[ We find Our Heroes milling about the Flying Couches home on a weekend! They're pretty much just getting up, so they have most of a day ahead of them to do interesting things! Or just piddle away all their time. Either way! ] [ Unless someone's gone through the trouble to cook breakfast already, you'll probably have to go buy something. ] * Max knocks on the front door, probably oblivious to the earliness of the hour. [ Tia seems to be sleeping in today. If anyone tries to wake her up, she doesn't seem to notice. ] ( Max falls off the edge of the world. ) (AHHH...ooooooooh neat!) [ I think that's everything. Session Start! ] * Max knocks on the front door, now that the session's started, probably oblivious to the earliness of the hour. * Patrick calls from inside. "Come on in!" * Istvan is up, conveniently in the middle of shuttling between his room and the forge downstairs. He pauses at the door knock. * Max opens the door, and floats on in on his Book. "Morning, all! How're you today?" Peechy. * Seylin is sitting on a (non-)flying couch, reading. There's a glass of orange juice on the table near her (with a coaster under the glass, because she's polite and doesn't want to mess up the furniture). She looks up when Max floats in and waves. "Good morning!" * Alcinoe isn't in the living room. She's probably upstairs. * Istvan is, as always, covered in soot. "'ey Max." * Patrick eats ph00d. Err, food. Yeah. It's basically a few crepes with vanilla ice cream on them (made by yours truely) and strawberry sauce. * HKenji comes downstairs, fresh from the bath after his week without doing anything, including bathing. His hair's still wet, in fact, but he's at least dressed. Good morning. * Max floats around the room, looking at the immediate sights curiously, as he's not been here before. He ends his circling next to the wall, sitting on his now-vertical Book at a nintey-degree angle to gravity's normal requirements. "Got anything fun planned for today? I'm actually caught up on my work ahead of schedual." * Will walks into the room and waves hi to everybody. He just finished his morning prayers and is now very hungry. 'Morning everyone. Not particularly. We're still preparing for this summer. It's time for a return to Vall's Folly. Hm? What's "Vall's Folly"? The place where Vall fucked up. * Seylin goes back to reading, although she's still listening. Mainly, she's trying to not look at Kenji. We have unfinished business there. And a pair of related tasks, as well. * Istvan shrugs. "Been busy with my forgin'. These new dwarven forging techniques... they're amazing, but ridiculously tough to get a handle on." *looks up* "To the drow city?" ...sounds like quite a story....up to sharing it? * Patrick takes another bite. "What've you got in mind, Kenji?" * Patrick turns to Istvan. "Don't forget how to swing a pick." ~_^ Have you all forgotten, then? We must discourage the trolls from joining the assault on the surface, and collect the second piece of the altar. * Max rights himself, and raises his hand sheepishly. "I don't think I ever knew enough to forget. This is related to that dragon we met the day I joined you guys?" No... that is another matter entirely. Except in that the dragon wants the altar. * Seylin is very interested in her book now. Hoo boy. * Max changes the subject a bit. "You feeling better today, Kenji?" * Alcinoe comes walking down right about now. She's fully dressed and has her haversack over one shoulder. "Mornin'." No, was wonderin' if you had something else in mind. * Max waves energetically at Alci. "Morning! Where're you off to?" * Seylin looks up briefly, gives Alcinoe a quick wave, then goes back to reading. Yay, book. * Will turns to greet Alcinoe. "Morning Alci!" We had a teammate who got his dumb ass killed trying to sneak into a drow city. Himself. Afterwards, we got attacked by a lady in blue dragonscale armor who pretty much went through us like a Tarrasque through a brigade of fairy barbarians. * Max gets halfway through an "Urk" before the humor of Istvan's analogy gets to him and he dissolves in a fit of giggling. Nearby, there's a troll city. The trolls are thinking hard about joining in on an upcoming attack on the surface world. And they apparently have a piece of this altar thing. We wanna make them understand not to screw with us surfacefolk, and get the piece while we're at it. *looks to Kenji* That the basic idea? Hey Alci. Hm. * Alcinoe pulls on her boots. "Goin' to the temple. Gonna see about helping out that vampire spawn." Yes, though the altar piece itself is not in troll hands. Well, I can see wanting to hit them hard, but we'll have to be careful - *looks up at everyone* if I am invited to come with you when you do this? - anyway, careful that we hit them hard enough to make them unable to strike. Only annoying them would just ensure that they helped this attack. Who's got the alterpiece? * Max has his Book open under him, and is scribbling stuff in it as this conversation progresses. We don't know, only that it is an ally of Bahamut. The crazy old guy? * Will nods. "I'll come along too then, Alci." Oh. ....then why do we need to go after it? Because in its separate pieces, it does us no good against a massed attack. * Max waves to Alcinoe. "Good luck! Tell me how it goes; it sounds like an interesting project." ^_^ * Alcinoe blinks at Will, then nods. "Ah, sure." She waits for him to get ready. And of course you are invited. Your spells were a great help. * Istvan looks at Alci. "You think you can do something for the guy?" Great! Thanks. I had fun on that last one. I never understood why people adventured before... *shakes his head, pushes glasses back up his nose* * Will walks over to Alci. "I'm ready." * Alcinoe looks at Istvan. Ah don't lie. Ah wouldn'tve done this if Ah did think something couldn't be done. * Alcinoe opens the door and heads out. * HKenji smirks at Istvan. "Perhaps you should try taking people at thier word, Istvan. You seem to have trouble with that." ... I wasn't calling her a liar. Was just askin' what she thought the chance of success was. * Will waves goodbye to everybody before following Alci out the door. Then why didn't you ask what her chances of success were? I thought I did. Chances of success are always 100%, of course! Haven't you ever been an experimentalist, Istvan? You most certainly did not. You asked if she thought she could do something for him. Yup. The appropriate answer would either have been "Yes" or "I'm think so, but it's not a sure thing" * Patrick has been a bit distracted himself, finding a place near Seylin on the sofa and eating a crep a la mode. You already knew the answer. ... I did? If I knew the answer, I wouldn't have asked the question. Hey, Istvan. You said what the 'appropriate answer' was. That means you knew the answer. * Seylin reads. Yay. It's actually a fairly thick volume that looks like some sort of texbook. * Patrick looks over Seylin's shoulders. No, I knew it was one of those two. Which of the two is what I wanted to know. S'why I asked. That's called a 'rhetorical question'. *standing on his book in a lecturing pose* It's usually a politeness in idle conversation, often called 'small talk'. *looks around, blinks, and sits on his book self- consciously again* *ahem* Sorry. ^^; ... what are you talking about? I asked a question to which I thought there were two possible answers. That ain't rhet- ah, screw it. * Istvan mutters something unpleasant sounding in dwarven, and heads back down to the forge. Watch it, otherwise I will take up Dwarven. He doesn't know what he wants. Sorry? ^^;; * Patrick grins and peeks over Seylin's shoulder at her book some more. * Seylin is reading up on the planes. We wonder why. ^_~ It's not your fault, Max. Istvan just doesn't know what he wants. Or rather, he knows what he wants, but is too cowardly to reach out and take it. * Patrick leaps over onto the couch and sits on the couch backing. I knew those ranks in balance would come in handy sometime. Huh? *shakes his head* People confuse me, sometimes. I hope I didn't make him too mad. *brightens again* Anyway! Unless we're leaving on that trip today, it seems to me we need to find something fun to do today! All in favor? * HKenji blinks. You don't get out much, do you, Max? ...eheh. *looks down, embarrassed* No. I mean, um, except for teaching my classes, the only time I've spent out of my lab or office was sleeping. Until recently, at least. And then I went back to my lab. ^^ Had to apply some of the stuff I found out down there, like what the dust did - I duplicated it, by the way! - and then...realized I had nothing to do...and...er, heh, sorry, I'm rambling again. ^^; I... see. Man, that's lame. * HKenji turns to look at Patrick. * Max sticks his tongue out at Patrick. "Why do you think I came over here?" Well, what do you want to do? I've got plenty'a things I need to take care of, but they can wait for fun. ^_^ We could go bait some Stonefisters. Oh, no no. Don't let me keep you from work. Not at all. I'm just ahead right now. Which is kinda wierd; I'd have thought the adventuring would take from my time...but I got back and research just FLEW! And...anyway. Um. I was kinda hoping you'd have some suggestions, since, well, what I'd suggest would be-- what's a Stonefister--oh! The House? * Patrick grins. "That's always fun." * Seylin looks up. "But we've done that a lot in the past." Then she blushes slightly and goes back to reading. Of course we've done that a lot in the past. It's fun. And good practice. * Patrick rubs Sey's shoulders. "Yeah, that's true. Oh, Max, you any good at alchemy?" It's the closest you have here to a good game of beat the peasants. Not...particularly. I mean, I've dabbled a bit, as part of required courses, and had some small aptitude...but it's just layman's knowledge, really. Ah, too bad. Why? Where we're going we'll need alchemist's fire and acid. Lots of each. I've got some alchemist's fire; friend of mine makes the stuff. Need it for that Firebrand spell. He's no cheaper than the store on campus, but hey, best go with the friend you know than the stranger you don't. ^^; * Patrick laughs. "Mmm, if you need some, I've been churning out batches of it. Lots of it." Oh? That's good! I only have 5 flasks right now. Which should be enough for a day or two of heavy adventuring...I think. * Max is now known as Max If you're lucky. Yeah. You'll need more than that. ...oh. Wow. This house is lucky enough to be blessed with someone skilled enough to make large amounts of the substance. * Patrick grins. "I might not have taken up magic, but I still know how to mix a thing or two." Nothin' magical 'bout Alchemy. It's a useful skill, too. *demonstrates massive powers of observation, as he just now notices Seylin reading* Hey, whatcha readin', Seylin? * Seylin holds up her textbook on the planes so he can see the title. "Just something I thought I should get more familiar with." Oh. Why? Classes? (Heh. You could call it a class. A prestiege class.) One should not need a reason to learn. Curiosity, really. I like reading! * Patrick grins. "Yup. You like flying too." He winks at Seylin. * HKenji smiles knowingly at Patrick. * Max looks strangely at Kenji. "Reason? One always needs reasons for everything. Usually 'I want to' is enough, though." ^_^ * Seylin giggles. Flying -is- fun! *nods at Patrick's statement* So, we gotta do something. I don't want to go bait Stonefisters, though. But don't let me stop you! I don't mind staying here for a bit. I'll probably go flying later. ...honestly, picking on the Stone Fist house doesn't sound like fun to me. ^^; I mean, would you like it if they picked on you? Sorry. Not trying to be a spoilsport... * HKenji blinks. * Patrick smirks. "Hey, they act like they're all tough. It's up to us to show'em up, ya know?" You haven't really been around Stone Fist much, have you? No, not really... ^^; I can see why you don't understand. Still, there is little point in such a thing... today. I don't have any in my classes...I don't think... Well, you teach advanced classes, right? * Max nods. "Mostly math. Got one practical class on making toys, though." Precisely. Oooh, that sounds interesting! But, um... well, Stone Fist people are lucky if they remember what one plus one equals. Seventy, in ninth-dimensional hypertheory involving the convolution of the positive and negative planes with the astral. ...or two, normally. ^^; Really? I could have sworn it was three. ...sometimes. When I've been up too late. ^_~ Impressive. Definitely. Yup. Still, I feel like doing something active at the moment. Yes! * Patrick shrugs. Could fill up balloons with ice cream and water and beam people with them. No, I think not. Yeah, waste of good ice cream. * Patrick finishes his 'breakfast'. Hm... you don't happen to have any portable holes lying around, do you? * Seylin shakes her head. No. We have a bag of holding, however. * Max shakes his head. "No, not big enough. There's this trick I've always wanted to try with a Mage Hand, a Silent Image, and a Portable Hole... But it can wait." ...heck, it might be useful next time we go adventuring! Though the setup would have to be faster. *scribbles in book some* What're you thinking with that? Well, see...you put a Portable Hole on the ground, right? And it makes a pit. You thinking of baiting a trap? Then...you put an illusion over it. Just make it look exactly like the ground that was there before you put the hole there. ...not sure how you'd bait it; my idea was to put it in a frequently-traversed area. You have to make sure the hole can take whatever it is that would go into it, though. Now the evil part. }:) You use a Mage Hand spell (or, if you're close enough, your own hand) to lift up and close the Hole when someone falls in! Then you move the Hole and let them out somewhere else entirely, thus greatly confusing them. ^_^ * Seylin looks at Patrick. "We never tried that." ...well, Holes have solid walls, so won't be ruptured like bags. And I was thinking of people. Even someone like Tia would fit in a Hole. ...where is Tia, anyway? Never had a hole to try it with. ^^ She's sleeping. Tia's sleeping. I didn't want to wake her up. Don't wake her. She doesn't like to be woken up. Oh. I imagine. A cranky dracotaur early in the morning is probably not healthy. ^_^; It's not so much that she's cranky as that she's really hungry when she first wakes up. Oh, is that all? ...I can help with that! It's still probably best not to disturb her, though. In fact...it should last all day, and I've been meaning to try it out. Mind if I show you guys a new spell? --oh, no, of course not. Just whenever she wakes up. * Patrick smirks. "What'cha got in mind?" Welll... Mind if I put a door in that wall? *points to the wall next to the front door* It'll go away after a day, give or take a few hours. * Patrick shrugs. "Sure." I don't mind! Okay! *pulls three things out of pockets in his robe: a model doorway, a shiny marble chip, and a tiny spoon. He holds them up, and they rotate about each other in the air a bit. The latter two objects go through the first, and then there's an open door leading to...a room that isn't on the Flying Couches House's floorplan* Great! It worked! * Seylin blinks. "Where's the door lead to now?" * Patrick thinks for a few seconds. Magnificent Mansion? Go in and see! *floats over, and in, and gestures people in* Yep! You know your spells, Patrick! *impressed* I hope so. Ma pulls out when she needs extra room for guests. * Seylin looks at Patrick and smiles, then follows Max in. * Patrick hops down and grins, following Max in. * HKenji looks at the doorway rather oddly, then steps barely inside. * It is, indeed, that well-appointed room with nice furniture and decorations on all walls, ceiling, and floor. The cube in the middle has the fireplace facing the party. Each wall/floor/ceiling has a door leading out of it. There's a banquet table on this "floor", and a sitting-room arrangement on the "wall" directly to the left. * Seylin looks around. She flies up to the ceiling to get a better look at the furniture. Um, welcome to my extremely temporary abode! Make yourselves at home. Or we can go back out; it's not much. ^^; But there's lots of food in the kitchen! I like it! * Max beams. ^_^ And, uh, our fridge is pretty empty right now, so if you don't mind... How's the view up there Seylin? Oh, go ahead! Um... *turns around, looking* ...that door. *points to one connecting to the "ceiling"* Just walk, gravity should change with you. It's neat! Wanna come up here? Hey, Seylin, can you land up there, or do you need to walk around? I've not tried it yet. And my Book kind of has it's own gravity, now. I'll find out! * Seylin tries to sit on a chair/couch/something of that sort. * Patrick pulls out his shoes from outside the door and puts them on. After he's done, he just walks up the wall to where Seylin is and looks up. "Hey, you're right! It is pretty cool up here!" ...wizards. ...whaaaaat? <_< >_> <_<; * Seylin giggles. * Seylin sits on a couch and presumably does not fall off. * Patrick sits down next to Seylin. "I wonder what happens if we fly up to the new 'ceiling.'" * Max is somewhere near the middle cube, hovering at a random angle. This place violates every sensibility I have. ...sorry... But it's fun! Yeah, I know. Isn't it great? ^_^ * Seylin looks over at Patrick. "Wanna try the other wall?" I um, can try to make a foyer that's more normal, next time? That will not be necessary, * Patrick nods and states with a smile. "Sure." * Seylin flies over to another wall and sits on the chaise lounge that's in near the corner of the ceiling. Floor? Wall? Whichever. But, um, if you ever need food, this spell makes tons, so just ask. I can cast it at least once a day. * Patrick shrugs and walks after Seylin. Walkin' on walls is fun! Well, here's one advantage. If someone enters and they don't know what to do, you can confuse the hell out of them! Thanks! But for the most part, we like cooking. We've just been too busy to get groceries lately. * Max giggles. "That's true! And...the offer stands, regardless. I think it'll be a lifesaver for me. You've no idea how often I've forgotten a meal or seven." * Seylin frowns. "You shouldn't do that." Even if you're in the middle of some important discovery, skipping meals is bad for you! I know. I just can't cook. But they can! *points to the line of semi-transparent servants lining one of the corners between two "walls". * Seylin blinks at them. "What are they? Spirits? Some sort of constructs?" I know this one. Invisible servants. You should see what my mom cooks up whenever she casts this. Nothing quite as... loopy, but it's definetly in-theme for the season. * Patrick grins. Anything else you want to show us, Max? ...not really... The other stuff I've worked on would probably be boring. Though I did manage to replicate that dust I used in the last dungeon. The invisibility dust? Yeah. Potent stuff. Can't you just cast improved invisibility, though? Yeah, but it's not as good. This was quite an accident. Not even See Invisibility works through this stuff! * Patrick whistles. "Potent, you're right." Yeah, very. * HKenji snorts. So, um. Anyway... this will stick around a while. Did you guys have something more, um, active you wanted to do? *looks around the party hopefully* * Patrick starts walking down to 'ground' level. Sadly, Max, most of this "adventuring" thing consists of waiting, or finding things to do instead of waiting. Aheh. I see. Well, I wasn't really meaning adventuring, more. Just...um...hanging out? If I didn't eat breakfast already, I'd go for some pizza. Um, I was gonna go find a nice spot outside and do some more reading. * Patrick nods and gives Seylin a smile. "Alright." I really want to get this book finished! I'll be back soon, though. I read fast. * Seylin smiles. Of course you do! * Max chuckles. Well, why don't we go outside and see what presents itself, then? ^_^ *floats on over to the door, flying out of it upside-down with respect to the real world* Okay, then! C'mon, Patrick, Max. We can go out and see who's out and about. Maybe we'll get lucky and the fanboys will attack. Right! Wheeee! * Patrick grins and walks out. "It's been a while. I wonder what they'll think of next." [ And so they went out! INTO ADVENTURE!!!!!!!! ] [ Session End. ]