Session Start: Sat May 02 17:19:32 2009 Session Ident: #castlevania * Logging for #castlevania started [The intrepid party continues its discussion with Abigail Deschain.] Abigail: "So, what else did you want to know?" Um... we actually sorta came here to find this Hassad guy. Abigail: "You came here to find a man that has been dead for two hundred years? Like I said, I hadn't heard about him going undead or anything, so that'll be tough." Well, not exactly. See, he's still kicking around or something. Or one of his descendants, maybe. Gregor probably counts. Apparently somebody went out into the desert and found some ruins and came out a real badass. Abigail: "Really? Badass how?" I dunno, I'm sorta new here, but apparently one of his students became an unkillable vampire or something. Anyway, we're trying to kill him, so we kinda figured we'd look where the whole thing seemed to start. Which is here. * Olivia smiles in slight amusement at Adam's rambling. Abigail: "As good a place as any. From what I remember, Hassad certainly did not follow the normal path to power for a Boccobite. Either he was an obscure genius or he found something out here." * Olivia replies, "The second is more likely. He was never well known." Abigail: "I suppose you would have already seen if he'd had a standout early career." * Nyyx nods. Abigail: "So, any leads?" Nope. Just ruins. We're gonna look at some boring old tablets later, though. * Nyyx gives a slight smile. Abigail: "Well, there is alway esoteric stuff floating through this town. The Temple folks still don't know altogether much about how the druids and the folks out in the desert and the nearby jungles work their magic." Abigail: "I'll keep my eyes open." Have you discovered anything interesting yourself? Abigail: "Well, that's kind of why I'm out here, isn't it? I've seen a couple of novel things involving summoning, but that's about it." * Nyyx nods. "What kind of novel things, if you don't mind me asking?" Abigail: "Well, I've learned to summon from within a person instead of from the Outside. Like a part of their psyche. It's a little tricky though." Outside? Abigail: "From beyond the Prime." I see * Olivia mms, then says, "Summon... what from within a person?" Abigail: "Their fears, hopes, hatred, logos... take you pick." Abigail: "Of course, I keep it to myself. No one wants to see their phobias chase them down the street." * Nyyx thinks about this. "Do you know anything about vestiges?" Abigail: "About what?" Vestiges? We've heard they roam the Outside, though not much beyond that. Just curious. Abigail: "Roam the Outside? I have no idea. I can check around though." * Nyyx nods. "Thanks. It'd be interesting to learn more about them." Abigail: "Just be careful. There's stuff out there not everyone wants you knowing." We'll definitely keep that in mind. * Olivia glances to Nyyx, then back to Abigail. Then she chuckles slightly and runs her hand along her own chin a moment. "We are nothing if not careful." * Nyyx leans back in her seat and looks lost in thought for a moment. We're careful? * Olivia sideglances at Adam and half-smiles, "When necessary." Uh... maybe this isn't the greatest place for me to be, then. * Nyyx smirks. "It's all right, Adam. I definitely have my less cautious moments." Well, thank you for all your help, Abigail. * Nyyx stands. "We've probably taken up enough of your morning." Abigail: "My pleasure." * Olivia nods at Abigail, then turns her head to Nyyx as she stands and says, with a slight smile, "Ah, but those moments are very necessary." * Nyyx smiles a bit at Olivia and turns back to Abigail, "We'll let you know if we find anything that might interest you. Hopefully the next time we meet, we'll have good news about Gregor." [Abigail stands and walks with the party to the front door.] "I hope so." * Nyyx tips her hat to Abigail and turns to go. So, uh... where to now? I suppose we should meet up with the merchant back at the inn before we leave town to explore. [The party files out of the house leaving Abigail to her thoughts. The noon hour is upon the town and the sun is harsh overhead. The party retreats to the Inn until the midafternoon.] [About three hours after high noon, the merchant brings several wrapped bundles on a small stone cart into the common area of the inn.] [After greeting the party and getting a drink for himself, the merchant slowly and carefully sets each of the bundles on several tables near the back of the room.] Thank you for going to the trouble of bringing these over for us. Merchant: "Well, please make it worth my while." Can we take a look? [The merchant wanders over and pulls the wrappings away from the first tablet.] * Adam walks over and has a look. [It is about one foot by two feet with a section missing from the 'top.' The bottom half of the tablet is covered in worn text while the top half is a damaged image showing several humanoid figures on the left and a missing piece of stone on the right.] * Nyyx examines the tablet with great curiosity. * Nyyx is now known as Nyyxfeed * Skip is now known as SkipFOod Hmm. Anybody speak terran? Or, uh... whatever else this is? Somebody really, REALLY liked their linkristics. * Olivia licks her lips, then says, "I can, but I'd prefer to look at the other tablets first." Merchant: "Alright." [The merchant pulls back the cover from the next tablet. On the left side are a series of stylized pictures and on the right are a column of repeating figures in rows.] * Adam takes a bucket out of his pack and goes outside. * Adam comes back with a bucket full of sand and pours it out on the floor, then leaves again. Innkeeper: "Hey! Just what do you think you're doing!" * Adam looks back and says intelligently, "Huh?" Innkeeper: "Yes, you. Why are you pouring sand on my floor!" * Olivia glances to Adam, but back to the tablets with a slow thoughtful noise. * Adam looks at the Innkeeper like he's an idiot. "Raw materials." * Adam turns and heads out for another bucket. * Olivia then looks to the merchant and says, "The next, if you would?" * Adam returns with another bucket full of sand and pours it on the floor. Hmm. * Adam looks at the pile, then at the tablet. [Taking the cue, the merchant uncovers the next tablet. This one is in several pieces but the image of a great circle covering the image has shown the merchant how to rebuild the tablet. He has set it into a wooden frame and braced it with mortar to keep it steady.] [Within the circle are several insignia of indeterminant origin. Beneath the circle is another collection of stylized figures.] * Adam turns and heads out for another bucket. * Adam returns with another bucket of sand and pours it on the pile. * Olivia hrms and murmurs, "Now that one is interesting, but still unclear..." she glances to the merchant. "Another?" Merchant: "Well, I've got two more." * Adam sits down, panting a bit. [The merchant reveals another tablet. This one is in good shape and is covered with four columns of script.] * Olivia nods slightly at this one as well, then says, "And the last?" * Nyyxfeed is now known as Nyyx [As the merchant reveals the last tablet, the party sees that it is a series of pictographs displaying various indigenous creatures with text near each in the set.] Olivia, if you want more than one, someone's gotta get me some more sand. I'm pooped. I'll get it. * Nyyx takes up the bucket and goes outside to fetch sand. * SkipFOod is now known as Skip Innkeeper: "Alright kid, what are you doing?" huh? Innkeeper: "The sand?" Oh, that. Sculpting. * Nyyx returns with more sand. * Adam reaches down to his waist and unsnaps the lid of the deckbox, opens it, and pulls out a deck of cards, which he begins shuffling. * Nyyx glances at the innkeeper and says apologetically, "We're sorry for the mess, but we'll make sure to clean up afterward." * Adam rips five cards off the top of the deck, fans them, and picks out one. He points it at the pile of sand and the tablets and says loudly, "Clone!" And then the sand melts. * Adam holds his pose while the melted sand begins flowing up into the general shape of the tablets, slowly filling in more and more details. * Nyyx watches Adam's card tricks with interest, her hand on her chin. "Hm." Merchant: "Now wait just a minute! You clone it, you buy it!" * Nyyx raises an eyebrow at the merchant. "Well, how much are you asking here?" * Olivia blinks at Adam, then chuckles and puts her hand to her forehead. It better not be much, since you can still sell the originals. * Nyyx nods. Merchant: "Ah, alright. Fifty gold apiece then. " Two hundred fifty? How about two hundred? Merchant: "Two twenty." Two ten? Merchant: "Done." * Nyyx takes the gold out of her bag and hands it to the merchant. Merchant: "Thank you kindly, ma'am." [The merchant takes a seat waiting for Adam to finish.] * Nyyx nods. "Thank you." * Adam finishes, and there are now ten tablets, and no left over sand. [The merchant starts to pack up his wares.] * Adam puts the card back in his hand, shuffles his hand back into the deck, and puts the deck back into the case, snapping it shut. Impressive. Yeah. * Adam grins. * Nyyx smiles back. "So what do they say?" Dunno. * Adam shrugs. * Olivia looks over at Nyyx and replies, "If we're in a hurry, I could tell you now." Depends how important the information is, I guess. * Olivia smiles faintly. "Depends how quickly you want to go out in the desert." * Nyyx looks outside. "I was thinking the sooner the better. The heat won't matter, so we can start right now, if everyone's ready. Am I the only one feeling restless?" * Olivia chuckles before replying, "I've been feeling restless for weeks." I'm just bored. * Nyyx laughs. "Well, let's see. We have ruins to the east, halflings to the north along the coast, mines and other desert groups to the south. I'm leaning toward the ruins, but if any of you feel any inclination to start with any of the other leads...?" * Olivia then reaches inside her cloak and closes her eyes a moment. "Never a bad time to slink through a ruin." I agree! * Nyyx nods. "All agreed? East it is, then." Eat sounds good! * Olivia starts to run her fingers over the tablets. "Now we see how flawless your transcription was." What do they say? * Olivia mms as she runs her fingers over them, murmuring, "Remembering now. Get ready to write." * Nyyx takes out her journal and a pen. * Olivia starts to describe the third tablat, or rather, the calendar described by the third tablet. * Nyyx jots this all down quickly. * Olivia then says, "The rest of it's all more or less everyday life... although there's a very nice myth about druids and extraplanar elementals." Number system, as well, but I've got that in my head. * Nyyx nods, but she jots down those few statements as notes to herself, too. * Olivia then turns towards Nyyx and says, "Well, if we're going to go, we'd best get these tablets in a bag." We have a bag of holding around here somewhere. * Nyyx digs out the bag and starts sliding in the sand tablets. "Nice work on these, by the way, Adam." * Adam blushes a little. "I didn't do much, really. The deck does all the real work." It was a neat trick. You're a fine sculptor. * Nyyx whispers. "Really? But the cards are all blank!" Eh? No they're not. The ones I saw you pull out were blank, at least. * Olivia looks between Nyyx and Adam curiously. I think you're hallucinating. Take pride in your work * Nyyx blinks a few times, but she smiles. "Well, I can't profess to understand much about this magical business. Maybe there's something on them that I can't see." * Olivia chuckles, then teases, "Let's save the hallucinations for the desert then, mmm Nyyx?" * Nyyx nods. "Right. Let's head out." Sounds alright to me * Skip nods. "I hope these ruins are more inviting than those in the jungle." * Nyyx shoulders her gear and steps outside into the midafternoon heat. "Well, at least we'll have warm, dry beds, eh?" * Olivia heads out with her and replies, with a slight smile, "The worth of warm more depends on the source, mmm?" * Adam slaps his hat on his head, shoulders his pack, and follows them out, grumbling softly, "Surrounded by women and..." * Skip follows and looks at the desert ahead. "Just think of it as a neverending beach...that housed some of the foulest minds of our time." Surrounded by women and what? * Skip looks up at all of them and blinks. * Nyyx smiles quietly and walks east. * Skip follows, happy to be surrounded by women, but somewhat annoyed with their new toddler card sharp. [END OF SESSION.] Session Close: Sat May 02 22:00:23 2009