Day 42A: Guards and Shocking Lizards

[Iron Dragoon]

Session Start: Tue Jan 20 11:39:46 2015
Session Ident: #dunes
* Now talking in #dunes
* Topic is 'Ithea(36)>Antenora(32)>Lief(27)>Hound of Gluttony=Muirfinn(16) '
* Set by Kotono on Thu Jan 15 20:04:43
<Kotono> -------
<Kotono> OOC: Okay, ya'll heading back to the ship now?
<Lucy> OOC: YEs
<Moore> OOC: Yar.
<Kotono> The return to the ship is surprisingly eventful. You find Jetina and Veren waiting for you, "You need to come visit Macaron," Jetina says as soon as they get on deck.
<Moore> Moore blinks. "Eh? Is something wrong?"
* Lucy allows Moore to find out the details she wants to know. There is surely a moment to ask about them.
<Pepo> 'Everyone caught some sort of disease that turns you into undead,' Pepo says. 'He can cure it.'
<Veren > "Don't mind the black stuff. I wouldn't touch it, however."
<Lucy> "I'm curious in seeing this," Lucy decides, gesturing for Moore to head on first.
<Moore> Moore rubs his cheek. "I wonder how that happened..." Moore shrugs and will go ask instructed.
<Kotono> The party heads back down to Kamhoff's lab. He's still not in there - wherever he is may be anyone's guess. But Macaron is there, fully black-furred now and waiting. He stares at Lucy before whimpering and going towards Moore.
* Lucy uses Detect Magic to study this phenomenon properly.
* Veren raises an eyebrow at his reaction to Lucy.
<Moore> Moore will fly down so Macaron doesn't have to do any fancy tricks.
<Kotono> Macaron licks Moore's face. Immediately he feels better, as if an unseen poison was gone. Black sludge flows off him and onto the ground in a bubbling puddle. OOC: Spellcraft, Lucy.
<Lucy> roll 1d20+17
<Moore> "Oh wow, gross!" Moore calls out with a frown. "I wonder when that happened exactly... If we ever go back, we'll have to be more careful..."
* Serith (~iron_drag@cpe-173-172-46-15.tx.res.rr.com) has joined #dunes
<Lucy> "Why would we ever go back?"
<Lucy> roll 1d20+17
<Serith> Lucy roll for Serith < 28 > 12 [d20=11]
<Veren > "Treasure pit?"
<Lucy> "It's only money."
<Veren > "And possibly powerful and ancient magical items."
<Kotono> It's some sort of corruption. It's...familiar to Lucy. It gives a faint sense of nostalgia if anything at all. But that's all she can figure from it.
<Lucy> "I remain doubtful. Their best powerful, ancient magical item was... a shiny abjuration gem."
<Lucy> She shrugs, then, and extends her arm towards the dog.
<Kotono> Macaron looks at Lucy's hand, makes a show of licking it and then shakes his head. How a dog manages that is a fair question, but somehow he does. Notably, no corruption comes from Lucy at all. No black sludge.
<Veren > "Immunity?"
<Moore> "Huh... maybe you're immune to it?" Moore suggests.
<Lucy> "I thought as much," Lucy muses. "As if some corruption from a long-dead lich could corrupt a mage such as I?"
<Moore> "I wonder if that's really the reason..." Moore says with a shrug. "Either way, at least we got it dealt with."
<Veren > "I doubt it's quite so simple as 'magely power,' but as long as you don't turn into a lich yourself, I suppose it's of minimal concern."
<Lucy> "Well then. For our part, we got a lead on a medusa that left for Rossalund. Mister Rocky will decide if he wishes to pursue this further. If so, I intend to offer my services for that. If not, my plans involve meeting Miss Aria tomorrow. Once again, should anyone wish to accompany me, that would be welcome."
<Kotono> As the party chats, the door opens. Old Kamhoff peers in, "All of you, there's someone from the fucking city here to see all of you."
<Pepo> 'Who?' Pepo asks.
<Moore> "I'd like to find out exactly how they intend to prepare for the pirates." Moore says. "I mean, if we need to battle them or something... It'd be nice to know ahead of--oh." Moore turns his attention to Kamhoff. "Perhaps we can just ask directly, then."
<Lucy> "That was prompt?" Lucy says, though she seems dubious. She nods at Kamhoff, and decides to go and look who is there.
* Veren follows.
<Pepo> For lack of a better plan, Pepo heads after them.
<Kotono> On the top deck is a squad of soldiers, along with an old mage. The classic, white bear, robe, staff. The whole nine yards. He pauses to adjust his blue robe and then says, "Greetings. I need to talk to all of you."
<Kotono> The soldiers stand around, a loose box around the wizard. They look fairly on guard, with long spears at the ready.
<Moore> "By all means!" Moore says with an agreeable tone. "What can we do for you?"
<Lucy> "Perhaps we could discuss whatever this is over tea?" Lucy adds.
<Kotono> "No need for such formality," The old wizard says, "I'm here on official business. Recently, there was a spat of trouble in town. A shapeshifter - probably a doppelganger or the like - was investigating illegal wares within the city. Our scries sussed out the attempt before it went anywhere, but the shapeshifter got away. Further divinations suggest we'll find the shapeshifter on this ship."
<Lucy> "You don't say," Lucy deadpans.
* Veren sighs and steps forward.
<Pepo> And here's Pepo without any power points. Really if they use true seeing it'll just be awkward for everyone... still, he does his best to remain hidden conventionally.
<Pepo> roll 1d20+34 stealth
<Serith> Pepo roll for Serith < 51 > 12 [d20=17]
<Veren > "You will, indeed. It was me. You're a bit mistaken, I was searching for illegal wares. I was looking for information."
<Kotono> "You're the shapeshifter?" The mage repeats, giving him a once over, "Forgive me if I request a demonstration."
* Veren raises an eyebrow, but shifts into the winged elf.
<Moore> Moore looks thoughtful for a moment. "Well, I don't know if Mister Rocky has explained it to you or not, but we're here to try and help with a problem that your scrying couldn't detect... So that may explain the entire thing." Moore says. "So if there's an issue with what Veren was doing..."
<Moore> OOC: I doubt that calls for a Diplomacy or Bluff check but if it does let me know.
<Kotono> "I am aware." The wizard said, "Under the current circumstances, we're inclined to allow this incident to rest. Rather than going and asking for illegal things, ask your contacts such as Rocky or Aria. Either with suffice."
* Veren nods.
<Veren > "At the time, it wasn't regarding anything concerning them."
<Moore> Moore smacks his forehead.
<Lucy> "Are you quite certain you won't stop for tea, Mister...?"
<Kotono> "Amarde," He says, "John Amarde. I'm afraid not, there's very good odds of a drunkard trying to beat his wife to death in a few hours. We need to be there to break it up and arrest him if the seers are right."
<Moore> "Ah, well, I'm glad we cleared up this matter either way." Moore says.
<Lucy> "In that case, might I accompany you for this to observe? I must admit I'm fascinated by the way you deal with crime."
<Kotono> "Certainly," he says, "The rest of you keep your noses clean, alright?" That gets a look at Veren in particular.
<Lucy> "Excellent!"
* Veren shrugs.
* Veren shifts back into the female merchant form the wizard saw him in before.
<Kotono> OOC: Okay, Lucy into #evil. For the rest of you, Veren wanted to go buy a lizard, right?
<Pepo> OOC: I'll just hide and sleep on the ship
<Veren > OOC: Yep.
<Kotono> OOC: What about you, Moore?
<Kotono> OOC: Okay, Veren in here and Pepo and Moore into #terror.
<Kotono> Veren finds the shocker lizard store on the edge of town. It's tucked away, surrounded by space on all sides. Not quite open fields, but large spaces akin to grassless lawns, nothing but packed dirt. The building itself has a solid, windowless stone construction, with the roof being glass that lets the light of the glow in.
* Veren attempts to enter.
<Kotono> Simple enough. The front is a small, comfortable room. A few stuffed chairs are here, with a door leading deeper in. A small bell is there, along with a sign reading (in several languages) "Ring for service."
* Veren rings the bell.
<Kotono> The man that comes out wears a black tunic and pants. He's sour faced and sharp eyed, meeting Veren's gaze immediately. A bit on the short side, but human, save for a horn jutting from the center of his forehead. It's only a few inches long and polished white. "G'day," he greets, "Interested in one of the lizards?"
* Veren nods.
<Veren > "I am. A friend of mine is a... Talking cat. And another has some kind of dragon-dog. I need something suitably impressive to fit in."
<Kotono> "200 gold will do it, local currency is preferred." The man says, "Ever seen a shocker lizard before?"
<Veren > "Not personally. What do I need to know about them?"
* Veren hands the gold over.
<Kotono> "They're prone to staring a lot. They're quick hunters and capture prey with electric jolts. They don't have much use or interest in humanoids, at least alone, but they'll tolerate them and mine are trained to obey." He goes back, coming back out with a greenish -blue lizard. Crackles of lightning regularly cascade about its body. It's small enough to be carried by him, passed over to Veren.
<Kotono> The lizard just stares at Veren, unblinking.
* Veren nods to the mage and stares back.
<Veren > "What can they be trained to do?"
<Kotono> "He has several commands he knows already. Come, Defend, Down, Guard, Perform and Fetch. He should pick up a name fairly quickly if you choose one for him. Just use it consistently when referring to him."
* Veren nods.
<Veren > "Have you ever tried to increase their intelligence with magic?"
<Kotono> "Can't say as I have," The man says, pausing to count the gold.
<Veren > "Hmm... Well, if there's nothing else you think I should know, I suppose I'll be leaving. If this one works out well enough, I might return for another."
<Kotono> "It will," The man promises.
* Veren nods, places the lizard on his shoulder and turns to leave, to rejoin the others at the ship.
<Kotono> Back to the ship. Kamhoff's back out there, holding a strange, rusty helmet to the light. Ghastly thing - it's even dripping blood every now and again. "There you are and did you take leave of your fucking senses?!" Kamhoff stares.
* Veren gives Kamhoff a questioning stare.
<Veren > "In what way?"
<Kotono> "You have a fucking shocker lizard, that's what! Those things..." He shudders, taking his helmet off with him. "Okay, you want to invite a spiky gargoyle or he invites himself and his ass-gas stinking self, fine. I can live with that. But a shocker lizard? Those things..." Another shudder. "They make massive hives underground by the hundreds, or thousands for the bigger ones. They don't much
<Kotono> care for visitors."
<Kotono> The lizard stares at Kamhoff, all while sending gentle shocks through Veren. They don't feel bad at all, just tiny little tingles.
<Veren > "It's trained. I plan to acclimate it to the others. It's only a single lizard, as well."
<Veren > "But, I promise if I decide I want another to speak to you about it first. It is your boat, after all."
<Kotono> Kamhoff calls back something rather colorful, but nothing else. Meanwhile, the lizard contentedly crackles in your arms. OOC Few questions. Are you going to name him?
<Veren > OOC: Yeah, but I don't really have any decent ideas for a name at the moment.
<Kotono> OOC: That's fine, you can consider it at length.
<Kotono> OOC: Just come up with something or another.
<Veren > OOC: Alrighty.
<Kotono> OOC: We'll pause you here. I'm going to start winding rooms down so we can start fresh 'morrow.
Session Close: Tue Jan 20 14:03:03 2015