Fallen Empire

[shiivster]

Aki stands back and observes the others as they head off and follows. later when they all start doing their long winded speakings, she knows she's already slot and will go apart from the group and enjoy the freedom offered to one of her kind. maybe will her sibs are hunting, she'll learn something of interest from any form or wild animal in teh area.

she gradually leaves the nuns and bunny girls behind as she too hunts. she can only hope that this grassy area contains food that interests her besides grains and grubs. maybe she'll even find a spring to wash off all the 'stink' associated with 'civilization' to blend in easier with nature once again.

the main camp will be a dark smear on the horizon and Ora's form will be her guide post back, but for now, the 'wylde chyld' needs time alone from people and back among the wilds that was once her home.

with that much said and done, she will wander and reconnect with the instincts that have kept her alive for so long before. she has no further real fears, other than not being her own person afterward

[thorley]

Okay, well if he's willing Bellephoebe will let Tesla recharge what devices he can and examine whatever he wants within reason. She'll remove the E-clip from the rifle but make sure it's in working order and loaded with cartridges (the laser and flamethrower functions will be offline).

Bellephoebe says to Malone and Fakir "Under the circumstances we might not want to head out immediatly. I'm good enough with crafts where if Tesla can get my multi-tool going I can probably create some ironwood and make clogs or sandals for whomever needs them, I'm pretty decent with weapons and armor and have made things like that before

Water shouldn't be an issue, but depending on how much food was protected someone might need to hunt or forage something while I work. I'd imagine Aki and her friends could help with that aspect of things."

She also says to the Bunny Girl "Your desire to help is admirable, but don't worry about the perv. If the need arises I can cast Sheltering Force spells, it will use a bit of magic to cover the whole gorup, but I can do it as long as I'm not going into any kind of pitched battles it won't be a big deal. Nobody is liable to need to "conserve body heat" as he suggests".

[dice=100] (Weapons Engineer)







[rand=034363924055649644612832942911883658215304960327443258345338587331]

[thorley]

Weapons Engineer roll (against 75% skill, got cut somehow) was to make shoes if needed. That's what I rolled against last time she tried to craft armor from Wood/Ironwood (which she'll cast once she has the wood in the proper shape, assuming she gets her tool back to work it our quickly).

The end result is probably going to be something similar to the footwear that goes with the magus body armor (which tends to be made out of magically created materials... probably Ironwood or similar spells to begin with). She's probably made them before, though anyone after shoes is going to have to hold still while she sizes them.

[albatross]

The Bunny Girl shrugs unconcerned, but she does say, "One of us could carry Malone if his feet would hurt. He could ride on my back all day and I wouldn't tire a bit."

Fakir nods to Bellephobe, "Yes he could ride, but we'll want some sandals at least eventually. If only to make an entrance to the palace and then get some proper footwear."


******************

Later at the council, Fakir says, "We don't know what we will find at the palace, so we don't want to make too many plans, but I think we can agree on some basics:"

"First, we have time on our side. We'll start off polite and let them push us around to see what they are trying to do. Stall, ask to see stuff, feign curiosity, interest and indecision. If they press us, say absurd things like their candidates are too beautiful or too kind. Ask for dinners, dances, contests... make them jump through hoops and then when they do claim it wasn't what we really wanted to see."

"Second, investigate. Use abilities and cunning to find out more about their candidates and anyone they aren't showing us. Ask for tours, trips to breweries, hunting expeditions - they will fall for it because they'll want to separate us and try to influence us. Let them. We'll have a support group in reserve. Assume they'll have counter spies so don't be too concerned about concealing what we've learned. Use modern languages they don't know, but for the most part, share all the things we find out good and bad in conversation. However, to throw them off make all of your positive reviews sound bad and all your negative reviews sound good. If you find a kind person tell us all at dinner she is a hopeless pushover. If you catch one of them trying to murder you, praise her initiative. Also, one of the rest of us should disagree with whatever you say - politely, but make it clear there is no consensus."

"Got it?"

[kurff]

Bellephoebe says "Sure Tesla" and lets him examine anything he wants in regards to the gear "I'm afraid I'm not famliar with Lord Byron, I'm guessing he's another scientist of some sort? I'm also not sure what you mean exactly by surfing the tide, some kind of stunt with a boat in a deadpool I assume?" Bellephoebe is from a post apocolyptic earth, the ocean is very dangerous and full of anamolies. She's fought against Splugorth minions on the coast, but has actually never been on a boat or underwater.

"Your missing out. Ocean's are nice to swim in West coast of North America especially." he looked over the gear with Telemechanics, "Byron is a writer, poet, musician..last I heard he tried sculpture. But he said something about stone not being as flexible creatively. " the 'scans' seemed on the level and have no real issue he couldn't solve quickly.



===============================================================

"I can probably affect siege equipment and other gear or leaver mechanisms. Perhaps that will give us something too. Find out who and why they were fighting if anyone lately." Tesla nodded as he listened.

[albatross]

Talon speaks up, "Fakir may pretend that sending a wing to spy on you tells him everything he needs to know, but I don't share that confidence. And even if I did, some of you are new to me, I haven't sent any spies to check your background."

"Intelligence gathering seems to be the primary mission at first. What are your espionage abilities? Where would you focus in a medival palace?"

Talon sits back to see what each person brings to the table.

[yendor]

"On my hands, feet, or knees? Either way, I'm used to going barefoot, and marching while so."

[kurff]

"We have several who probably have Object read, pets and other scouts can be employed to gather intel." Tesla nodded agreeing with Talon. His own Psi-talents were still quite useful. He didn't need computers. Gears, pulleys, winches and Tension based mechanics were around alot longer than the microchip.

This was a prime opportunity to learn siege weapons. he would also snag a few books on poetry for Byron and some medical/herbal books for the others.

[thorley]

Bellephoebe says "It seems I'm from another version of the same world you hail from, given your mention of "North America". The west coastal regions are mostly dark and unexplored, full of roving bandits and unchecked monstrosities. The oceans are full of dangerous anamolies and people are just starting to travel on them again to find that various races of dimensional pirates and slavers mastered them first. Not really my cup of tea, I tend to see the waters of the east coast as almost exclusively the domain of evil. Generally speaking it's a place where a bunch of pro-human techno-facists are just starting to fight back against demonic slave raiders... that said Lord Byron sounds interesting, I don't think I've ever seen any of his work though. If he existed in my world the libraries I visited didn't have anything by him to my knowlege, but that's probably not surprising given the state of things".

Otherwise to Talon she says

"Yeah, good luck on spying on my backround if you ever want to try. I'm sure whomever you send will really appreciate the assignment if you ever decided to try it.

That said, I really don't care if you trust me or not. Honeslty you haven't exactly been inspiring trust and confidence from me either. The only thing you have in your favor is working with these nuns, and the fact that when you summoned the Knights Of Camelot they did not slice you to ribbons and actually took your side. Granted, I know them only by stories and reputation but that is no small thing.

In the end I'm trying to save this dimension because it's the right thing to do. I've actually been telling myself to walk away from it but I can't. That is my sole objective here and I really don't care what you happen to think, I'm not here to win your aproval.

That said, I've never been in a medieval castle before, so I plan to wing it. This dimension seems to have magic, so if questioned in too much detail I'll just be fairly honest about being a dimension travelling adventurer. I mean I *DO* assume they have adventurers here. Heck, to be honest in exploring the multiverse before I met Daryl I would have just popped up in a dimesnon like this and started poking around anyway, and dealt with whatever happened as it occured.

As far as investigations go, I do magic... duh. I'm guessing you weren't paying attention. I have a locate spell which is pretty good for certain jobs, especially the ritual version. If I had known we were going all out on the cloak and dagger thing I probably would have picked up some electronic eavesdropping devices and then I could have wired the entire castle as well and they never would have seen it coming.... "

Yes, Bellephoebe takes that tone. She's a high magus with an impressive pedigree of lineage herself. Talon irks her.

It does occur to Bellephoebe that somehow Fakir did get spies to RIFTS Earth since he knew she consulted with the grey seers, though she's not sure if they got into Dweamor itself. She's wondering how they got back to report (still) since Fakir didn't know the spell to travel back in time without human sacrifice allegedly and she didn't exactly show them when she visited RIFTS. Talon's comments do remind her of exactly why she doesn't trust fakir, and how there might very well be some poor schmucks his spies killed to beat her back laying in an alleyway somewhere in or around Dweamor.

She also briefly toys with the idea of D-hopping to Center to buy bugging equipment, since it would still exist (and be a huge hub) thousands of years in the past (and doubtlessly used to Time travellers just the same). She decides that since Fakir hasn't made any comments about doing anything like that he might not know it or have thought about it, and figures she'll save that bit of knowlege as a surprise should she have to go up against him. If he thinks a lot of her techno-gadgets are wasted by the time travel, he'd probably be surprised if she disappeared and returned with them fully reloaded and rearmed at some point.

Bellephoebe actually trusts Talon and his guys more than Fakir and his minions right now (for the record) she just thinks Talon is a jerk.

[shiivster]

Aki . . now nearly 1/2 a mile away from the main camp, will settle on a rock and observe her wild sibs as they hunt and explore their new surroundings. she will used her knife to carefully harvest some grasses to twist and braid into a long naroor rope. she plans and making a few of them. these she will store for braiding again for a thicker cord for making natural sandles from.

*she remains quiet and mostly still other than the hands moving. if and when she senses someone watching her, will she pause and look about the area she's in and make note where the siblings are and then rebraid after staring in the direction of hte silent watcher. [even binox will have her look in that general area, then she'll shrug and resume her slow braiding

[albatross]

Fakir had listened to Telsa and says, "Perhaps he would work with your Mistress of Arms, what was her name..."

Talon looks back to Tesla briefly, "Canoness Jennifer? Better to keep them apart in their own wings I think. Though if you have psychic skill there is additional information we need: what kinds of defenses do they have? And not just mystic defenses or castle equipment - how do they sortie? Riders, chariots, infantry? If you can find out mundane details like how much water their soldiers carry and how they move their supplies it would be great."

He turns back to Bellephoebe, "This is why the Tanis school of time travel is limited." Fakir snorts, as if the other schools are no better. "Spies don't breed trust but even in the other schools skepticism is healthy. So keep your mistrust for now. Yet consider what vows or proofs you would want to win it, lest you fall into paranoia."

"There are no records of mages emigrating from this kingdom, though there are mages here and they do have adventurers among them. The Seal was very old, so its possible there were mages here once but no more. One more mystery to discover."

Sarah speaks up, "Bellephoebe, can you learn new spells? If Fakir was to teach you espionage spells could you learn them in two days, weeks or months?" It goes without saying that Fakir is the spymaster among them when it comes to magic, the nuns and Talon seem much less subtle.

[albatross]

As Yumi and Mao and the blood hawk hunt voles and large grasshoppers, Aki senses a few bunny girls wandering out near where she keeps her vigil, but the girls don't approach and eventually they wander away elsewhere, perhaps hunting the trails of prairie creatures just like Aki's animal friends.

At sunset the bunny girls play a mournful tune on the bagpipes. Then as darkness they begin to dance and play the drums. The nuns whose food was in dimensional containers share food, but rations are tight because half the food spoiled. The tents are already crowded with nuns trying to sleep, despite the noisy drumming of Fakir's minions.

[thorley]

Bellephoebe responds to Sarah "How quickly I would learn magic largely depends on how good my teacher was, and the complexity of the spell I imagine. Not to mention what price Fakir would demand for his instruction. While we're working together for the moment, this is our first time operating as allies and as you can tell from our exchanges trust has yet to be achieved. Talon, Fakir, and myself all seem to have a common goal in saving this dimension but we were all just all on a confusing multi-tiered battle not too long ago".

OOC-> Learning spells is entirely a GM call, High Magus (and Dweamor mages in general) have knowlege imparted from "The Lords Of Magic", a sort of info-link as opposed to drawing on their power, which is why she has so many spells. High Magus can learn other spells, but most choose not to. Whether the number of spells a high magus might learn seperatly (mentioned on a diel roll) is a guideline for NPCs, or a hard rule depends on the GM. Bellephoebe has already learned Temporal Magic from Daryl, but to also be fair the huge number of skills and spells (including every high level spell in the game) is supposed to be balanced by a High Magus not having much in the way of lower level spells. Of course then again a High Magus is one of the few characters (besides the Controller) that can ride an Automaton which is part of the balance as well since they come with their own spells, and she's never been in a position to do that.

It's a GM call really since it can go either way. Fakir teaching Bellephoebe spells might help her warm up to him I suppose, but in the end her "paranoia" isn't likely to subside until she's actually worked with him for a while. From an RP perspective she knew Daryl quite well and was told not to trust him, and then there is the whole bit with him spying on her (and how that might have been accomplished) and being willing to engage in blood sacrifice of what seem to be good aligned minions (his Bunny Girls). In absolute terms all Fakir has really done is talk a good game... so far. Bellephoebe is unprincipled because she deals with evil characters with some frequency, and really if his objectives are good, she might overlook the whole blood magic thing (even if she finds it disgusting) similar to the whole alliabnce between Dunscon and Dweamor.

Let me know what you think on spells, and we'll see how the RP goes. All told I can do a lot with Belle's spell list, especially seeing as she's walking around with 1400 PPE in batteries from the battle, and however many she made when she went back to Dweamor. If she's able to draw on the Palladium fantasy spells of high level from the library book and such (which I can justify b backround) that opens up even more options.

I'm also willing to run support (it's what Belle is all about) I never really envisioned her as being a straightforward hero as a combat mage, or master spy or whatever, though I imagine with time she could turn out that way if the games demanded it.

[yendor]

(to the bunny Girl's offer) Malone grins, shaking his head. "My dear, not within eyesight of the others."

[shiivster]

Aki returns to the camp with her coat filled with grasses for braiding over the night. her food supplies are long gone due to the crossing, as is the talon of the noble warbird. she only has her short memories of him and his attitude. she will take what lessons she can from that brief contact.

she sits in a small area and will braid strands together to get a length of about 20 feet. repeats this 8 more times. then braids again in groups of three. these she braids once again and now has a length of about 10 feet now and puts it into a coil for drying.

she will head out from her spot the lynx is curled up and snoozing in. Yumi watches her wander off and moves about snooping, then stretches out and puts the nose on the front paws and is snoozing as well.

Aki will simply start gathering the grasses the others are breaking off and flattening without a care, and will recycle them into a series of long braids. she can't do much, but stays quiet and busy. once she finishes the coils of grass rope that she needs, she will make another for Mao to play with. and with it being grass on grass, will make it more interesting to play with