Fallen Empire

[thorley]

"Ugh, I wasn't expecting something quite that overt. This is going to be pretty annoying, The one time I run into an airborne drug, is the one time I'm actually not wearing an air filter." Bellephoebe mutters.

Despite recent events Bellephoebe says

"I'll take my own room, thank you". With some of the tinkering she gets up to, she doesn't want anyone else underfoot.

[yendor]

Malone nods, cane smoothly once more in hand and resting on the floor. "Very good sir. Again, my apologies for the loss of our luggage," he says, following Talon, using it as an excuse for their shoddy wardrobe.

[albatross]

The rooms are up some flights of stairs on the third floor looking out over the town. Each room, or each room in the suite for suites, has two arrow slit windows (wide angles on the inside, the triangle narrowing to a thin gap on the exterior wall). The suites have a narrow sturdy door leading to a balcony. The rooms are warmly decorated in crimson, brown and orange. There are couches, small beds, and cylinder shaped padded stools for chairs. Beautiful rugs and short, small tables that can only be used sitting or reclining on the floor. A bowl of nuts and a bowl of unfamiliar fruit sit atop the table next to a silver flagon of water.

Their escort nods, and gives them directions to the baths which are down the hall. They are told clothing will be laid out in the dressing room of the baths.

[kurff]

Looking at the room (or Suite should Caterina join him) he gave a slight unimpressed look. Orange and brown? interesting..." he comments aloud.

[yendor]

Malone smirks, "Need help bathing, sir?"

[albatross]

Telsa's escort says, "Are the colours not to your liking sir? Shall I have other decorations brought?" Her voice is hypnotic, her eyes whe they aren't averted seem to quest for his soul.

Sister Caterina didn't join Telsa, but she arrives at his open door while he is discussing the decor. She cocks her head and says, "Care for some training before your bath Sir Tesla?"

[albatross]

Talon says, "I should bloody hope n.... Unless they try to drug us in the baths?" He shrugs, "Why not. Your feet could use a good scrubbing I'm sure, and we'll all feel more comfortable in fresh clothes."

He reaches for the flagon of water and pours himself a drink before taking off his weapons and armor.

The baths are a big round room with a round pool roughly nine yards in diameter. There are towels, changing rooms with stacks of clean white towels robes, shirts and pants. Surrounding the steaming heated pool are wooden buckets stacked against the wall, shelves with various soaps, perfumes and aromatherapy scents as well as many brushes for scrubbing.

Set into the round wall of the baths are alcoves with half walls and drains in the floor where bathers can fill up a bucket and haul it into an alcove if they wish for semiprivacy.

[thorley]

Bellephoebe says "A bath sounds like it should be nice" only to wince inwardly when she later finds it's a semi-public affair.

Before departing her room she will conceal her holographic display computer (away from the escort) to face her gear and record whomever is inevitably going to enter and mess with it. Not perfectly reliable (like a webcam/cell phone cam) but this dimension seems to be largely based on magic and perhaps a bit of tech suerveillance might pick up something.

[kurff]

Aug 8, 2012 17:14:11 GMT -5 albatross said:

Telsa's escort says, "Are the colours not to your liking sir? Shall I have other decorations brought?" Her voice is hypnotic, her eyes whe they aren't averted seem to quest for his soul.

Sister Caterina didn't join Telsa, but she arrives at his open door while he is discussing the decor. She cocks her head and says, "Care for some training before your bath Sir Tesla?"

"The room is fine." Tesla told the escort dismissing her. He was playing nice for far too long. Among his immortal compatriots He and the rarely seen Edmund Beckett were listed as the most anti-social.

Tesla was in his younger days much more vocal and opinionated. It was a trait he learned to curb down. At one point Byron called him 'difficult' to deal with.

"Training would be nice. and as Edmund would say...no time like the present." as he followed Caterina. He also needed a chance to get a look at the place.

[albatross]

Fakir takes in the community bath and scowls, though probably not for same reasons as Bellephoebe. "Usually there are at least two baths... one for nobility and one for the lower classes. Odd. I guess they treat all their guests like nobility?"

Beatrix shows up and squeals with delight upon seeing the bath. "No," Fakir says flatly. "Grab a bucket and use the alcove. A hot bath amplifies the effect of alcohol. We can't start our stay here drunk."

"Oh, we probably already did," Talon says as he arrives with Malone. "Better come up with something discreet to counter airborne drugs fast." As Talon is talking, Beatrix dutifully fills one of the many available buckets with water and lifts it the large bucker over to an alcove. She returns to get soap, a scrub brush, and a bottle of perfume still wearing her jump suit and helmet.

Fakir begins to disrobe and says to Bellephoebe and Malone, "Immunity from scents? Any ideas."

From the alcove they can hear Beatrix begin to sing a bawdy bath song.

[albatross]

Sister Caterina accompanies Tesla, looking for the courtyard. She doesn't seem overly concerned with finding the most direct route saying, "We came in that way, let's see if there is another way down."

She looks over at Tesla, "So you are an Operator right? Where do you think they are getting their energy from? Think they are using water mills? Wind? Wonder what they burn for heat on this prairie?" She says to start conversation, though she is already thinking ahead to military technology.

[kurff]

Aug 10, 2012 18:44:20 GMT -5 albatross said:

Sister Caterina accompanies Tesla, looking for the courtyard. She doesn't seem overly concerned with finding the most direct route saying, "We came in that way, let's see if there is another way down."

She looks over at Tesla, "So you are an Operator right? Where do you think they are getting their energy from? Think they are using water mills? Wind? Wonder what they burn for heat on this prairie?" She says to start conversation, though she is already thinking ahead to military technology.

"Seeing as there a few years back...I doubt there is nuclear or Coal power." he pondered looking around for an alternate way down.

"Could be a wind or steam power. with the right domes to provide water. Desert survival uses a covered bowl heated to sweat and collect water." on the off chance he did a careful scan for electrical power of some sort. Even if it was Technology and magic together.

[thorley]

Bellephoebe says "My immediate guess would be that they use magic for heating, or geothermal springs. It's also quite possible that they have technology they might think is magic, some races like the Naruni are fond of visiting less advanced dimensions, selling tech against the natural resources using complicated contracts and interest arrangements, and then taking over, violently if nessicary, using the contracts to prevent the intervention of the handfull of groups that try and prevent such exploitation. It probably isn't the case here, but I wouldn't be shocked if there was a fusion reactor the size of a cola can powering the place somewhere. It all depends on how many off dimensional visitors and traders have been through."

"As far as the scents go, nothing I could come up with would exactly be discreet. Air Filters, Sheltering Force spells, and similar things won't work in police society. That said they might not try the same trick twice, or if we're afraid they will, we can pretty much assume we're dealing with some of the bad guys and try and discretely remove them, they aren't exactly getting our endorsement at this point anyway. Knock them out and stick them in the hold of a cargo ship headed for a far off land, or strand them in another dimension for a while or whatever" Bellephoebe thinks for a second.

"Of course that might be overreacting, it DOES occur to me that there might be more than one faction trying to do what we are for similar reasons. Was that the bride that was selected the first time? If not, it's always possible someone is trying to alter the outcome of events and rather unsubtly load the deck so to speak. In which case we have to decide whether it's worth the effort to try and discern their motives."

[albatross]

As Tesla and Sister Caterina make their way to the court yard, he senses no electrical devices or sources beyond what his companions brought with them.

The halls are mostly deserted, but they do see a few women attending to various chores and tasks like cleaning and running messages. Judging by the lamps, it seems they have oil lamps, but Tesla doesn't notice other tech markers just yet.

In the court yard Caterina continues Tesla's knife fighting instruction. Since he came with Talon, a knight, this probably seems very normal and a few ladies watch them openly from courtyard balconies, perhaps considering the lessons as a form of entertainment. No TV after all...

"You are improving," Sister Caterina says. "What else shall we work on today? Defense? Footwork? Punctures?"

[albatross]

As Talon, Fakir and other climb into the bath, Talon nods to Bellephobe. "Yes, she was the one. The future..." He stops for a moment "... bride of the Prince."

Fakir smiles, "Oh, sure they play rough. But they haven't hurt anyone yet. If we don't have a good counter to the scented drug we can still make it harder for them. I recommend we split into smaller teams and each take a princess candidate. We can interview them in turns, take them hunting or whatever they want to do. If we are in several places they can't drug us all at once. And if we don't bring Talon along on the excursions then they can't make us finalize a decision."

"I wonder if they will try to steer us back to the same girl or if they will try to pressure us into different choices;" muses Sarah.