Day 43A: Spellpool Party!

[Iron Dragoon]

Session Start: Wed Jan 21 11:27:48 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> A  new day comes. The party is rested and recovered, a quiet breakfast shared by all. Little brings more fish, Kamhoff provides his normal sailor's meal and even Bolethon produces a strange sort of egg dish that goes well with it all. After that, Rocky comes on by, the party meeting him on the ship's deck. "Ah, a rolling good day," he announces, "Since the rolling rock has indeed gathered moss.
<Kotono> We're going to be testing the gem's defenses soon."
* Lucy just ignores the terrible puns, and smiles at him. "Good morning, Mister Rocky!" she says in greeting. "Might I ask if we are going to be pursuing the traveling medusa?"
* Veren nods to Rocky while feeding a small bit of his left over breakfast to his lizard.
<Pepo> Wanting to see if the gem performs to expectations, Pepo walks over towards Rocky and then sits down to wait, making sure to keep his eyes on the lizard at all times.
<Kotono> The shocker lizard seems to like the meat, at least. Meanwhile Rocky chuckles, "Oh no, not right away. Today at least is focused on our defense. If everything goes according to plan, we may look into it tomorrow or the day after. After all, if we don't have a rock solid foundation, anything we build on it won't stand up anyway." Now he gestures to the far horizon, out into the glow, "It should
<Kotono> be starting soon. Watch."
<Moore> Moore will turn his attention and simply watch!
<Pepo> Accepting that, Pepo jumps up onto the railing for a better view.
* Veren turns to watch in the direction Rocky points.
* Lucy quietly finds a good spot for herself where she won't be in the way.
<Kotono> Kamhoff crosses his arms and stares ahead. It's pure radiance, though admittedly, the veils help a lot. Jetina isn't up here right now, nor is Bolethon. Little's hanging to the side, closest to Pepo if anyone.
<Kotono> After a few minutes of waiting? A loud woosh sound is heard, as if all the air was being sucked up. Ahead a great cerulean barrier appears, about 1000ft out from the city. It stretches from side to side farther than you can see, a translucent barrier of color. It tints everything around the same color. Rocky snaps his fingers,  "Oh yes, I do think it's a mountainous success!"
<Pepo> So long as it can be maintained anyway.
< Veren > "It seems very impressive."
<Kotono> "Oh, it is. It's equal to a wall of force that covers the entire island's perimeter. It'll stop any lightskimmers stone cold." Rocky remarks.
<Lucy> "What is it supposed to guard against, Mister Rocky?"
<Lucy> "So it would be weak to Disintegrate, but little else weaker than it?"
<Kotono> "Mmm-hmm," Rocky remarks, "Even that should be manageable since the gem is so strong. In other words, we should be safe unless they have a  resourceful archmage." Rocky says. "At worst, this buys us time to fully prepare."
<Veren > "Hmm... What would other preparations be? Interceptor ships of some sort?"
<Lucy> "Are you going to do a live test with an actual lightskimmer?" Lucy adds curiously.
<Pepo> 'You could use it to separate the enemy fleet so as to handle them piecemeal,' Pepo suggests to Rocky.
<Lucy> "An advantageous plan," Lucy muses. "Although a dangerous one as well, if their agents in the city have not been weeded out yet."
<Moore> "Actually, that... I never did ask, you had mentioned you all found a block... could there be others?" Moore asks.
<Kotono> "A seer block?" Rocky rubs his chin, "We're working on that. We're going to be doing some tests later today, speaking of that." Now Rocky smiles - it's not the nicest smile, really. "Our seers are having a lot of fun weeding out disloyal elements. Now that we got past that block, it seems we're finding them."
<Moore> Moore nods and frowns a small bit. "I see."
Veren > "Do you need assistance?"
<Moore> "It... If we could somehow find out what their motivation is for all of this..." Moore says, "I'd like to know why they're doing what they're doing."
<Kotono> "We're working on that. For now, all of you have leisure time - at least from  us," Rocky says. OOC: Okay, the big question is now what all of you want to do here? Do you have anything you want to do over a few days or do you want to timeskip?
<Lucy> OOC: Chat Aria up
<Pepo> OOC: I've got nothing
<Moore> OOC: Moore would like to find out what actual jobs or roles he might qualify for in the city and also learn more about divination and how they use it.
Veren > OOC: I suppose the same as Moore for me. I lack ideas because pretty much my entire character is illegal here.
<Kotono> OOC: Okay. Lucy in here. Pepo in #evildunes and the other two in #terrorofdunes.
<Kotono> Finding Aria isn't terribly hard. A few questions to Rocky, some patience and endurance to puns and a walk gets Lucy to  the library once more. Aria's there, reading from a book. OOC: Go ahead and intro yourself, Lucy.
<Lucy> Her clothes had been cleaned properly with magic, but Lucy muses that she really should look into expanding her wardrobe as she smoothes out her skirt. There are only so many undead and pirates they could survive vicious combat with. But that is all for later, and so Lucy picks her wicker basket up anew and approaches Aria with a sunny smile!
<Kotono> Aria glances up from her book as she approaches, "Lucy?" she asks ,the question obvious from her tone.
<Lucy> "Good morning, Miss Aria!" Lucy greets her. "I was hoping I might find you here-- ah, what are the rules on using the library? Are you allowed to eat on the premises?"
<Kotono> "You aren't," Aria says, "But in this case..." she lets it go. "Good work with the gem."
<Lucy> "Oh, good!" Lucy presents Aria with the basket of freshly-baked brownies. "I thought of what to go with, but every girl likes chocolate and simple is often best!" The praise over getting the gem is really something that Lucy expected and she simply smiles in acknowledgement. "It looks quite impressive when performing its intended task."
<Lucy> roll 1d20+13 brownies or special brownies?
<Serith> Lucy roll for Serith < 26 > 12 [d20=13]
<Kotono> The brownies came out quite well. That draws a bit of a smile from her, "I haven't had chocolate in a good while. They smell good."
<Lucy> "It stimulates the mind, too~" Lucy chirps. "So really, one might argue this belongs in the library after all." Rather than peer rudely over Aria's shoulder, she asks, "Have I taken you away from reading anything interesting?"
<Kotono> As Aria nibbles on a brownie, Lucy can see that she's reading a tome about applied defensive abjurations. Rather heavy stuff, right now it looks into an analysis of cost/benefit rewards to conjured force versus more mundane materials being conjured, such as stone or iron.
<Lucy> Force is probably easier on the economy, but conjured materials would help with the rebuilding-- no, she can't allow herself to be distracted! Mentally shaking her head, Lucy says instead, "If this is a good time, I was hoping to hear about the people who work spell design here and how one might be able to join their ranks. Or research. Research is fine too. In fact, if Miss Aria is looking for
<Lucy> a capable assistant, someone who shares her interest in books, she need look no further~"
<Kotono> Aria uses a bookmark to note her place and puts the book away. "It's a good time. The economics section is always trying."
<Lucy> "Oh good!" Snatching a brownie for herself, Lucy continues. "My competence is surely not in doubt, so the vetting process should go quite smoothly!"
<Kotono> "Informally, you'll get it." Aria says, "Formally, we're not dealing with that until the threat is passed. More informally," A pause for another nibble, "You're interested in a spellpool?"
<Lucy> "Oh yes," Lucy responds eagerly. "Just imagine how much more I could accomplish with access to it, however provisionary? If I am to help defend the city, it is one thing that really should not be left to wait."
<Kotono> "Now there's a few duties if you're a member of this. 1 gold per day, collected every 30 days as 30 gold. There's a few duties, but if you're a researcher here, that will more that satisfy them." Aria says, finishing the brownie and going for another. "Anyway, the cost pays for pool maintenance, which gets expensive."
<Lucy> "It's just money," Lucy says flippantly. "And it would go towards a good cause, of course. None of these conditions is a problem in any way."
<Kotono> "We'd like thirty gold up front," Aria stands as she works on her brownie. "Do you have that available?"
<Lucy> "Oh, certainly! Would platinum do?" Lucy asks, retrieving the required amount. "If it must literally be gold, I suppose it would be no trouble to find a business to exchange the currency."
<Kotono> "That will do." Aria smirks a little at that, "Gold coins are so plebian. Any good mage should make enough to use platinum coins."
* Lucy is all too happy to nod in agreement. "I personally find gems to be quite useful for the larger sums, but for a fee platinum really is best."
<Kotono> "Oh yes. I prefer ingots to gems, but both are so much nicer than gold coins," Aria smiles as she leads you along. "Can you imagine having to count coppers and silvers like the normal folk do?"
* Lucy snickers. "It can be a curious mental exercise, making sure one stays sharp. But on a daily basis? Please, if you are that desperate for money go treasure-hunting!" She shakes her head. "Another thing I feel is useful for currency is magical items. Quite common to deal with, and useful to just about anyone who understands the way they their users apart from the mundanes."
<Kotono> "Those are fine, though some people are gauche enough to argue over them or haggle." Aria remarks, "Can you believe it?"
* Lucy grimaces. "That's just embarrassing. What is the point, truly? Some people just like arguing for the sake of arguing, I suppose."
<Kotono> At this you come to a stairway leading down. Aria leads you on it, "Watch your head, it's narrow here," she says, the roof coming down just a bit too sharply.
<Lucy> "Ah, thank you!" Even as she ducks, Lucy is reminded that she's not as tough as she feels she should be. Maybe something happened to her body when she came over, but with no memory that will have to remain just a hypothesis. "Speaking of items, however," she muses out loud, following, "I've been interested in studying those with an anarchic bent. Pure curiosity, really. I'm trying to determine
<Lucy> whether there exists an overall chaos theory which governs their behavior and predicts it to a degree. Would Miss Aria happen to know of similar research taking place here, or any items suitable for such study?"
<Kotono> "A moment," Aria murmrus as you come to the end of the stair. A flat wall is here, a dead end. Aria touches the wall palm first, which causes it to slide aside. Another stairway is here, with more headspace so you can walk normally. "We're close to the spell pool."
<Lucy> "And thus, an awkward approach that serves as a choke point?"
<Kotono> "Among other things," Aria replies as you go down. At the bottom is another dead end, albeit with a solid steel door barring the way. Aria takes a key out, unlocking the door. "You may want to put a black veil on, if you have one. The pool's bright."
<Lucy> It is a simple matter for Lucy to do so. Eager as she is to finally have access to one of the greatest marvels of arcane magic, it wouldn't do to ruin it by needing to grope around while walking blind.
Session Close: Wed Jan 21 14:22:41 2015