strongholds of powerful people." Lian says, "Occasional monsters ... why does it always have to be monsters? Anyway, trumps will be useful ... save us some time." Beowulf says, "So as long as we stay in the countryside, we should be all right. Naru also said that they don't seem to cooperate very much, as no one seemed to want to avenge any of the strongholds that they took down." Lian says, "So we won't have to worry about people unless we hit them first. Apart from the usual cultists, that is." ====== ====== Beowulf asks, "OOC Did Naru say anything about wandering cultists, or were they included in the 'occasional monsters' bit?" John says, "OOC Included in the occassional monsters bit." Beowulf OOCly nods. Which of the towers was closest to the Yellow Priest's island? And anything in the state either was left in to suggest which would be the more dangerous spot to land in? John says, "OOC No particular difference in danger levels, Taylor's tower is closer." Beowulf OOCly nods. ====== ====== Beowulf says, "Taylor's tower is closer to the Yellow Priest's island fortress. It's in the middle of a lake with at least one nasty monster in it, with a single stone bridge leading to the city. However, we should be able to fly across the water using invisibility and fly spells. Once we're in the city, that'll be time for Mitsune and Makoto to make with the practical joke disruptions, while the strike team goes after the Jewel." Lian asks, "What kind of nasty monster?" Beowulf says, "Further planning will probably have to wait for on-the-site inspection." He smiles and winks. Beowulf asks, "There's supposed to be a lake monster, Naru said." He turns to her. "Did you hear anything more specific about it?" Naru shakes her head. "Not really. Sort of serpentine." Lian says, "We'll have to see, then. Mind if I park my mech in your bag, Bey? Calling it in in Leng might get us more attention from the natives than I'd be comfortable with." Beowulf nods. "Shouldn't be a problem." Lian . o O ( OOC: Where are we, exactly? ) You're in a meeting room in Castle Amber. Lian smiles and taps her wristcomm. "Vec, boom in the Knight, option package three. Target location is the courtyard of castle Amber." Beowulf says, "Anyone have any last-minute preparations they want to do in the bag? I can think of one more bit of checking I want to do, since we haven't scoped out Annadil's library for information on the Yellow Priest's temple." Lian grins at Bey, "If I had a few decades, I'd love to go through that library." Beowulf grins and tsks. "Better be careful about depending *too* much on high-powered toys." Touga says, "I'm ready at this point." Lily says, "I'm fine." Lian says, "I'm delicate, Bey. I need protection." Mitsune says, "Nothing important I need to do." Thoric says, "I'm as ready as I'll ever be, I think." Beowulf says, "If we aren't in the middle of a mission, I'll be more than happy to indulge you." He smiles. "Well, we'd better pack your toy away in the bag before too many people start to wonder about it, then I'll check up on the info and we'll trump out to the tower." Lian nods, "Let's go then." Beowulf heads out into the courtyard to stash Lian's mech in the bag, then moves to an out-of-the-way location with the rest of the group and jumps in quickly to check the library on the Yellow Priest's lair. The library proves to have three books which might be of relevance. One is titled 'My Life as a God', which purports to be a diary of one of the Priests in the Yellow Mask. The second is an atlas which includes a map of Leng with a not very useful closeup on the Isle of the Yellow Temple, although it does show that the temple is a nonagon witha gate in each of the nine faces; one such gate connects to a gatehouse which connects to the bridge across the lake. The lake appears to be about 40 miles wide; the bridge runs some 25 miles to the temple. The third is an account by a band of adventurers who tried to rob the temple about how the lake monsters killed most of themand drove off the rest; it claims the serpentine creatures were able to induce despair in their victims, making the kill easier. The first book, unfortunately, talks more about degenerate rites, sex, and things 'too horrible to be described', although you get the impression the temple has nine stories with a huge courtyard in the center. ===== ===== Beowulf asks, "OOC If only one gate leads to the bridge, what do the other gates lead to? IOW, is there a substantial area of ground between the temple walls and the lake, or is there something else?" There's a wide beach area the other gates open on. Beowulf says, "OOC They seem to like nines. o.o I wonder what would happen if we could come up with some octiron to drop in the middle of their wards? :)" Beowulf asks, "OOC What else does the map show about the countryside? Anything useful?" John says, "OOC The countryside is gently rolling land, a half dozen roads twist and bend around to lead to the bridge onto the island." Beowulf says, "OOC Right. Wasn't expecting to see any strongholds marked on the map, at least usefully since it's 40 years out of date, but wouldn't hurt to check." John says, "OOC IT would be pretty easy to evade the fortresses in the area." Beowulf asks, "OOC Any real details about the lake monster attacks or the emotional problems they supposedly inspired?" John says, "OOC THey tried to cross the lake at night, and three serpentine creatures appeared. Everyone but their mage and one of their fighting types became hideously depressed and just sat there as the boat got hit by the creatures and capsized. The mage flew away and the warrior managed to swim to shore while everyone else got eaten." John says, "OOC He says the serpents were about sixty feet long and several feet wide." Beowulf asks, "OOC Ah. And did the warrior-type also have a strong mind, or a mental protection item?" John says, "OOC The account does not say, simply that he blessed the gods for his escape." Beowulf OOCly nods, and pops back out of the bag. ======== ======== Beowulf fills the others in on what he found. "Interesting fascination with nine, there -- shows up in the Black Heart prophecy as well." Lian asks, "Yes ... makes one wonder, doesn't it?" Naru says, "Everyone needs a hobby." Beowulf asks, "Looks like the main worry, though, is the emotional tampering the adventuring party went through. How's everyone's psychic protection look?" Lian shrugs, "It can be arranged. The question is, does one have to worry about this tampering on every approach, or is it possible to avoid the beasties?" Touga says, "It's probably hard to slip past them, as I assume they were put there to prevent use of the lake approach." Lian asks, "Maybe an air approach, then?" Lily nods. "Flying avoids the lake monsters. Hopefully." Beowulf says, "Right, that's what we had in mind." Lian smiles at Thoric, "Wanna fly with me again?" Beowulf asks, "The beach margin around the walls... hm, I wonder how confident they are in the defense of the lake, or will they have that trapped?" Motoko says, "OOC: I promise, no Oliver Cromwell this time." Thoric says, "Flying and avoiding the monsters sounds good to me." Lian says, "Expect traps ... paranoia is a survival trait for successful Yellow Priests." Beowulf smiles. "Right. While we might not disturb the lake monsters by flying instead of boating, I'd still like to make sure everyone's got psychic protection or can handle a psychic attack. I can make automatic-switching psychic barriers now, which should help, though they would still be vulnerable to dispelling." Naru says,"That would be a good idea." Beowulf goes ahead and quickly makes 8 pt. barriers for everyone in the bag -- since it doesn't switch on until attack, shouldn't be a hassle even for our psyche folks, right? John says, "OOC Yep, it'll be just fine." Beowulf hands out the barriers. "Ready to go, folks?" He takes out the trump of Taylor's tower and holds out hands to the rest of the group. Lian says, "Ready." Beowulf trumps out to the tower as soon as everyone's ready, keeping the psyche folks in the center and the fighting crew on the outside to protect them when they arrive. You land in the rubble of a trashed out tower. It's strewen in bits all over the landscape. Beowulf blinks. "My. Something was *very* thorough about destroying this place." Lian looks around and nods. "Yeeeees, I would agree." Naru looks embarrassed. "That was us." Lian says, "Good work, Naru." She says, "We sort of accidentally smashed it to tiny bits." Beowulf smiles kindly at Naru. "Ah? Well, you did a good job of it." "With ourselves trying desperately to get out of it." Beowulf asks, "What happened?" Naru says, "Well, basically, Taylor's tower had an Outsider imprisoned in it to use as a magical power supply, and we, um...ahaha. We sort of broke the wards on it and turned it loose." Lian says, "... oooookay. That was not a good idea." Beowulf covers his eyes. "Oh, dear." He pats Naru comfortingly on the shoulder. "Well, at least you survived." Naru says, "It wasn't the shining moment of our mission, especially since it destroyed a lot of what we came looking for." Lian sighs and shakes her head. "Did you at least catch up and destroy it, or do we have to worry about rampaging outsider trying to eat us?" Beowulf asks, "You searched afterwards, then?" Thoric says, "Yeah, Kentaro told me about that. Sounds like you never learned rule #1. If a door has runes on it intended to keep people out...then KEEP OUT. People don't just heavily ward things for fun." Naru winces a bit. "We assumed Taylor had something important in there." Beowulf nods slowly. "A not unreasonable assumption, I suppose. What happened to it?" Naru says, "We had to...umm...get Gabrielle to dispose of it." Beowulf sees Naru looking embarrassed and decides not to press further. "If Gabrielle took care of it, then I doubt it'll be around to disturb us here." He smiles nastily at the thought of what Gabrielle could do to it. Lian grins briefly. "Gaby's got some experience with that." Beowulf says, "Well, if you searched the ruins before you left, there's probably nothing more we need to do here; time to move out." He pulls the hamster humvee out of the bag. You all pile into the Humvee and start off down the road. Lian asks, "Say, Bey ... do you have any recent news about Kanna and the others?" Beowulf says, "OOC Once we start getting close to the lake, stop at the point where they might be able to see it from the walls." Beowulf says, "OOC see *us* from the walls. :p" Moriya falls asleep. You cruise across the countryside. By the afternoon, you see the lake in the distance. You get out and stash the humvee. Next? Beowulf says, "Looks like their mission in the Akashan League was a success, according to Aunt Nanami; they took out the Taylors stirring up trouble, managed to save the inhabited planets in the Akashan home system after Gaav of House Tremere sent its sun nova, and destroyed Maggedon." Lian smiles slightly. "Good ... " ===== ===== Beowulf says, "OOC Now that we're on foot, about how far can we be seen across the countryside? Though it sounds like the adventuring party didn't have any trouble getting to the lakeside." John says, "OOC At the high points, you can see and be seen for about fifteen miles. At the low points, you can't be seen from very far away; the countryside rolls a lot." Beowulf OOCly nods. ====== ====== Beowulf does a quick seek in shadow to confirm that the Jewel they're looking for is in the temple... presumably we can't pinpoint its location any closer until we get closer to the temple? Trying to shadow walk to the Jewel you seek points you towars the temple. Beowulf says, "Right. Let's move in towards the lake, staying low when we can, and moving to an area that hopefully doesn't have a gate facing it." You spend the rest of the day slowly picking your way closer to the lake. It looks like you won't make it before sunset; do you want to keep marching through the night or stop and make camp? Lian votes for stop, camp, and gather data. Beowulf hmmms. Thoric says, "Me too. Marching at night, just means you fall in the pits easier." Beowulf nods. "Right; we should be able to find a pretty safe spot to camp." Beowulf OOCly goes over the party in his mind and tries to find watch groups that include at least one psyche person and one fighter. :) You find a dell to camp in by a spring. You settle down and have a meal of trail rations (Yum! Not.) Thoric says, "Well, this has been easy so far. Let's hope it stays that way." Beowulf nods. "And definitely shouldn't get overconfident." He smiles. Lian just looks at Thoric, then shakes her head. "Touga? Got a moment?" Touga says, "I always have a moment for a lovely lady." He comes over to Lian. Lily begins putting up some wards for the camp. Thoric munches on his trail rations. "The sooner we can get this over with, the better." Beowulf nods. "I know. And get your mother and grandfather back." Lian chuckles softly. "Flatterer. I need you to keep an eye on me while I take a look at the land ahead of us and our target. If I do any funny twitching or such, knock me out?" Lian says, "Or reinforce me, both will do." Touga says, "I would be most happy to fulfill your desire." He smiles. Lian shakes her head, smiling, then finds a quiet place to sit down. Beowulf suggests watch teams for the night of Lian/Thoric, Mitsune/Makoto, Lily/Bey, and Naru/Touga, as that gives a fighter and a psyche person. Naru says, "Sounds pretty good to me." Lian . o O ( OOC: Time for some farscrying. Activate spell, activate Lens, and go. ) Beowulf keeps an eye out for Lian as she searches as well. You begin to extend your spell off towards the temple. The tendril quickly slides along the ground. The lake shines a faint green under the starlight. Your keen mind can feel the magics protecting the walls of the temple itself. Lian reports what she sees, as usual. Beowulf hmmms. "The lake -- is it green as in glowing, or something magical?" Lian . o O ( OOC: Probably green as in natural lake at night. ) It's glowing a faint green due to glowing algae in it. Lian directs the tendril in for a closer look at the protective magics. They look designed to zap people who approach the walls too closely. Lian . o O ( Quick analysis. Danger zone would be how far out, most likely? ) Actually on the island itself. The lake is miles across, and the wards likely won't notice things n the water or on the lake shore. Lian . o O ( Anything covering the air approach? ) Not visible from outside the walls. Moriya wakes up. Lian . o O ( Send the tendril around the lake to look at it from all sides and raise the point of view, carefully. At first sign of someone noticing, go down to hide. ) The wards go all the way around the temple. How far away from the temple are you going to raise your scrying view point upwards? Lian . o O ( Still outside the island perimeter, as far away as I can be while still having a decent view. ) You rise up to try to get a look and discover the roof is warded and so is the air over the central courtyard, whcih is itself a nonagon. Lian says, "Hm ... looks like we can't just fly in." Lily asks, "Aerial wards?" Lian says, "Yes." Beowulf asks, "Unless we have a way to slip through the wards, yes. Are there any breaks in them at the gates?" Lian . o O ( Analysis. ) You have the impression that when the gates open up, the doorways aren't warded. So people can open the doors and go out with getting zapped. Beowulf nods, as that makes sense. Lian . o O ( But the doors are warded when closed? ) Yes. Lian says, "Nice fortress." Beowulf hmmms. "How likely are we to be able to slip through/cut through the wards?" he asks the various psyche deities in the party. Lian . o O ( What are the wards keyed to? Magical, physical, living, dead matter? Possibility of unweaving? ) The wards seem to be set to zap anything not filled with Outsidery Goodness. Lian grimaces. "Did I mention I hate those Outsider freaks?" Beowulf says, "I can't say I'm surprised. One of the few groups I want to see wiped off the face of the Universe." Lian says, "We're working on it, Bey. But there's a lot of them." Beowulf hmmms. "You were in Kadath with Kanna, right? Did you pick up on any good ways to fight Outsidery tricks there?" Lian . o O ( What do my mad skillz tell me? ) Your mad skills tell you that you could try picking a hole in the wards, but the wards themselves are just ordinary magic, and things like Elder signs won't affect them. And filling yourself with Outsidery Goodness wouldn't be a very good idea. Beowulf hmmms. "Do the wards extend underground? It's one of the classic tricks, so I'd be surprised if they don't prepare for it, but there's always the possibility." You can't tell without extending your scrying onto the island, which might set off the wards. Lian says, "Difficult to say ... I'd have to get really close above-ground, or find a tunnel or such leading through the wards underground. And both would have a high possibility of my attempt being noticed." Beowulf nods. "Carving a hole in the wards still looks like the best idea, then? I'm afraid I'm a bit out of my depth here." Touga says, "We'll need most likely to carve a hole in the wards." Lian says, "Looks like it, yes ... I rather doubt they'd just open the doors for us." Beowulf grins. "Well, there's sneaking in past someone when they open the doors, but I tend to agree, depending on how strong those doors are." Beowulf says, "OOC How strong the *wards* are. :p" Lian . o O ( How strong do they look? Zap, hurt, or turn-to-ashes? ) The wards will easily kill shadow people and probably give very nasty shocks to those made of tougher stuff, plus set off alarms. Lian says, "They look pretty nasty. We'll set off alarms in any case, so this looks like an assault operation ... open a hole, get in, get the jewel, kill anything in our way, and get out as soon as possible." Beowulf says, "So cutting a hole through the wards would set off the alarms, no matter what?" He checks the watch to see what powers are active here. Touga says, "Well, I think I can make us a hole in the wards without setting off the alarms. Although I'll need to get closer to see for myself." Everything works here. Beowulf nods. "Right. Any nifty Pattern tricks you could use to help? All powers seem to be active here." Lian nods. "If you can do that, that would help a lot." Beowulf brings the muddy map of the temple he saw to mind. The inside was all one big courtyard, right? Anything Lian could see through the wards to firm that picture up? The wards were transparent; you could see a big fountain, nine gates into the walls, and lots of pretty plants and statues. Beowulf asks, "OOC No major buildings, though? All of the population/rooms/etc. inside the outer walls?" John says, "OOC Yep. It's like the Pentagon, but with nine sides. :)" John says, "OOC THe courtyard is fairly small compared to the rest of the place." Beowulf thinks and tries to work out the best assault plan, given what they've seen so far. Beowulf turns to Touga. "If you can open a hole through the wards, where would that put us in relation to the temple? On the roof, or in the courtyard?" Touga says, "It depends on where we open the wards. I could try it anywhere along the perimeter." Beowulf nods. "I was hoping to turn Mitsune and Makoto loose in a different area of the temple from where we were heading, but it sounds like we'll all pretty much have to go in at the same spot." Beowulf turns to Mitsune and Makoto. "Have any ideas based on what we've seen so far, or do you need more information?" Mitsune says, "Until we know the internal layout, I can't suggest much, other than that if we could maybe take the place of someone who has business to just walk in, that would get us past the defenses." Makoto says, "I'm inclined to fly over at night, get Touga to open the wards, then we can drop down through them, fix the wards, then find some source of a map of the place. Or maybe wait a day or two and see if anyone comes out we can ambush to get what they know of the layout." Lian turns to Touga. "If we have to make a hole, I'd suggest teamwork. You take care of the alarms, I open the shield." Beowulf nods to Makoto. "Right. Let's wait a day and see if we can intercept anyone coming out, and get some feel for the rhythm of the place in operation." Beowulf says, "Once we see what traffic's like, we can get some idea of whether we could try sneaking in shapeshifted, or whether it'd be better to try and cut a hole through the wards and drop in." Naru nods. "We can lurk in Ambush and watch. There are caravans in some areas, I know." Beowulf says, "Right. When morning comes, let's see what we can find for a good ambush spot." Thoric says, "I suppose playing some music would attract too much attention." Beowulf smiles reluctantly at Thoric. "Probably. Though if you play softly..." Lily says, "I could put up a cone of silence to keep the noise from drifting." Lian says, "Active spell might be more noticable than music, though ..." Lily says, "At eight miles away? They'd need to be pretty sensitive, I think." Lian says, "Or have a spell equivalent to the one I used." Lily says, "I'd like to hope we'd notice if they were spying on us." Thoric sighs. "Never mind." Lian says, "I prefer to expect the worst on a mission like this one, Lily. That way the only surprises will be good ones." Lily nods. "That's true." Beowulf says, "Well, we're not likely to be heard from seven miles off..." He smiles at Thoric. "Or if everyone's worried, we could adjourn to the bag for you to play for us; I'd happily keep watch while you relax in fasttime." Thoric says, "Best we not risk you getting picked off alone, Beowulf." He sighs. "I'm going to bed." Lily asks, "Who's on watch first? We'd best all get our sleep." Beowulf smiles sadly. "I'm sorry, Thoric. When this is all over, I'd love to hear you play." He cheers up for a moment. "How well do you like big band music?" Thoric says, "It's very nice. I like symphonic style music." Beowulf asks, "OOC How about Mitsune/Makoto first, Naru/Touga, Lily/Bey, and Thoric/Lian? Unless someone looks particularly more or less tired?" John says, "OOC Sounds reasonable." Beowulf says, "Someday I need to take you all to Fibber McGee's Closet so we can see Benny Goodman play." Thoric says, "That would be fun." He immediately flops over and goes to sleep. Lian gets comfortable, writing for a little bit before she too goes to sleep. Beowulf does one last check 'round the camp before lying down with Lily. You all settle down to get some sleep, except for Mitsune and Makoto (Unless either of you has something else you want to do?) All is calm. Lily cuddles up to you and you all fall asleep. Beowulf says, "OOC I'd like to talk a little with Lily about Nanami's bad blood with her, but we can always do that later and I don't want to waste Brem's time. :)" Eventually, you get woken up for your watch by a bleary Naru. "Rise and shine, Uncle Beowulf," she says. Beowulf says, "Thank you, Naru. In case I haven't said it enough, I really appreciate you coming along." He pats her on the shoulder and wakes Lily up so they can stand watch. Beowulf asks Touga if he saw anything interesting, if he isn't asleep already. Naru smiles. "You're welcome." She yawns. "I go sleep now." Touga says, "It's been boring so far. We just wandered around and had a nice chat." Beowulf nods. "Good enough." Beowulf says, "And thanks to you for coming along, as well." He says, "It's a good way to get to know my relatives. I haven't seen much of any of you, really." Beowulf nods. "I can imagine, always being off on missions and the like. It felt very strange, coming to Amber with Mother for the first time, and finding all these relatives I didn't know anything about." Touga says, "I can still remember when the royal family consisted only of myself, Drake, and Tylor, so long ago." He seems very far away as he speaks. "When Amber was but a city, and Harad but a rabble of farmers, and the southern cities little holes in the wall. I have seen very much change. Very much." Touga says, "I remember nations that don't exist, and people who are nothing but dust. Almost everyone with whom I spent my youth has fallen or been lost or perished. And yet, I endure." Beowulf nods. "That must have been... very lonely, actually." He looks at Touga. "I wonder what it must be like, to have seen so many of the family grow up around you. Do we mostly seem like children, to you?" Touga looks thoughtful. "Yes, you often do. Although many of your generation, I met as already adults, at least in theory. I sometimes wonder if Father always felt this way about us. It would explain much." Beowulf smiles ruefully, thinking of the antics of a few of his peers. "...at least in theory. Yes." He sighs. "What... was it like, knowing Grandfather?" Touga says, "Father used us all like pawns in his game. He pushed us without mercy to become what we are. He discarded our mothers when they were no longer useful to him, or when he tired of them, or when they got in the way of something he wanted. One of the few good things I can say is that he played no favorites. And he did it all for Amber's good. Well, almost all. I must say, regretfully, that you are likely better off not to have known him." Beowulf sighs. "I suppose... that's what ruling for so many years can do to you. I'm glad Uncle Tylor has managed to stay happy." He shudders. "I don't think I'd ever want to be King." Beowulf asks, "Was he any different when you and he were younger?" Touga looks up at the stars. "It always amazes me that he chose Tylor as his heir. Tylor was less like him than any of us. I think sometimes, that perhaps he understood that the time for ruthlessness had passed. That Amber no longer needed a tyrant. But..." Touga says, "Father became harder and harsher as the years progressed. The crown pressed ever harder upon his brow. I can only dimly remember my childhood, but it seems to me that he was kinder then. But after things fell apart with Mother..." Beowulf nods slowly. "I can understand that... was it the first time he had to face a serious breakup in a relationship, I wonder?" Touga says, "I know little of his life before I was born. But what happened with Mother was far harsher than any normal breakup." Beowulf winces in pain. "I've heard... a little of that. What was it like, then, if you don't mind talking about it?" Touga says, "I have been over it too many times in my mind to visit it again. I will say simply that Father chose caution over hope and paid the price for it." Beowulf nods. "Yes. I've had... at least one time when I really messed up by doing that, and I'm just thanking the Unicorn that it wasn't fatal." He sighs. "I wish he could have been more like Uncle Tylor... perhaps that's why he picked him. Because he wanted to be more like him?" Touga says, "Well, Tylor was the eldest as well. And I know Anthy favored him. I think she helped to convince Father. But yes, I think that perhaps he hoped Tylor could make a fresh start of things." Beowulf says, "And so far, from what I can see, it looks like he has." He smiles. "I just hope he and Aunt Yuriko can have lots of little heirs and he can retire while he still has joy in life." Lian awakens in the dark and stretches, trying to be quiet. Beowulf says, "Up already, Lian? Your shift isn't for a while yet." Lian murmurs, "Couldn't sleep ... " Beowulf looks sheepish. "Sorry if we were talking too loud. Want us to move away for a bit, or would you like to Plot Evil Doings on the Outsiders?" Touga says, "I am sorry to have woken you with my loud ramblings on the past, Lian." Lian gets up and wanders over to Bey and Touga. "Dark plots in the middle of the night? Nah. Some things I'd rather do during the day." She smiles at Touga, "You didn't, Touga, don't worry. Ramble on, if you wish." Beowulf asks, "When it was just huts, and the city... was it calmer back then? More peaceful?" Touga nods. "Yes and no. We thought little of shadow, and much of simply keeping Amber alive ina world full of barbarian nations. There were times of peace and beauty, and times of war and death and horror." He says, "All of us have wallowed through rivers of blood at times, to keep Amber safe." Lian says, "And there will be more of that in the years to come, I'm afraid ..." Beowulf nods. "I can see where that was necessary..." He looks around at the surroundings, taking in the Large Outsider Temple by implication. "Sometimes, though, I wonder how much of that is turning people that we might have gotten along with into enemies. Like with Lord Alars." Beowulf asks, "Or am I just being a young idealistic fool?" Sana_Kurata falls asleep. Touga says, "Some enemies will never be friends." Touga says, "Some differences can't be reconciled." He continues, "But some can. It is usually very hard to be sure which is which." Beowulf smiles ruefully. "Isn't that the truth. I'm hoping this will be one of the latter ones -- that after we return his Eye, Daffyl will be willing to try and talk things over. Perhaps let one of us try and pass the test that Morgan should have tried to take, to prove our worthiness for Merehallow." Touga says, "We shall have to see." Lian says, "First we have to get the Eye, though ... and this cult is definitely NOT friendly, or has the potential for it. What they worship, what they are ... " She shakes her head. Touga says, "Beings of power are often not very rational creatures." Beowulf grins. "I thought you wanted to save the dark plotting for daylight?" The smile slides away from his face, and he nods soberly. "But yes, Outsiders and their followers are one of the few groups I want to wipe out, root and branch." Lian nods. "They are a loathsome bunch ... the more I learn, the more I dislike them. And speaking of wiping out ... can you give me my mech?" Beowulf pulls Lian's Knight out of the bag. "What did you have in mind?" Lian goes around it and opens a panel, revealing a cylinder about 3 ft. tall and 1 ft. in diameter. "To see if I can somehow get this to work here." Beowulf asks, "And? What is?" Lian closes the panel again and turns back to Bey. "Boom." Touga says, "That doesn't look like the sort of device that's likely to work here." Beowulf raises his eyebrows. "Boom?" Beowulf nods to Touga. "I went with the hamster humvee rather than the version that molds shadow to get its tech to work because I had a feeling these folks might be rather quicker to pick up on shadow being molded around them." Lian nods, "I know, Touga. But if I can find a way ... if not, I'll just have to look into other possibilities." He nods. Beowulf says, "How big a boom do you want? We could always see if Aeris could trump in an asteroid or something..." Lian says, "Asteroid strike's another possibility, yes." Beowulf sighs. "Not that it's likely to be permanent, if I understood my research correctly. Something, and I'm guessing Outsiders, seems to take enough of an interest in this place to keep re-creating it when it gets destroyed." Lian grimaces. "Don't remind me ... some day, once the current crisis is over, I'll have to look into that." Beowulf smiles crookedly. "Call me when you're ready. I'd like to help." Lian says, "I'll remember it when the day comes." Beowulf asks, "How's your campaign with the Borg coming?" Lian says, "Well enough, I hope. If nothing interferes, we should be able to take over BorgNet relatively soon." Beowulf asks, "What are you going to do with it once you have it?" Lian shrugs, "I'll have to see. But there'll always be a need for loyal minions." Lian says, "Also, there is still a possibility of construct connections. That was really my original reason to get into BorgNet ... find out if they were just unwitting pawns, or maybe actual parts." Touga nods. "Yes." Beowulf nods. "Let me know what you find out, OK? Oh, did I tell you about that site I found in the library that sounded like it matched up with both the Hel prophecy out of the Red Book and the Black Heart prophecy?" Lian hms. "I think not ... " Beowulf says, "Well, there's a place out in shadow called the Old World, which has evil beings rather like Outsiders. One of them is known as the Elder Elemental Eye, relating to the Red Book prophecy." Beowulf says, "And there's an empire there which was founded by Sigmar Heidenhammer, relating to the 'empire united by a hammer' from the Black Heart prophecy." Lian nods slowly ... Beowulf says, "I'm not sure if it's the *best* fit for either one, but the fact that it correlates with both places suggests that it's something worth checking out." Lian says, "I vaguely remember the place ... it's been a while." Lian says, "Maybe you're right, and it's something to look into." Beowulf says, "Hm. Well, I'm planning on checking it out... probably do it after trying to wipe Mobius and his construct." Beowulf says, "I wonder what would happen if we did a seek in shadow for the Elder Elemental Eye mentioned in the Red Book? We might have saved some time in Mystara if we'd tried doing that for the Black Pharoah." Lian says, "Try it after we get the Eye here, and see that it gets to whoever is supposed to get it." Lian sighs. "I wish we could keep it ... there's so much I could use it for." Beowulf grins. "First things first, yes." He smiles in sympathy. "I know... I mean, who *couldn't* make use of even a flawed Jewel? But Saionji, Michelle, and Merehallow are more important." Touga nods. Lian nods. "I know. A girl can dream though." Beowulf shrugs. "I guess... well, for a while there were some items that I was really wanting. A spikard. A patternblade. Things like that." Beowulf says, "But after the way the quest for Hoard has stretched out, and seeing the way things like that have gone for other people... they're just tools, when it comes right down to it. And you can do without tools, or make other ones." Lian says, "Patternblades ... eh. Spikard ... something to make when I have the time." Beowulf says, "While I've got Morkeleb now," he pats the dragon staff, "and may eventually get Hoard, I think... it was good to see what I could do with my own resources. To prove that I didn't really *need* them." Lian says, "You may not need them, but they're still useful to have." Beowulf shrugs. "Of course. And it's nice when you can get them. But you can't let yearning after one rule your life." He sits lost in thought for a moment. "I wonder if something like that is what's driving Kuonji?" Lian says, "I haven't actually met him, so I wouldn't know ... but it seems there are people out there who -do- obsess about things like that." "There are many such people, yes." Beowulf nods. "Right. And it's not healthy." He rubs his chin. "Merehallow... well, it's important because of prophecy, if we're interpreting them right, and so it's important that we go through this and get it to Aunt Juri. But while it'd be nice to have, I'm not going to go brooding about wanting it for myself." Lian grins. "I'm not completely free from the impulse myself, but I know that given time, I can make pretty much everything I want myself, so why hunt all over Reality for one elusive little ring?" Beowulf grins back. "Exactly. You can make it yourself or get along without it. Of course, we're conjurors, so it's a bit different for us... but really, I wouldn't mind doing this for just about anyone in the family. Or other folks I like and respect. It isn't like you have to hurt people to get these things. Like what happened in Akasha." Lian says, "I still have no idea what happened there ... but I suppose I'll find out soon enough." Beowulf says, "Basically, the Unicorn Spikard of Wood was the heart of the Akashan's Tree of Life." Lian says, "Fascinating ... I'd like to take a look at it some day." Beowulf says, "And Gaav was willing to destroy the Tree, and the shadow and everyone in it, just to get the spikard. Thank goodness Jacqui, Kanna and the rest were able to stop him." Lian says, "Some people ..." Beowulf says, "That's what I mean by getting obsessed." He grins wryly. "I want to make sure I don't turn into someone like him." Lian says, "If you did, I'd have to kill you. And I wouldn't want to do that." Beowulf raises an eyebrow. "Thanks for the vote of confidence." He grins back crookedly. Lian smiles at Bey. "I rather doubt that that will ever happen, though." Beowulf chuckles. "Thanks." Lian glances at Touga, "Bored? You've been quiet ... " Touga says, "Just listening. I already know the sound of my own voice." He smiles. "I did not have much to say." He says, "I have seen much folly from the lust for material goods in my life." Lian smiles. "The wisdom of ages speaketh ... " Beowulf nods to Touga, smiling a little. "Any particularly illuminative cases? I admit, while you may know the sound of your own voice... it's all new to us. And it's... very good to hear it in the voice of someone who actually saw it." Touga laughs. He tells you some stories about times he's seen people embarrass themselves for money. ===== ===== John says, "OOC DM too tired to think of a really cool one. :)" Beowulf OOCly grins and nods. ===== ===== Beowulf looks at Lian. "Feeling ready to get back to sleep yet? We still have one shift and a bit before we're ready to play in traffic. Or with traffic. Whatever." He smiles a bit. Lian grins. "Next shift would be mine, actually, so I should be the one asking you if you're ready for bed." Beowulf grins. "True enough." He turns to Lily. "Well? Ready go back to sleep? Or want to stay up and talk a bit longer?" Lily says, "I think we'll need our sleep, honey." Beowulf whispers to Lian, "And try to be nice to Thoric, all right? Poor guy, this really isn't his thing at all." Lian looks over to Thoric, then nods to Bey. "I'll try, at least." Thoric snores. Beowulf gives Lily a quick hug. "All right, dear. Let's get some sleep." He gently wakes up Thoric. Lian discreetly pokes Touga in the side. "You should be off to sleep too ... we'll likely need you at your best tomorrow." Touga nods. "Yes, master." He laughs and goes off to sleep. Thoric yawns. "Am I on watch now?" Lian laughs softly. "No cookies for you tomorrow, Touga." She quiets quickly and heads over to Thoric. "Our turn now, yes." Beowulf nods. "Good luck, you two." Beowulf goes off to sleep, with Lily. Lian waits until Thoric seems reasonably awake, then asks quietly, "How're you doing, Thoric?" Thoric says, "Well, most of mother's harem is dead and I haven't been able to bury them, Mother and Grandfather are both in the hands of a bunch of psychotics, I'm depressed, and there's nothing I can do about it. Besides that...fine." Lian winces. "It's been -that- bad?" She shakes her head. "For what's it worth, Thoric ... I'm sorry." Thoric says, "This has been a very crappy week." He sighs. "I should never have gone on Morgan's quest. I was so proud about how it went, but now..." He stares at the ground. "And Mother being dragged into it, and everything..." Thoric shudders. "This sort of thing always happens whenever I get dragged into these adventures. Sooner or later, they go ugly on me." Lian nods, then gently hugs Thoric. "Let's hope that this works out well, then. It's not your fault, really. You did well enough on that trip, from everything I've heard." Thoric says, "I tried to warn her that it would probably get mad, but we were in such a hurry and everything." He leans against you. "I hope they don't get Mutsumi." Lian says, "Now now ... I'm sure Mutsumi's safe. And if we do this right, she will remain so." Thoric nods. "I would be heartbroken to see her get hurt." Lian smiles slightly. "You like her, hm?" Thoric looks faintly embarrassed. "Mutsumi is very kind and sweet and beautiful." Lian nods, "Yup, you like her." He laughs nervously. "She has her eyes elsewhere, though." Lian mm-hmms. "And is there noone else for you?" He says, "Not right now. I've dated various people, but it never worked out." Lian asks, "Have you ever told her?" He says, "No. She's in love with Keitaro pretty obviously." Lian hms. "Already given up, have you?" He says, "I've never been one for banging my head against the wall." Lian says, "I vaguely remember Keitaro being quite ... popular ... with other girls, too. Who knows, you might yet have a chance." Thoric nods. "For that matter, I'll outlive him and so will Mutsumi. But I haven't been pressing very hard because her eyes are elsewhere." Lian nods. "Well, we'll see. And if it really wasn't meant to be ... you're a nice guy, Thoric. There will be more girls, and one of them might be the one." He nods. "I keep telling myself that, but on a night like this, it's hard to believe that." Lian winks, "Trust auntie Lian. When have I ever been wrong?" He laughs. "Like the time with the rabid cow?" Lian says, "Well, apart from that." He says, "So how's your love life been doing, Lian?" Lian smiles, "Well enough, thanks for asking." Thoric sighs. "I almost wish something would attack so I wouldn't have time to think." Lian says, "I don't. I much prefer thinking over fighting, even though it can be even less pleasant." Thoric says, "Normally, I hate fighting, but I need a distraction before I go mad." Lian asks, "Find something else to distract you, then?" He says, "Well, if I didn't have to stand guard, I'd go do something, but as it is, I'm stuck." Lian says, "Right, I knew there was a reason we were up right now ... " She grins. "Talk to me, then. Tell me a story ... " There is a distant rumble of thunder and something about Gideon being a punk ass bitch drifts by on the wind. Or maybe you imagined it. Thoric blinks. Lian asks, "... did you hear anything strange just now?" Thoric says, "Who is Gideon and why does someone think he's a punk ass bitch?" Lian just looks off into the distance, then blinks and shakes her head. "Gideon's my father, Thoric ... and that someone would be the Logrus. They never got along." Thoric nods. "Ahh, one of Corrine's harem, right?" Lian says, "There was no harem, Thoric." He says, "Really? Grandfather was quite certain about it." He goes on, "He caught them all in one bed together once. You'd hardly imagine it of Corrine, but..." Lian blinks, then frowns. "He told you that, didn't he?" Thoric nods. "Yes. He was always bitter because Tylor wouldn't let him have his own harem." Lian looks up at the skies. "Horny old bastard. Trust me, Thoric. There Was No Harem. Anything he's told you about that harem business Isn't True. Auntie Corrine, my father, and my aunt Juri were just friends." Thoric says, "He seemed awfully convinced. Are you sure about that?" Lian just Looks at Thoric. He nods. "Right. No Harem." ==================================== ==================================== John says, "OOC I'm getting tired. Going to cut you guys before we get into anything too serious." Lian . o O ( OOC: 'kay. Continue tonight, then. ) Beowulf OOCly nods. Rod has arrived. camera has left. rodm has arrived. rodm has left. Beowulf waves out tiredly. "Sleep cgood. Seeyah later." Travis Butler tbutler@birch.net ...Cats are the proof of a higher purpose to the universe.