Anthy says, "OOC Okay, I'll be ready in just a minute."

Anthy asks, "OOC Okay, you two ready?"

Beowulf says, "Ayup."

Kanna OOCly nods.  "So, this is now day 3 for our heroes?"

Kanna OOCly says, "(since the AAF Arden was 2 days out from the
cape...)"

Beowulf OOCly says, "Day 3? o.o"

Tybalt wakes up.

Kanna OOCly says, "Unless I'm mistaken, which is why I'm asking John.
Okay, so perhaps we're day 2."

Beowulf OOCly says, "Ah, right. If we're picking up when the Ajax
docks, Day 3 would make sense. Unless the Ajax travells faster than
the standard Amber dirigible."

Kanna OOCly says, "Well, you're the one who made/transported/whatever
the Ajax, so... :)"

Kanna OOCly says, "That's when I was figuring we were picking up, at
the docking."

Beowulf OOCly says, "True, but I don't know the specs on the Amber
dirigibles. :) That's where I figured we were picking up, as well."

Anthy says, "OOC This is now day 3, as you spent 2 days shadow
travelling to Cape Westb'ryport."

Kanna OOCly nods.  Works for me.

Beowulf OOCly nods as well.

Kanna OOCly says, "Kanna and Bey caught up along the way, and decided
that when they landed, they'd check the Cape a little bit before
trumping back to Amber with the dagger and Obelisk (which Bey
presumably put in his bag)"

Beowulf OOCly adds, "And the ring."

Kanna OOCly says, "Oh, of course."

Beowulf OOCly says, "Indeed."

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

The Ajax lands at the Cape Westb'ryport Airport, which is an
incredibly busy place.

Kanna looks around the place thoughtfully as they land and the
passengers debark.  First time she's been here, and she's already
sizing it up.

Okay, where are you going?

Kanna glances at Bey.  "You want to try and track down whoever had
that ring, or just wander a bit and see what they've got here?"

Beowulf says, "Kanna, could you come with me just long enough for me
to stuff the Ajax back in at an inconspicuous spot? Then we can track
down the ring."

Kanna nods.  "No problemo, Bey."

Beowulf says, "I do have a small bit of shopping to do, but
undoubtedly we can pick a few things up along the way."

Kanna . o O (Well, this is one way to take care of your travel
costs...)

Kanna nods, and follows along.. she hadn't really bothered with any
real luggage to speak of, save what she carries and wears personally.

Beowulf says, "Oh, it saves a bit, now and again... but it's so
inconvenient when you're trying to meet someone. It helps if your
flight is on the schedules. :)"

You page, "Bey was responding to Kanna's thought bubble? *wg* Great,
she gets that from Cousin Hiko, too. :)" to The_Prof.

Beowulf flies the Ajax to an inconspicuous spot away from the city,
stuffs it back into the bag, and then asks Kanna if she'd prefer
trumping somewhere other than the Cape's docks, as that's the only
Cape trump he has.

Kanna says, "Got no pref's here, bey.  This is the first sis and I've
been here too, so she doesn't have a map for it." She smiles,
sheepishly.

Beowulf shrugs and smiles slightly. "The docks it is, then." He trumps
them to the Cape West'bury docks.

Kanna goes with her cousin to... the docks!

Beowulf OOCly notes that John's come up with a tricky name to remember
and type, especially the apostrophe. :)

Beowulf asks, "Now, then... you mentioned being able to trace the
teleport?"

Okay, you're at the docks again :)

Kanna nods.  "Sis said she was able to track it somewhere in here..."
She gestures to the city as a whole, "But I don't think she was able
to get specifics.  Given it was two days ago..."  She taps her
crossed-hammer pin.  "Sis?  Think you can try getting another reading,
or would you need the ring we grabeed offa the guy to track?"

Gabrielle pings. "I could try using the ring, but the energies are
pretty borken up by now."

"Magic doesn't last very long, even this far from Amber."

Beowulf asks, "Ah. Hmmm... so the chances aren't very good, even with
the ring?"

Gabrielle says, "Prob'ly not, Wolfy. I can give it a try, but this
subtlty thing isn't precisely what I do."

Beowulf says, "In that case, let's just do the bit of shopping I had
in mind, and anything you wish to take care of, Kanna, and head back
to Amber; we'd probably be more productive there."

Kanna nods.  "Works for me.  We can shake up the town later."

Beowulf looks cautiously at Kanna, then patpats the pin. "Thanks
anyway, Gabrielle."

Kanna accepts the patting of the pin with wry good humor.

Beowulf starts looking around the dock district for a spice shop, and
perhaps anywhere with some nice artwork.

Gabrielle pings. "No big deal. Call if you need me; I'll be
lava-surfing in the Caldera 'till then."

You find a very nice place 'Madam Ele's Spice Shop'

Beowulf smiles at Kanna. "Ah, siblings... ne?"

Run by a cheerful little old lady.

You page, "Anybody I know contact-wise in the Cape?  The impression
I'm getting is that I -haven't-, so this is me following along being
nice and observant, etc." to Akemi.
Akemi pages, "You know nobody." to you.
You page, "Figured." to Akemi.

Beowulf looks for something that might interest Nanami... and
carefully avoids any curry powder.

"Oh, hello, young man," she says.  "What can I do for you and your
lady friend?"

Kanna chuckles.  "Thanks, sis.  And yeah... sis's always been good to
me."

Kanna hrms, and looks for some nice teas.

Kanna asks, "Whatcha got in the way of mint teas, ma'm?"

Beowulf says, "Well, I'm looking for something interesting for an aunt
of mine... she rather likes exotic spices."

The little old lady points Kanna in the direction of the tea
cannisters, then turns back to Beowulf and looks thoughtful.  "How old
is your aunt?"

Beowulf says, "She's in her mid-30's, or therabout."

Kanna nods, and goes and checks out the cannisters of tea, keeping an
ear open to the conversation.

Beowulf says, "I try never to inquire too closely about a lady's age,"
he adds, and smiles.

You page, "Decent teas?" to Akemi.
Akemi pages, "The selectino of teas is decent, but not great." to you.
You page, "Eh, select a decent mint tea for myself, not as a present
for mom." to Akemi.
In a page-pose to you, Akemi nods

The old lady smiles and goes back to the counter, and pulls out a
cannister.  It is labelled, 'For Women only'.  She says, "I'll throw
in a bit of this with your purchase.  I'm sure she'll appreciate it."

She then takes you around to show you many different spices.

Beowulf nods. "I see... I'll be sure to pass it along to her."

Kanna picks one of the mint tea cannisters for herself, and heads back
to Beowulf.

Beowulf OOCly asks, "Any idea what Nanami likes for herself?"
Beowulf OOCly continues, "Have I seen her season anything at meals?"
Lucien OOC only the meals of people she doesn't like ;)
Anthy says, "OOC Yeah, you have a pretty good idea of what she likes."

Beowulf picks out some spices in line with the things he's seen her
enjoy using.

Kanna takes in the decor of the place as she waits by the register,
idly humming to herself.

Beowulf points at the tea canister. "Could I pay for that for you,
Kanna? As a thank-you for the help earlier?"

Kanna raises her eyesbrows, and then smiles, handing the cannister
over.  "Sure, Beowulf.  Wasn't a problem for me, but thanks."

Beowulf bows. "You're very welcome."

The old woman scoops some of the vibrantly red, sweet smelling spice
from the 'For Women Only' container into a small cannister and wraps
it in tissue, tying it shut with red ribbon, adding it to the bag with
your purpose.  She hums a cheery tune as she then puts the special
container away.

Kanna arches an eyebrow at the 'For Women Only' container of spice,
but otherwise doesn't comment.

Beowulf walks to the counter and pays for the purchase.

Beowulf looks at Kanna and raises an eyebrow, nodding at the container
and making a "we'll talk about this outside" gesture.

Kanna nods at Beowulf, and waits for him to make the purchase before
following.

You finish your purchases and head outside.

Outside, Beowulf gestures down the street. "I have a certain suspicion
concerning this... but I would welcome your opinion." He blushes
slightly.

Kanna follows.  "Eh?  Sure, Bey... what'cha need an opinion on?"  She
smiles a bit, looking curious.

Beowulf says, "Perhaps I did not make it clear enough that I was
talking about my aunt... and, well, not enough that she was already
the next best thing to being married." He blushes harder.

Beowulf asks, "Did you happen to recognize the spice?"

Kanna blinks at that, and ohhhhhhs, chuckling softly.  "So you think
she gave you an aphrodesiatic spice?"

Beowulf looks uncomfortable. "I suspect so."

You page, "Take it I didn't?  I didn't really look, I think." to
Akemi.
Akemi pages, "It looked like just some spice to you, but you're no
expert :)" to you.

Beowulf says, "Perhaps it would be best to simply give it to Aunt
Nanami with the other, and, um, explain the circumstances."

Kanna then shakes her head.  "Didn't really get a good look at it.
And it's not like I know spices, anyway." She grins.  "Well, what -I-
think you should do with it is get it analyzed later, find out what
it'd do, if anything, and then decide what to do with it."

Kanna nods.  "Your call, Bey.  Hell, for all I know, she might want it
anyway."

Beowulf says, "I am... certain she will be able to find some use for
it. Yes. Right. Um. I'm not certain who might be able to analyze it,
anyway... except for Mother, and, well, I'm not certain how good an
idea that would be."

Kanna says, "If you want, I could toss it Mia's way, with the warning,
and see what she thinks."

Kanna says, "She's good about that."

Beowulf says, "That will do... my grateful thanks."

Kanna asks, "No probs.  So, where next?"

Beowulf says, "In any event, was there anything in particular you were
looking for? I was hoping to find something nice for Mutsumi, and then
head home."

Kanna shakes her head.  "Nothing in particular, and the Fox prolly
bailed when the Arden sank... magic or trump most likely.  I'd need to
back up a bit to track 'm."

Beowulf says, "A nice bit of artwork... preferably a small figurine or
sculpture, as I would hate to bring her something her own work will
overshadow. :)"

In the way of Beowulf's life, there happens to be a figurine shop two
doors down.

Kanna chuckles.  "Know how -that- goes... mom likes my stuff,
tho... and hmmm...  Art store... yeah, that could be useful."

Beowulf blinks and ahs. "My, we are in luck today." He enters, keeping
a close eye on the surroundings.

It's titled 'Figurines by Fred'

Kanna nods to Bey, and keeps her own senses peeled.

The_Prof pages, "Indeed, it could be useful for you. :)" to you.
You page, "time to make conversation and to drop comments about the
Fox." to The_Prof.
The_Prof pages, "Indeed. :) Let me know and I'll back you up." to you.

The shop is full of thousands of figurines.  Some of them are arranged
into several large dioramas showing entire armies clashing on
carefully molded tables.  The rest are arranged by theme on shelves
around the sides of the shop.

You page, "Do I know of anything the Fox has stolen, artwork wise,
from Ember or elsewhere?" to Akemi.
Akemi pages, "Yuo've probably got a list of various stolen goods." to
you.
You page, "Level of quality higher than what's in the shop, I
take... :)" to Akemi.
Akemi pages, "Yep.  This stuff is decently well made, but not exactly
masterpieces." to you.

Beowulf says, "My, what a wonderful selection."

Fred himself is a short, fat balding man wearing a suit that's a
little out of date.

Kanna whistles quietly, looking impressed.

Beowulf bows to Fred. "A pleasure to meet you, sir."

One of the dioramas shows eighteenth century style armies clashing.
Another shows a world war II setting.  The third shows two fantasy
armies, dwarves and orcs, clashing.

Beowulf looks for something non-martial in nature, as Mutsumi is not
especially noted for her warrior interest.

Kanna waves to the man, smiling.  "Hey there."

Kanna meanwhile, -does- look for things that could be of a martial
bent, on the higher end of the quality scale, for Aunt Kozue.
Preferabbly naval-themed.

You find a palm sized turtle with four elephants on its back, holding
a bowl in which floats a continent.

Kanna OOCly manages not to sparf water on the screen of his computer.

Beowulf says, "Oh... my. I rather like this one."

Kanna finds about a dozen naval vessels on little stands, about 3 foot
long.

Beowulf asks, "How much is this one, sir?"

Kanna glances over.  "It's got a turtle.  You can never go wrong with
turtles.  Specially for Mutsumi."  She goes back to studying the
ships, trying to find one that closely matches the kinds of ships
Kozue favors.

"That's a hundred and fifty dollars, sir."  He comes over.  "The man I
bought it from claimed he'd really seen that thing out in Shadow."  He
laughs.  "Hard to believe anything like that could be real.

Beowulf murmurs, "Oh, you might be surprised."

You find a ship fairly similar to Kozue's flagship, the Fireshark.

Kanna hehs.  "There's weirder things out there.  Though I can't
beleive anbody who'd say they've been living inside a -sun-." She
grins.  "Oh, how much is this ship?" She points to the one looking
like the Fireshark.

Fred comes over.  "Ahh, now that's a fine piece of craftsmanship.  Two
hundred and thirty dollars."

Beowulf says, "I'll take it. By the way, d'you have anything else
interesting that might be coming in? I heard a zeppelin just arrived
from Amber today."

He says, "Oh, all my work's made by local artists, generally.  Except
for the ones from Cathay."

Kanna whistles softly.  "Man.  Well, still, it's a good piece of work,
and I've got a relative who'd like it.  I'm trying to get ahead in my
holiday shopping."  She quirks a smile.  "Local folks are good, I'd
take?  How good's the import trade?"

Beowulf says, "Ah, I see. They certainly produce excellent work."

Beowulf walks over to Kanna and examines the
ship. "My. That's... wonderful. I've been looking for something for
her as well; perhaps we could go in together on it?"

He says, "Cape Westb'ryport has many excellent artists.  We've been a
bit of haven for artistic types, those wishing to create fairly free
from censorship."

Kanna chuckles.  "As long as I go the lion's share on this one, Bey.
You took care of my tea needs.  2/3rd's me, 1/3rd you?"  She looks
back at the man.  "Always need those, 'specially these days.  Hope
nobody tries stealing from 'em, though.  Art-types -need- all the help
they can get."

Kanna says, "Oh, and we'll take this ship," she points to the one
selected, "But we'll be splitting the bill for it."

Beowulf says, "Sounds amenable to me, cousin." He looks at the ship
again. "My, how nice."

Beowulf looks up at Kanna. "It *would* be terrible if anyone stole it,
wouldn't it?" He looks at the proprietor. "That doesn't happen often
around here, does it?"

Kanna nods. "Well, I'll be keeping an eye on it, anyway.  Nothing to
worry about."

Fred nods and goes to ring up your bill.  "Oh, we do have a lot of
theft problems, unfortunately, so be careful about your wallets."

Beowulf blinks and nods. "Do you? Dear me. What kind of people would
do a thing like that?"

Kanna says, "The cops have any problems trying to keep it down?"

Kanna gets her wallet out, and pulls out the requisite amount for her
purchase.

He says, "Oh the usual riffraff.  Pickpockets, thieves, and so on."
He frowns a bit.  "I'm afraid we don't have the best police force in
the world."

Kanna says, "Eh.  Well, the times, they are a-changing.  They'll get
their act in gear eventually, I'm sure."

Beowulf asks, "Ah." He puts down his share of the payment. "Yes, I
suppose those could be a problem anywhere. It's a good thing Renard le
Fox isn't around, isn't it?"

The man says, "Who?"

Kanna waves a hand.  "Don't worry 'bout it.  Just a name we heard.
Guy who goes around stealing art stuff."

Beowulf nods in agreement.

You page, "You know, it's kinda scary how well Bey and Kanna work
together. :)" to The_Prof.
The_Prof pages, "Indeed. It's starting to look like we're going to
have one of the standard partnerships for the campaign. :)" to you.
You page, ":)" to The_Prof.
You page, "Hey, -I- got no probs..." to The_Prof.

Fred's eyes widen a bit when you say that.  "Well, I hope he doesn't
have any interest in figurines."

Kanna shakes her head.  "I don't -think- so... then again, it was just
something I heard in passing.  I think you'll be fine, sir." She
smiles, reassuringly.

Beowulf asks, "In any event... anything else you'd be interested in,
cousin?"

Kanna gives a quick glance around the room, and then shakes her head,
the streamers of her hair ribbon swinging behind her back.  "Nah, I'm
fine." She smiles.  "I think that'll be it."

Beowulf bows to Kanna, then bows to Fred. "Good enough... shall we be
off?"

Fred says, "Thank you for your patronage, and please come back soon!"

Kanna bows to Fred as well, then to Beowulf.  "Works for me."  She
gathers up the slightly more bulky figurine packages, which hace
presumably been put in a good bag.  "We will!"

Beowulf smiles and waves at Fred. "Indeed; truly a place I can
recommend to my friends."

Beowulf examines the figurines after they've walked outside and down a
bit. "My, how lovely." He shoots a glance at Kanna. "Anything else
<taps eye> interesting about them?"

Kanna considers, and peers at the times with Pattern-sight.

Kanna OOCly says, "Er, items, not times."

Akemi pages, "They're just a ship and a figurine. Pretty nice,
though." to you.

Kanna hehs a bit.  "Nothing to worry 'bout on this end, though if
you're desperate, you can have Aunt Nanami magically check 'm out when
we get back home." She glances back at the shop.  "Really, the level
of stuff Renard tries to grab would be on the level of the Mona Lisa,
or the Defender of the Realm... more masterpieces and exotics than
local stuff."

Beowulf says, "Oh, indeed. I was merely curious as to whether rumors
of the gentleman had made it to this section of the art community."

You page, ""The Defender of the Realm" is a piece of art bey's prolly
seen in castle ember... it's Corrine's painting of Juri in full
marshal of Amber regalia." to The_Prof.
The_Prof pages, "Ahhh." to you.

Beowulf asks, "Shall we return home, then, cousin?"

Kanna nods.  "Apparently not.  Though given they've got a large artist
population here, and problems with crime... it'd make a good place for
him to try and fence things, perhaps.  And yeah."

Kanna pulls out her trump of the Castle Amber courtyard.

Beowulf says, "Something to keep in mind for the future."

Kanna nods, holds her free hand out for Beyowulf, and concentrates on
the trump.

Beowulf gets ready to go along with Kanna.

The_Prof pages, "Wow, that took some time for what was supposed to be
a simple shopping trip. o.o Perhaps I should cut down on the
questioning a bit?" to you.
You page, "Nah, 's fine. ^_^ We're just naturally curious." to
The_Prof.
The_Prof pages, "Indeed. Perhaps that will help us in the future. :)"
to you.
You page, "Curisoity is a good thing, as long as it doesn't getcha
killed. :)" to The_Prof.

Beowulf waits for the trump to take hold...

The world goes rainbow colored, and you're in the courtyard of the
castle.

As fate would have it, Mutsumi is walking by as you appear.

She spins on one foot and glomps onto Beowulf.  "Hello, cousin!  How
are you?"

Kanna smiles.  "Ah, home sweet surrogate home."  She looks at Bey,
letting go of his hand.  "You want me to go and toss that spice
up... hey, Mutsumi!"  She grins.

Beowulf 's expression looks suspiciously like a grin as he
responds. "Mutsumi-chan! How are you today?"

Mutsumi now notices Kanna.  "Hi, Kanna!"  She looks at the two of you.
"You two just got back from a romantic weekend together?" she asks
sweetly.

Kanna rolls her eyes and grins.  "Only if Bey's idea of romance
includes KO'ing Egyptian Cultists from the Nile."

Beowulf says, "Well, I suppose, if you call having a zeppelin blow up
above you to be romantic." He rubs his chin thoughtfully. "Some people
do, I suppose."

Kanna says, "I think that's more cousin Shaft's idea of a perfect
weekend.  I could be wrong, tho."

Beowulf says, "Well, yes, I suppose that would make sense for him."

Beowulf says, "Do you have a moment for us to go back to your rooms? I
picked up something you might enjoy."

Mutsumi claps her hands delightfully.  "Sure thing."  She links an arm
aruond Beowulf's.  "See you later, Kanna-chan!"

Beowulf blinks. "Um... perhaps she could come with us? We need to go
see Aunt Nanami and Aunt Kozue in a few moments, something to do with
that little fracas on the zeppelin."

Kanna says, "Besides, I'm carrying the thing that was picked up." She
grins, hefting the bag.

She says, "Oh, okay.  Just follow me, then!"  And she heads off,
dragging Beowulf along, off towards her quarters.

Kanna grins, following the dragged Beowulf.

You can see various servants hard at work cleaning up from the Spring
Festival of two days ago.

Beowulf looks around with interest. "Ah? Everyone have a good time
here?"

Kanna . o O (And they worry 'bout her health sometimes?  Not the way
she drags Bey around...)

The Greening lasts a day, but the cleanup lasts a week, or so the
servants say.

Mutsumi says, "Oh, we all missed you and Thoric and Jacqui and..."
She sighs.  "I guess a lot of us were gone.  But the rest of us had
fun.  I even got Naru to stop studying for a few minutes and have some
fun."

Beowulf says, "Hm. Perhaps we can find some time to help when we're
done."

Kanna whistles a bit.  "Wish I hadn't missed it.. but hey, such is
life.  There'll be other Greenings."

Kanna asks, "Where'd the rest end up?"

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

Kanna OOCly lags. :P

Shizumaru has disconnected.

>> Shizumaru bows, says, "Gomen nasai. Mou ikimasu," and runs off.

Tybalt falls asleep.

Beowulf OOCly aarghs. :p

Tybalt wakes up.

Akemi has disconnected.

Beowulf says, "OOC Last thing I saw was 'Kanna whistles a bit.  "Wish
I hadn't missed it.. but hey, such is life.  There'll be other
Greenings."'"

Kanna OOCly slaps his connection around.

Akemi has connected.

Kanna asks, "Where'd the rest end up?"

Beowulf says, "OOC Last thing I saw was 'Kanna whistles a bit.  "Wish
I hadn't missed it.. but hey, such is life.  There'll be other
Greenings."'"

Anthy says, "OOC Feh."

Kanna OOCly says, "and as nothing really happened since then, let's
continue!"

Beowulf OOCly agrees. :)

Mikage says, "OOC My connection permanently died yesterday. I just had
the cable guys over... I never got to finish my scene ;.;"

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

Mutsumi takes you to her quarters, which, oddly enough, are in the
wing usually reserved for the Elders.  Her room is right next to
Miki's; you have heard it once was reserved for Derith.

You page, "I take it this is 'cause Mutsumi's Miki's kid?" to Akemi.
Akemi pages, "Yep." to you.
You page, "Corrine would fight tooth and nail to keep hers and Juri's
rooms untouched... since Kanna prolly uses 'em when she's in town,a nd
whenever mom comes down to do stuff, she likes to keep in the same
place she usually is, not ambassadorial." to Akemi.
Akemi pages, "Juri's room is sealed up for the moment." to you.
You page, "*nod* Prolly under Corrine's order, though she can trump
herself into it if need be." to Akemi.

Beowulf OOCly says, "Hmmm. Interesting."

The odor of paint hits you as you come in; Mutsumi has a half-finished
painting of a temple atop a lonely mountain on an easel, and paints
all over her living room table.

Beowulf examines the painting.

A door now connects the room over to Miki's 'living room' area.  Doors
internally lead off to the bedroom and the bathroom.  Various
knicknacks line the mantelpiece over the fireplace.

Kanna takes a deep breath of the paint scents.  "Ahhhh.  smells like
home. :)"

Some fresh daisies sit in a vase on a small table near the door.

Kanna asks, "Hey, bey?  I'm gonna place that call I mentioned earlier,
if that's all right?"

The painting shows a mountain whose top has been sheared off, witha
large temple of basalt and marble half-fallen to ruins.

Beowulf says, "Sure 'nuff. I'll be here when you get back."

Kanna nods, grabs the little wrapped tin of "For Women Only" spice,
and goes off a little bit, still in view but a tad more private, to
trump Mia.

Beowulf asks, "Interesting subject... and looks very nicely done so
far. What's it about?"

Paintings of Miki, Kozue, Madoka, Shinobu, and Naru hang on the
hallway wall.

Kanna pulls out her trump of the Court mage of Ember, and concentrates
on it.

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

Akemi pages, "Mia answers.  "Hello?"" to you.

You page, "[Kanna] Hey, Mia?  Beowulf and I picked up something as a
gift over in Westb'ryport earlier today, and only afetr we bought it,
we wondered if there was possibly any gotcha's in it.  *she holds up
the tin* I'm thinking it might be an aphrodesiac... coudl you take a
look at it, chemically and magically and stuff?  No rush, but just
lemme know what you find." to Akemi.

Akemi pages, "She takes it.  "Certainly.  I should hve a report for
you in a few hours."" to you.

You page, "[Kanna passes the cannister over.  "Thanks, Mia.  Take
care." She cuts the connection.]" to Akemi.

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

Mutsumi says, "It was a line drawing in a book I got from the library,
so I decided to do a painting of it.  I'll probably give it to Thoric;
he likes creepy art."  She giggles a little.  "Kind of spooky."

Beowulf asks, "Hmmm, yes. Which book?"

She points over to the table.  "It's a collection of horror stories.
Thoric suggested I read it, so I've been reading it whenever I feel
brave enough."

Beowulf smiles and gives Mutsumi a quick one-armed hug. "I'm sure you
always feel brave enough, cousin." He goes over to look at the book.

Kanna passes a hand over the trump she was holding, and puts it away.
She then comves over to look at the painting.  "Oooo.  Creepy."  She
grins.

You page, "Anything familiar about the subject matter, or no?" to
Akemi.
Akemi pages, "Nowhere you've been, but you think you read the book a
while back.  It's a collection of horror stories from Therin.  That
place is supposed to be an old temple of the Dark Gods; the heroine of
the story nearly gets sacrificed bya ghost-priest." to you.
You page-pose, "Aerianne nods.  DArk gods... never good, but hey.
Hrm.  Therin.  The place Shinobu stomped to rubble, and where the
cimbri slaves ended up.  Prolly how I ended up reading it, given
Kanna's little history-checkup bits." to Akemi.
Akemi pages, "Thoric suggested you read it.  He seems to really like
this book :)" to you.

Kanna hehs a bit.  "I remember reading that book when I was
younger..." She chuckles.  "Thoric suggested I read it."

Beowulf smiles. "There seems to be a common thread, here."

Kanna says, "Oh?"  She glances at Mutsumi.  "You too?""

Mutsumi says, "Thoric likes scary books too much, I think, but some of
them are good."

Beowulf unpacks the turtle and hands it to Mutsumi. "Anyway, I thought
you might enjoy this."

Kanna smiles, watching the presentation of the turtle.

You page, "That's it.  I have to write up the shadow desc of
Discworld." to Akemi and The_Prof.
The_Prof pages, "Heh. Will look forward to it." to you and Akemi.

Her eyes light up.  "Oh wow, this is great!  Tama-chan will really
like it too."  She puts the statuette up on the mantelpiece right next
to a small ninja turtle statuette.  "Does he have a name?'

Beowulf smiles. "I thought you should have the honor."

Kanna glances at Beowulf.  "You know, I don't think we ever got one
out of the guy."

Kanna says, "Then again, he bought it from somebody else..." She
shrugs.  "Where -is- the little flying reptile, anyway?" She smiles.

There are crashing noises in the hallway.

Kanna says, "... that could be him..."

Beowulf says, "Oh, dear." He smiles resignedly.

Mutsumi says, "Oh, Tama-chan went to...oh dear."

Kanna pokes her head out to see what's makign the noise in the
hallway.

A flying turtle is zooming down the hallway with Snickers chasing
after her.  A nine-tailed fox then chases Snickers, and an entire pack
of dogs is behind her.

You page, "Nine-tailed fox... Mitsune?" to Akemi.
Akemi pages, "Yep." to you.

The whole mob tramples over an unfortunate servant right as you stick
your head out the door.

Beowulf asks, "My, my." He shakes his head. "I wonder where the dogs
came from?"

Kanna says, "... oh heck...  TAMA-CHAN!  SNICKERS!  MITSUNE!"

Beowulf asks, "Or should I say, where Kitsune found them?"

Then Shinobu Major comes round the corner.  "Bring back my dogs, you
stupid fox woman!!!!"  She is chasing the dogs, holding several broken
leashes.

Beowulf covers his eyes. "...oh no."

Naru is running along behind her.  "Mitsune, stop egging them on!"

Kanna moves out into the hallway, and makes a throwing gesture with
her left hand, the ring there turning into a net to try and capture
the dogs as they run by.

Beowulf steps out into the corridor. "Kitsune!" he shouts. "Want to
try for itching powder in your room again?"

You page, "Raphael to net form, try to ensare the dogs." to Akemi.

The turtle flies past Kanna, the cat slips through her legs, and the
fox darts by, but then she easily catches the first wave of dogs in
the net.

Kanna tries to reign the dogs in.  "Mrffff, by the -Pyricorn-,
Mitsune, give it a rest!"

Tama-chan flies over, landing on Mutsumi's shoulder.  Snickers tries
to climb Mutsumi to get at the turtle.  The fox runs round her legs.

Shinobu Major runs up.  "Thank you, Kanna."

Beowulf reaches into his bag and pulls out a capsule, and tosses it
under Kitsune's feet.

Kanna says, "No probs, cousin Shinobu."  She starts calming the dogs
as best she can, so that they won't tangle more, using some of her
training from the time of being an Arden Ranger to get them to heel.
"Heel, you boys..."

Lubricant splays about the fox and Mutsumi.  They both trip on each
other, and Mutsumi manages to fall, upper torso hitting the table. It
flips, flinging open paint jars into the hallway...

Kanna . o O (Eeep.)

Shinobu Major and Naru start grabbing dogs, blissfully unaware of
this.

Kanna exclaims, "Watch out for the paint!"

Beowulf acks, and quickly pulls Mutsumi up.

Paint splatters dogs, Shinobu, and Naru.  Kanna, alert, dodges the
paint easily.

Kanna . o O (Sigh.)

Shinobu and Naru both turn in slow unison towards where Beowulf is
helping Mutsumi up.  Kitsune assumes her human form and tries to
pretend she was here on the floor all along.

Beowulf groans, steadies Mutsumi on her feet, then picks up
Snickers. "Neko-chan? You causing trouble again?"

Snickers meows at Beowulf and looks innocent.

Kanna gets the rest of the dogs to heel, re-calming them after the
paint business.  "and we'll have Fun fun fun/ in the castle today...."
she singsongs quietly, glancing over at Mitsune with one arched eyebrow,
before looking back at the group of SHinobu and Naru.

Shinobu Major points a finger at Mutsumi.  "That turtle is nothing but
trouble!"  Then she 'stabs' at Kitsune.  "And you're a dangerous
lunatic!"

Naru puts a hand on her mother's shoulder.  "She probably didn't know
these were fox hunting hounds, Mom."

Beowulf says, "Well, Snickers? You *know* chasing Tama-chan around
causes trouble..."

Snickers hides her face and pretends if she can't see anyone, they're
not there.

Kanna hehs a bit at that, and then finally contracts the net back to
ring form, replacing it on her hand.  "They aren't exactly marked like
that, cousin.  Though on the flip side, there's such a thing as
tempting fate." She grins a bit.

Beowulf then smiles sweetly at Kitsune. "You know, it could be
something *much* worse than itching powder next time."

Kitsune says, "I didn't MEAN to get the dogs all hot for my body!"

Kanna just coughs.

Shinobu frowns at her, then gets Naru to help her herd the dogs back
downstairs off to the kennels.

Beowulf rolls his eyes. "Ah, yes. Right."

Kanna waves to Shinobu and NAru as they head off.

Kanna says, "You said it, not me, Mitsune."

Kitsune stands, dusting herself off.  "Hey, Mutsumi, you okay?'

Beowulf waves to Shinobu and Naru as well, smiling sheepishly, then
starts to pick up Mutsumi's paints.

Mutsumi, who has sat down in a chair and looks woozy, says, "Oh, I'm
fine, Mitsune.  Can you pick up the paints you spilled?"

Kanna checks on the damage inside, and on Mutsumi.

Mitsune nods and wiggles her fingers, chanting a bit.  The spilled
paint begins flowing back into the fallen containers.

Beowulf asks, "You OK, Mutsumi-chan?"

Kanna asks, "Need me to get Doc Wasyuu, Mutsumi?"

Mitsune grins, continuing to wave her hands about, making the paint
dance as it retracts.

Beowulf turns and frowns at Mitsune. This time he's serious. "Well?"

Kanna casts a warning eyebrow at Mitsune.

Mutsumi says, "Oh, I'm fine.  I think I got paint on myself, though."
She does indeed have several colors of paint on herself.

Kanna OOCly says, "But is it stylishly spatter paint?"

Mitsune continues cleaning up paint and says, "Eh, what, Beowulf?"

Beowulf smiles ruefully. "Oh, dear. Well, I'm sure Mitsune knows some
good cleaning spells... doesn't she?"

Mitsune turns and points at the dress.  "Cleanse!" she shouts.  And
the paint evaporates.

Beowulf looks meaningfully at Mitsune, nodding at Mutsumi's clothes
and indicating Mutsumi's woozyness.

Mitsune grins.  "Mom never liked spending time cleaning up, so..."

Beowulf says, "Well, yes." He grins wryly. "And with Travis around,
there's so much to clean up... you know much dust you can get in a
library?"

You page, "Is this serious wooziness on Mutsumi's part, or just 'give
her some time and it'll be okay' wooziness?  I shoudl think the family
should know threshold by now." to Akemi.
Akemi pages, "You think it's just 'needs a little rest after fall;" to
you.
You page, "Righto." to Akemi.
You page, "Where's Tama-Chan at the moment?" to Akemi.
Akemi pages, "On Mutsumi's head." to you.

Kanna hrms, and goes and checks Mutsumi's rooms to see if she can get
her a glass of water.

Mitsune says, "I filled a vat with the dust once.  Then rigged it to
all fall into Kentaro's room."  She grins.

Beowulf grins ruefully. "I suppose that one couldn't be helped."

Kanna heads back over with a glass of water for Mutsumi, handing it to
her.  "Here you go..." And then she skritches the little flying turtle
on her head.

Mitsune says to Mutsumi, "You okay?"

Kanna glances over at Bey and Mitsune.  "Wish I'd been around to see
that.  Ahwell." She grins.

Mutsumi says, 'I'm fine.  I'm fine."  She takes the glass of water and
drinks it.

Beowulf moves over to speak quietly to Mitsune. "But we will be a bit
more careful around folks who aren't as strong, won't we?"

Mitsune laughs nervously.  "Yeah, I'll be careful.  I was just playing
with the cat, and then the dogs joined in and..."

Beowulf looks back at Snickers. "And we're going to be a good kitty
for a while now, won't we?" He scratches her between the ears.

Snickers nods.

Beowulf smiles. "That's good."

You page, "Wow, Cousin Bey can do the same sort of thing Cousin Hiko
can! :)" to The_Prof.
The_Prof pages, "Eh? He just likes cats. :)" to you.
You page, "Ah.  nevermind then. :)" to The_Prof.

Kanna claps her hands.  "So.  Shall we head out and leave the artist
to her work?" She smiles.

Beowulf says, "Well, everything all cleaned up?" He checks on how
Mutsumi's looking. "Yes, Kanna, we should probably go talk to folks
about that little incident with the zeppelin."

Kanna nods.  "Take care, Mutsumi... I'll be looking forward to seeing
how that turns out," she says, pointing to the current painting.  She
then waves her fingers at Tama-chan.  "Later, Tama-Chan!"

Mitsune says, "Well, I'm off.  Anna asked me to help her with some
research, and I had no good excuse to say no, so I ought to go keep my
promise.  See you later!"

Beowulf smiles. "Take care, folks."

Mutsumi stands and kisses Beowulf on the cheek.  "Thank you for the
nice present," she says.  "Goodbye everyone!"

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

Kanna OOCly says, "And I think that this is a decent forkpoint, since
I needs must sleep for work. ^_^;"

Beowulf OOCly says, "Aw... and I was hoping to talk to Nanami and
Kozue still tonight. Oh, well..."

Beowulf OOCly grins. "Sleep well."

Kanna OOCly says, "Sorry, the past week has been HELL on my work
schedule sleep-wise.  Gotta get myself back into synch. ^_-;"

Anthy says, "OOC Okay."

Anthy asks, "OOC Okay, I'll run Beowulf talking to Nanami...you were
going to go investigate Bloc Rebmaquuois stuff, right Phil?"

Beowulf OOCly says, "Understandable enough; I know exactly what you
mean, Phil. :)"

Nausicaa says, "OOC See ya, Phil."

Beowulf OOCly says, "Oh, before you go, would Mia have had time to
check on the spice yet?"

Gabrielle OOCly blinks. "I thought your connection had gone, TR."

Kanna OOCly says, "Actually, Kanna was planning to follow Bey heading
to Nanami, since she's got the city under her thumb.  So hell with it,
I'll accompany.  Get the info from Nanami, then contact Aunt Kozue
give ship and get more info."

Kanna OOCly says, "She said it'd be a few hours."

Kanna OOCly says, "I'm good for another hour, but that's it,
boys. ^_-;"

Beowulf OOCly says, "Ah? You sure, Phil? All right, then..."

Nausicaa says, "OOC It did, Merc, but the cable guys came over to fix
it."

Beowulf OOCly says, "Let's try and make it fairly quick, then."

Kanna OOCly nods.  WE're the detail and side tangent kings, ain't
we. *wl*

Jacqueline of Amber says, "OOCly it's a miracle, Timer is here"

Beowulf OOCly says, "Apparently so. :)"

Nausicaa says, "OOC I thought I was the detail king. ^^; considering I
took a week realtime to prepare for my Icon Quest. ^^;"

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

You head down into the city to Nanami's offices down in the Town Hall.

Beowulf speaks to her secretary and asks if Nanami is free at the
moment.

Kanna waits nice and patiently, with her bag o' goodies.

The secretary ushers you into Nanami's office. It's fairly plain,
though the desk is crowded and the chairs are plush.  There's a
painting of Makoto, Nanami, Ramon, Keiko, and Motoko up on the wall,
done in Mutsumi's art style.  They're on the steps of the Town Hall,
arranged by generations.

Kanna smiles fondly at the paintings, recognizing the style.  She then
smiles at her Aunt.  "Hey there, Aunt Nanami.  How's it goin'?"

Beowulf bows to Nanami. "Hello, Aunt Nanami. Thank you for seeing
us. I had a little something for you, and (if you don't mind), a favor
to ask."

Beowulf smiles and passes over the spice packet... minus the 'For
Women Only', of course.

Nanami takes it, looks in the bag, then smiles and puts the bag in her
desk drawer.  "Hello, Beowulf and Kanna.  What sort of favor?"

Kanna glances at Beowulf, letting him take the lead here, for the
moment.

Beowulf pulls out the obelisk, the dagger and the ring. "We ran into
some rather interesting (and somewhat unpleasant) folks on a zeppelin
trip to Cape Westb'ury, and recovered these from them after they blew
it up."

Beowulf says, "Er, blew up the zeppelin's gas bag, that
is. Fortunately, we were able to get the people off. In any event, we
hoped you could have a look at them and tell what they were."

Kanna says, "Bloc Rebmaquois took credit for for the destruction of
the AAF Arden, and escaped via hanggliders into the ocean.  Then a
whale ate the zeppelin that went down."

Nanami sighs.  "More of those loons.  Although I'm surprised they
tried attacking a zeppelin all the way out near the Cape."  She takes
out a pair of glasses, puts them on, and examines the items.

Beowulf nods. "Yes. Although the obelisk appears to have come from a
group of odd Egyptian cultists who barged in on us."

Nausicaa says, "OOC Blah. Bloc Rebmaquois."

Kanna says, "I was tracking le Fox on the flight, and I think he
bailed as well... he'd looted the zepplein's safe when we did the last
runthrough and found those." She gestures to the ring, obelisk, and
dagger.

Beowulf asks, "Oh, and his calling card. I don't suppose that had any
enchantments on it, did it?"

Kanna says, "Any rumblings on them down in Amber City recently?  Or on
Renard le Fox?"

Kanna considers, fishes out the card, and plunks it down on nanami's
desk.

Nanami says, "I can't answer questions and examine these at the same
time, niece."

You page, "Do his cards normally end up being enchanted?" to Akemi.
Akemi pages, "His calling cards are usually conjured, but with no
special properties." to you.
You page-pose, "Aerianne nods." to Akemi.

Beowulf apologizes for distracting her.

She points at the ring.  "A simple device to rack and use spells.  A
sorceror stores them in the ring, then anyone can use them."

Kanna smiles sheepishly.  "Sorry, Aunt Nanami."  She scratches the
back of her head.

Beowulf ahhhs, and nods.

Kanna then looks at Beowulf.  "le Fox's cards are usually conjured,
but he doesn't put anything into 'em, as far as I'm aware."

Beowulf nods again.

She turns to the dagger.  "Ahh, a nice little device.  Quite handy for
killing people.  Rebman sacrifical dagger, but it's been augmented to
throw a nasty ice shard spell too."

Kanna whistles, softly.

Nanami says, "I'll need more time to study this obelisk.  Can you
leave it with me?"

Beowulf says, "That... does not sound like fun. Most likely from the
Bloq Rebmaquois people."

Kanna glances at Bey.  "remind me to go and double-check those thugs I
had sis trump home... given they were planning to buy some sacrificial
daggers -from- le Fox..." She purses her lips.

Nanami nods.  "Bloq Rebmaquois seems to have an endless array of
magical devices at their command."

Beowulf says, "Certainly; if there's a better place to leave it, I'm
not sure where it would be."

She continues, "We believe Dolphin is a rather skilled conjuror."

Kanna nods.  "No probs, Aunt Nanami."  She then nods again.

Beowulf looks up curiously at that. "Indeed? Interesting."

Nanami says, "And they have an endless army of sealife at their
comand."

Beowulf says, "I have some small interests along the lines of
Conjuration... it might be interesting to see how good he is, at some
point." He flexes his fingers slowly.

Kanna mmmms.  "That could explain the whale that ate the zeppelin,
then."

You page, "Cold iron and spellbreaker weapons should neutralize most
conjured items, unless they're very-high psyched?" to Akemi.
In a page-pose to you, Akemi nods.

Beowulf asks, "Yes." He seems to be struck by a thought. "Doesn't the
Dread Pirate Roberts also use whales and other sealife?"

Nanami says, "Yes.  He's not Rebmaquois as far as we know, but..."

Beowulf says, "It does make for an interesting coincidence, does it
not? Hmmm."

Kanna raises her eyebrows, and then huhs.  "Huh.  Looks likes we've
got two reasons to track down Aunt Kozue then.  I remember her
muttering a while back wanting to take him down."

Nanami says, "Kozue is out at Shalomar, doing an inspection, I think."

Beowulf says, "Hm. Wouldn't want to interrupt her, but perhaps we
could drop by and wait for her to finish. It's probably the sort of
thing she'd want to know."

Nanami says, "You never know with Kozue."

Beowulf says, "Anything else we can help you with, Aunt? I do feel a
little guilty about putting you though this work for us," he adds,
nodding at the obelisk.

She goes to her closet and goes and gets out a crystal case, then sets
the monolith into it.  She turns back to you and smiles.  "Well, yes,
there is something.  There's a drug shipment coming in tonight.  I'd
like to have the boat sent to the bottom of the ocean without it being
traceable back to us.  Do you think you can handle that?"

Kanna nods.  "Well, we'll try calling her later, then.  Don't want to
interrupt." She smiles a bit.  "Or, we could do that... I'm good
either way" She hehs.  "Sinking ships.  Seems to be a theme... yeah,
I'm good." She grins.

Beowulf blinks. "Drugs? Dear me, a filthy habit. Yes, that would be
most amenable."

Kanna asks, "What's the drug in question?"

She continues, "I'm afraid the KTC has been smuggling opium again."

Kanna says, "Cute." She eyerolls.  "At least it's not Melange
smugglers."

"Which is a habit they need to be broken of."

Nanami says, "Well, melange is mostly useful as a cinnamon substitute
here in Amber."

Beowulf asks, "Yes, I would say so. I wonder why they feel the need to
do nasty things like that?" He looks at Kanna. "Any suggestions on
your part for our plan of action?"

She gets out a file folder.  "Here's the information you need.  It's
supposed to pull into the harbor around one AM.  If you need a boat to
get out to them, I can supply you with one."

Kanna chuckles.  "True.  But some folks in the LC get twitchy when it
gets shipped out-system."  She then looks at Bey.  "Mostly, figuing
out where they'll be heading for in-harbor,...... ooooorrr, if we can
intercept before they even land, I'm good."

Beowulf takes the file folder, flips through it briefly, and
nods. "Let us think about it for a little bit, and we'll get back to
you on the boat."

She says, "I'll be here until five."

Beowulf asks, "OOCl What time is it now?"

Kanna says, "Might need a tad of a disguise for me, but hell, I'm
muscle and crossbows."  She snaps her fingers.  "And oh... if you've
got any word on any rumblings about Bloc Rebmaquois or Renard le Fox
down in the city, I'd appreciate to hear 'em." She smiles a bit.

The_Prof pages, "Well, I have a bit of an idea in mind..." to you.
You page, "Discuss later? :)" to The_Prof.
The_Prof pages, "Indeed. Might take a bit of conjuring work..." to
you.

Kanna glances at the file-folder contents as Beowulf holds 'em open.

Anthy says, "OOC About 2 pm."
Kanna OOCly nods.

Nanami says, "Well, we haven't had any trouble the last month with
Bloc Rebmaquois, which means they're probably saving up for something
big."

Beowulf OOCly nods.

Beowulf says, "Ah, yes. Joy. Well, if we discover anything, we'll
certainly let you know."

Nanami swats a fly.  "As compared to the flies, who seem to just be
enjoying the spring."

Kanna nods.  "Given we both got jumped, and the person who was ranting
how our deaths would show Uncle Tylor... starting to get that
feeling."

Nanami looks thoughtful.  "Do you have any idea how they knew you
would be there?"

You page, "I assume my name would've been on the passenger list out of
Cathay or wherever I boarded?" to Akemi.
You page, "Where -did- I board, btw?" to Akemi.
Akemi pages, "You boarded in Cathay" to you.

Beowulf says, "Actually, I had the impression that they hadn't known
we were going to be there; they seemed a bit surprised, and rather
delighted, to have found a couple of the folk there."

Kanna hrms.  "On the flip side, I'd boarded at Cathay, and I assume my
name would've been ont he passenger list." She glances at Bey.  "You?"

Kanna shrugs.  "I was just tracking le Fox... we lucked out that our
paths crossed as they did."  She grins.

Beowulf says, "Oh, I came onboard at Amber."

Beowulf says, "Which would have been a logical place to pick up my
name as well, yes."

Beowulf asks, "Actually, Aunt, would you have any objection to the
opium being the only thing that goes missing?"

Chris pages, "My ... still fox hunting? :)" to you.
You page, "Well, we may be stumbling on bigger things.  We'll see." to
Chris.

Nanami says, "The opium is the main objective."

Kanna says, "Egyptian cultists, random artifact theves, high-level art
theives, the Bloc-heads... whatta week."  She pauses at Beowulf's
suggestion.

She continues, "But I think a mysterious sinking would best teach them
a lesson."

Beowulf says, "Hm, yes. Very well, then. That could probably be
arranged."

Beowulf smiles.

Kanna says, "EAsily."  She smiles, too.

The_Prof pages, "I'm thinking either going after it with the Nautilus,
or else doing a small-scale operation with the two of us in scuba gear
on powered sleds. :)" to you.
You page, "Wooohooo!  Man, we're all James Bond all of a sudden...."
to Chris.
You page, "Hopefully, scuba gear and powered sleds work in Amber,
but...." to Chris.
You page, "Wooohooo!  Man, we're all James Bond all of a sudden...."
to The_Prof.
You page, "Hopefully, scuba gear and powered sleds work in Amber,
but...." to The_Prof.
The_Prof pages, "It is Fun to be a Pattern conjuror. :) Well, that's
something I'm going to have to go over with John, what we can get to
work... though IIRC I was one of the ones who put together the
zeppelin project, so I've got a power source to work from." to you.

Nanami says, "Good, good."

You page, "I still says Ember had a hand in the zepplins. ^_^" to
The_Prof.

She puts the obelisk away in her closet in the container.  "Your
mother was looking for you, by the way.  You might want to find her,
Beowulf."

In a page-pose to you, Chris grins. "We can make it work." ;)

Beowulf bows again. "Thank you, Aunt. I appreciate the notice."

Kanna nods.  "Hrm.  I'll go see how Aunt Kozue's doing, while you talk
to your mom, and then we rendevous back up in the castle?"

Beowulf asks, "Sounds good to me. See you later, then?"

Beowulf asks, "About what time do you want to meet?"

"Let me know how the mission goes," Nanami says.

Kanna thinks.  "'bout four, I should think?  Up at your rooms?"

Beowulf says, "We will indeed. Hopefully not through the Amber rumor
mill." He smiles ruefully.

Kanna pulls out a trump of the Shalomar naval base from her deck, her
other hand still holding the bag with the ship.

Beowulf asks, "That should be fine, cousin. Later on, then?"

You page, "you going to be continuing where you are?" to The_Prof.
The_Prof pages, "Probably just RP'ing the meeting with Mom, then
wrapping." to you.

Kanna nods.  "Later, Bey.  Thanks, Aunt Nanami." She smiles at her,
before concentrating on the trump trump.

You page, "I'll leave logging on, then." to The_Prof.

Beowulf bows again. "Thank you, Aunt. I'll see you later."

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

Anthy asks, "OOC Trumping to Shalomar, Kanna?"

Kanna OOCly says, "Yup, but I needs must bail, so I'm leaving logging
on and heading out."

You page, "And so sue me, Kanna wants to see if Ruka's in
again. *^_-*" to Akemi.
You page, "Ever since that dream sequence... sheesh. :)" to Akemi.
Akemi pages, "Hehe." to you.

Beowulf OOCly says, "We could RP the meeting with Mom and then wrap
for the night, unless there's something else you'd like to do, John."

Beowulf OOCly says, "Or unless you'd just like to wrap here."

Anthy says, "OOC LEt's do you talking to Mom, and I have other trouble
for you :)"

Kanna OOCly says, "oh boy. ahwell, later. :)"

Beowulf OOCly says, "Oh, dear. :)"

Kanna OOCly says, "as long as he's in one piece to get into more
trouble down in port...."

Kanna OOCly says, "anyyway... *waves*"

Beowulf OOCly says, "Seeya later, Phil!"

Beowulf OOCly says, "Anyway, ready."

Beowulf goes to visit his Mother.

Nausicaa oocly yawns and blinks.

Nausicaa says, "OOC Bye, Phil."

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

You head back up the mountain, and poke around a bit until you find
your mother.  She's down in her lab, brewing something nice smelling.
She turns as you enter.  "Hello, son," she says, smiling.  "How as
your trip?"

Beowulf says, "Well, there was a little excitement along the way, and
cousin Kanna and I ended up having to save the zeppelin's passengers,
but relatively non-eventful."

Beowulf says, "But the scenery was absolutely beautiful. I really
should travel by zeppelin more often."

Beowulf sniffs. "My, that smells wonderful. What do you have going?"

She says, "Lily was here, looking for you.  I told her I'd tell you
she was looking for you, so now I have."  She smiles.  "Yes, zeppelin
travel is very enjoyable."  She pulls out a chair for you.  "Would you
like some coffee?"

Beowulf sits down. "Thank you, although I'd really prefer tea..." He
pulls out a stock of Ginsing Peppermint. "Would you care for some?"

Beowulf stops for a moment as what she said sinks in. "Lily was
looking for me?" He looks puzzled. "Did she say why?"

Wakaba says, "She's doing some research or something, and wanted to
get your help."

Beowulf looks slightly relieved. "Ah. Well, that's fine, then." He
sighs. "I ran into her sister earlier, over at Mutsumi's rooms. She
was chasing Snickers, who was chasing Tama-chan... and somehow managed
to get Shinobu Major's dogs to chase *her*." He covers his eyes. "It
was a mess."

Wakaba goes and gets her coffee and puts your tea on to brew for you.
"Oh, Mitsune's always been like that.  She's very playful."  Wakaba
smiles gently.  "Brightens up the place, really."

Beowulf says, "Well, I suppose so. And I don't mind, really, at least
when she limits herself to more-or-less willing targets. But she
nearly knocked poor Mutsumi out this time."

Lucien OOC Yeah, like an atomic blast brightens up the place :)

Wakaba sighs.  "I'll have another talk with her.  She needs to be
careful around Mutsumi.  Poor girl." She shakes her head.  "Mutsumi
will probably grow out of it, though.  I've heard Miki was pretty
frail when he was young."

Beowulf says, "Yes... hopefully I'll be able to make a few things to
help her when I get a little more experienced, as well."

Wakaba nods, sipping her coffee.  "Will you be at dinner tonight?"

Beowulf brings out the dagger and the ring. "Oh, I acquired these on
that little jaunt... it seems there are some rather interesting folks
playing around with sorcery out there."

Beowulf says, "Hm. I may be at dinner, but I'm helping Kanna out with
one of her investigations... she helped me out with the folks on the
zeppelin, so I think it's only right to give her a hand with her
work. I'll have to see how the schedules work out."

Beowulf says, "Did you have anything special in mind? I'll try my best
to make it there if you need me."

She shakes her head.  "No, just dining with everyone in the great
hall.  Good luck with your investigation, though."

Your tea is ready, so she passes you the nice steaming cup.

Beowulf thanks her and sips at the cup. "In any event, could you use
the ring? I doubt you'd want to use the dagger."

Beowulf says, "Assuming the folks who made it didn't include any nasty
traps on it, that is."

She says, "Why don't I put some nice spells in it for you and then you
can use it?"

She continues, "I already have lots of items like this."

She says, "I can have it full of stuff by dinner, I think."

Beowulf says, "Ah? Thank you, I would appreciate that." He
smiles. "Always nice to have a bit of useful equipment."

She sips her coffee and looks thoughtful.  "I don't suppose you'll be
running by Siam any time soon?"

Beowulf says, "Siam... Siam, Siam..." He taps his chin. "I hadn't
planned anything, but it shouldn't be any real trouble to pay them a
visit, and you never know what might turn up."

She says, "I was wanting some nice Siamese silk for a dress I was
planning to make for Marches.  But that won't be for over a month, so
don't rush."

Beowulf asks, "Ah. Yes, I should be able to pick that up for you, no
problem. What color were you looking for?"

She says, "I need yellow and green.  Not a whole lot, just enough to
make two dresses."

Beowulf nods. "Shouldn't be difficult." He sits lost in thought for a
moment. "A lot of jungle there. Might be a good place to run an
expedition, someday."

She laughs.  "I understand there's quite a few lost temples out
there."

Beowulf says, "Indeed. Care for any souvenirs?" He smiles and winks at
her.

She smiles.  "I wouldn't mind a statuette of Kro the Dancing Buddha,
if you can find one."

Beowulf says, "Well, that might be entertaining; you never know when
might turn up."

She finishes off her coffee.  "You always bring me the nicest things,
son."  She looks at the ring and thinks.  "Any particular sorts of
spells you'd like?"

Beowulf says, "Hm. I shall rely on your judgement, Mother. Although if
you could put something in there to help establish when someone is
telling the truth, that might be helpful."

She nods.  "Alright."

Beowulf asks, "In any event, I should probably see what Lily
wishes. Shall I see you later this afternoon?"

She nods.  "See you later, son.  Have fun with Lily."  She smiles in
that motherly way.

Beowulf bows and kisses her hand. "See you later, Mother." He blinks
for a moment. "Have fun?"

Wakaba just grins.

Beowulf walks out the door, shaking his head in bemusement.

Beowulf heads over to see Lily. The Library, perhaps?

You head over to the library, where you see Lily, Mitsune, and Anna,
the assistant librarian, hard at work poring over books.  Mitsune
looks bored out of her skull, Lily seems to have zoned out reality in
favor of her book, and Anna looks like she somehow became lost while
reading.

Beowulf raises an eyebrow at Mitsune. "In detention? Or should I ask
Miki to show you the real thing?" He smiles slightly, and pats her on
the shoulder. "Well, just be more *careful* next time, allright?" He
gives her a gentle shake.

Beowulf then looks over at Lily, to see what she's reading. "You
wanted to see me, Lily?"

Lily is wearing relatively modest clothing today...by her standards.
It's a Therinese dress, split up both sides so that the skirt portion
is closer to two loincloths than a skirt, while the top, though high
in back, is a very deep rectangular scoop in front that rather well
exposes her ample bosom and just barely maintains minimum decency.

It's a soft blue in color and ever so slightly translucent silk.

Beowulf looks, blushes slightly, then focuses on her face. "What can I
do for you?"

She puts down the book and says, "We're trying to help Anna with some
research,and I know you've been all over shadow, so..."

She smiles at you.  "I'd be very grateful if you helped us."

Nausicaa exclaims, "OOC back from lunch... oooo, Lily!"

Beowulf brightens up. "Ah, so. What were you looking for?"

Beowulf blushes again at her smile.

She stands up, picking up a list, and struts over to you.  "You see,
Lord Percy had his fortune told, and now he's trying to figure out
what it means." She hands the sheet to you.  "I've figured out some of
it, but..."

She leans close to you as she hands it over; you can smell the scent
of her floral perfume.

Beowulf says, "Hmmm." He reads the sheet. And looks nervous at the
scent of perfume.

The fortune:

Beware the Ice Queen, who possesses Flame Frozen in Stone, and her
lover who rules Chaos with his passions.  You must flee to the empire
ruled by a hammer if you would be free of the power of the old one
eyed man and his chaos winds.  You will go on a long journey, and if
you want to live, you must find the one-side loop and the storms under
a blue light."

Nausicaa says, "OOC I hate prophecy."

Lily leans and points at the paper.  "Now, the Ice Queen is almost
certainly the White Queen of the Frozen Waste, who rules the Land of
Eternal Winter.  And old one eye is probably either Odin or Grummsh,
or maybe Balor, but...the rest, I'm not sure."

Beowulf asks, "Let's see... Flame Frozen in Stone sounds like some
artifact of power, either a weapon, or... could it be a Spikard? "

Anna looks up.  "Hmm, that sounds logical," she says.

Mitsune says, "What we need is a spikard that reads boring books for
people and reports the good parts while you go do something else."

Beowulf says, "The hammer reminds me of a couple of places... either
Daiga and the Royal Hammer of the King there, or else the shadow
'Reikland', a Germanic culture said to have been founded by a hero
with a magic hammer."

Beowulf says, "Of course, it could just be referring to Maxwell's
Silver Hammer, but I suspect the folks at Abbey Road might not be
happy to have a batch of refugees drop by on their doorstep."

Mitsune slaps her forehead.  "Music.  We need music."  She starts
chanting.

Beowulf says, "The 'rules Chaos with his passions' sounds like it
could refer to... well, Annadil is gone, but it does sound like a
reference to the Courts of Chaos."

Beowulf asks, "It could also be Zeus, head of the Chaos house
Olympus... or perhaps Lugh of House Danaan. Here's an interesting
thought -- suppose one of them has managed to get his hands on the
spikard Rathos?"

Lily's eyes widen.  "That makes very good sense.  It's exactly the
sort of thing they'd want too.  That could be quite ugly, especially
if Zeus had it."

Anna asks, "Why?"

Lily says, "Because if Zeus had it and walked in the door, he'd
probably make us all have sex with him, then go on to have his way
with the rest of our family, the staff, the dogs..."  She sighs.

Beowulf frowns and looks faintly distressed. "He... is not a nice
man. I would not want to see that happen."

Beowulf says, "I met Mercury, of Zeus's House Olympus, at Panopticon;
Mercury thought he was a generous and wise man, but a 'horny old
bastard' who would... well. Let us not dwell on unpleasantries."

Anna scribbles down notes as you talk.  Mitsune finishes her spell,
and the tune 'Be Krewl to your School' starts playing.

Beowulf sighs, and asks Mitsune to turn it down a little.

She pouts and turns it down, then puts the book she was reading aside
and moves on to the next one.

Beowulf says, "In any event, Zeus/House Olympus would also fit with
Odin and Balor, also of Chaos."

Mitsune says, "This does look like some warning of a Chaos conspiracy.
But why would they be after PERCY of all people?  I mean, the man is
no threat to anyone but deer."

Beowulf says, "That... is indeed puzzling."

Anna shrugs.  "He seemed pretty worried about it to me."

Beowulf says, "The 'one-side loop' sounds like a mobius strip shadow;
Panopticon has one they use for some higher-level geometry courses,
and there are a few out on the Chaos side of Yig."

Beowulf tunes out the thought of Percy for a moment, trying to figure
out what 'storms under a blue light' might refer to.

Beowulf says, "I'm sorry... I can't think of what that might refer to
at the moment."

Lucien OOC heads out
Anthy exclaims, "OOC G'nite, Jeff!"

Beowulf says, "As for Percy... the only connection I can think of is
that it might be something related to Arden."

Beowulf OOCly says, "Seeya, Jeff!"

Autolyca has disconnected.

Anna scribble scribble scribble.

Seamus falls asleep.

Beowulf says, "OOC I've always had trouble with puzzles like
this. <rueful g>"
Lian . o O ( OOC Poor Beo. ^.^ )

Beowulf smacks his head. "I do remember a couple of shadows,
Talislanta and Mirika, which would seem to fit the description;
they're mobius shadows, with blue light in the sky, and commonly
stormy."

Nausicaa says, "OOC C'mon! Isn't Indiana Jones a shadow of yours? You
can do it! ^^;"

Beowulf says, "It's interesting... I should have thought of them
before -- they're part of an odd group of weird-geometry shadows. I,
well, like to call them the Pythagorean Circle." He looks sheepish. "I
think Escher must have travelled there in his dreams."

Lily says, "Talislanta is a very lovely place, though the rainy season
is really awful.  And with the way it bends around, the water flows
downhill forever."  She shakes her head.  "But the architecture is
lovely once you bend your brain around it."  She looks dreamy for a
moment.  "Have you ever been to The House of Inverted Steaks there,
Beowulf?"

Beowulf blinks. "Yes, as a matter of fact, I have. Delightful
food... at least for those with a head for heights, I suppose."

She smiles.  "We'll have to go there together some time, then. I quite
enjoyed it when we went there for Father's birthday last year."

Beowulf asks, "Um... together?"

She nods firmly.  "Yes."  She looks thoughtful.  "Do you have dinner
plans?"

Beowulf says, "I suppose someone *should* go there to investigate, now
that we have this prophecy... um?" He blinks. "Well, I hadn't
*planned* on anything, but I had a couple of things I was going to
help cousin Kanna with this evening, in return for some help she gave
me on that last trip to Cape Westb'ury."

Beowulf says, "I could probably find some time for dinner, though, if
you want to discuss this." He thinks for a moment. "The Great Hall
would probably be too noisy."

Mitsune flips over a page.  "Oooh, look here.  From the Prophetic
Ramblings of the Ugly Old Goat Prophet: "The White Queen rules a land
as frozen as her heart.  In the year of the Cat, she will set her eyes
on the highest prize, to become a God."

She smiles brightly.  "Very good.  I'll see about getting Mom's trump
of the place, and then we can duck out there and have a nice peaceful
dinner and discuss this."

Beowulf says, "...oh. Um. Yes, I suppose we could... I was just
thinking of seeing if we could bring something up here; I know your
father has a little place he keeps for when he snacks on duty."

Anna scribbles more notes furiously.

Lily says, "Oh, if we stay here, I'm sure Mitsune will lead a pack of
dogs through the room again or something."

Beowulf says, "On the other hand, since Talislanta does have a faster
timeflow, it would give us more time to work things out and still get
back here in time."

Mitsune snorts.  "If I'd realized they'd brought a bunch of damn FOX
HOUNDS into the palace..."

Beowulf smiles in rueful exasperation at Mitsune, then looks over at
Lily again. And blushes again. "Yes, I suppose you're right."

She says, "Good, good.  Meet you at the courtyard at seven?"

Beowulf says, "I don't think that should be a problem; I'll trump you
if I have to change that schedule."

Anna looks up at the two of you, looks a bit wistful, then turns to
Mitsune and says, "Show me where you found that, okay?"

She nods.  "Okay.  I'll see you then, okay?"  She turns to Anna.
"I've got to go find Mom, and check on an experiment, and find
something nice to wear.  I'll come back and help you some more
tomorrow, okay?"  Anna nods.

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

Beowulf asks, "OOC about what time is it now?"

Beowulf says, "OOC Game-time, that is."

Anthy says, "OOC It's about 3 pm game time."

Anthy says, "OOC You have an hour to your meeting with Kanna"

Beowulf asks, "OOC Enough time to Mother to finish with the ring, do I
think? "

Beowulf asks, "OOC Or should I wait to get it until after I meet
Kanna?"

Anthy says, "OOC She said it would be ready at Dinner time, which in
the castle = 6 pm."

Beowulf says, "OOC Ah, right."

Anthy says, "OOC Breakfast = 8-10 AM, Lunch is 11-1, Dinner runs 6-8
most nights."

Beowulf says, "OOC Actually, while I'm here and have a few minutes,
I'll go ahead and see if I can find anything on the Egyptian
cults. Time to put Finding Obscure Reference Sources to work. :)"

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

You dive into the sources, and find that the problem isn't too little
information, it's too MUCH.

Dr. 'Montana' Jones Guide to Egyptian Shadows lists 35,003 known
Egyptian shadows.

Beowulf blinks as he finds the book. Eesh. "Hm, yes."

8,000 of those have roughly early 20th century tech civilizations
capable of equipping those men with their machineguns.

Nausicaa says, "OOC BAck, idled to pick up my mom from the
dentist. ^^;"

50 of them have enough cross-shadow travel to get them TO a zeppelin
near Cape Westb'ryport.

Beowulf starts scanning for cults in Shadow near the Cape... ah, beat
me to it. :)

6 of those are within a week to a week and a half travel time of Cape
Westb'ryport.

That narrows the list down to: Thebes, Memphis, Alexandria, The New
Nile Empire, The Old Nile Empire, and The Kingdom of Blue Sand

Beowulf mutters to himself. "Hm, that narrows things down a
bit... now, didn't they say they were from the Nile Empire?"

Beowulf consults his memory...

Why yes, they did.

Beowulf mutters to himself again. "Well, that's two spots to check
out... definitely an improvement over 35,000!" He chuckles softly.

Beowulf says, "Although it wouldn't do to skip the other four, as it's
quite possible that folks from one of them may have wanted to shift
the blame." He rubs his temples briefly.

Mitsune comes over and takes a look at the book.  "Nice skirts on
these guys.  Whatcha trying to find?  Is it less boring than this
prophecy?"

Anna sighs and continues taking notes.

Beowulf looks up at her and smiles wryly. "Depends if you find
gentlemen with machine guns robbing you to be interesting. I *owe*
someone a little... chastisement... for interrupting my sale. And the
tomatoes. They always mess up the carpet."

Beowulf says, "Oh, and don't forget the insane religious
hysteria. Really, cultists are *so* hard to deal reasonably with."

Kitsune's eyes widen.  "Oooh, crazed madmen are trying to hunt you to
kill you?"

"I bet they think you're the reincarnation of one of their pharoahs,
and they have to carry you off to make you their king!"

She gets a starry look in her eyes.

Beowulf says, "Oh, I hardly think they're trying to kill me. They just
seemed to want the vase. Granted, it *was* rather nice, but..."

Her ears perk up.  "Vase?  What vase?"

Beowulf says, "Unfortunately, they also managed to *get* the vase -- a
rather nice silver burial urn, with Sidar runes on it. One of them
tossed an enchanted knife at it, which sent it teleporting off into
somewhere in Cape Westb'uryport."

Beowulf looks mildly piqued at the thought.

Beowulf says, "One of these days, I shall have to retrieve it."

"Ahah!  I bet one of their pharoahs was buried in it...or the runes,
when you combine them, form a map to some secret tomb...the tomb of
the Blue Pharoah!"  Now she looks really excited.  "Did you copy down
the runes?"

Beowulf reaches into the bag and brings out the sheets that he used to
trace the runes on all three urns. "Here we are."

Beowulf OOCly puts the Raiders soundtrack back on. ^_^

Beowulf looks at Mitsune's enthusiasm with mild, amused resignation.

She nods and then starts chanting.  A few minutes later, a duplicate
sheet forms.  She then cuts the sheet apart into the component runes.

Beowulf observes with interest.

Anna looks over.

Mitsune smiles.  "I love puzzles."

And then she begins to move the runes about in a frenzy, slowly
constructing a map out of them.

Beowulf blinks, and diplomatically decides not to mention the puzzle
they were all just working on.

Finally, the map is complete, showing a large square building with
four towers, high up some sort of contour line slope with a river at
the bottom.

There's ten runes left over that just can't be fitted in, really.

Beowulf BLINKS. "Hm. That *is* rather interesting." He picks up the
runes and begins playing with them. "Perhaps we need to assemble them
under the light of the full moon?" He grins, to show that it's a joke.

Beowulf says, "Although..." He picks out a rune, and sets it
down. "This one stands for 'Dragon'..."

"Well, it's a good thing tonight is the last night of the full moon,
eh?" Mitsune says, sounding quite serious.  "I'll check that out while
you're busy with Lily and get back to you."  She rubs her hands
together.  "I haven't looted a temple in quite a while."

Beowulf plucks out two more. "And this one 'Temple', and this one
'Sleep'."

Beowulf cocks his head at Mitsune. "And what temples have you looted,
then? I thought that was supposed to be my job." He looks slightly
bemused. But then, that's normal for him.

Nausicaa says, "OOC gotta go. bye"
Nausicaa waves out.
Anthy exclaims, "OOC Bye!"
TimeRunner has disconnected.
>> Timerunner gets swallowed up by a Corridor, leaving behind a
>> mindless Analogue.
Beowulf OOCly says, "Seeya, TR>.. drat. :P"

Mitsune says, "Oh, Naru and I took this spring break trip from Ohtori
that just...went horribly wrong."

Beowulf says, "Um. I see."

Beowulf asks, "OOC how does she look?"

She continues, "It turned out to be the Beach of Really Bad Dead
Things.  So we had to raid the Temple of Really Bad Dead Things.  I
didn't meet any cute guys, but I wasn't BORED and that had to count
for something."

Anthy asks, "OOC How does Mitsune look, you mean?"
Beowulf says, "OOC Ayup."
Anthy says, "OOC She still looks fairly serious."
Beowulf OOCly nods.

Beowulf says, "Well... I suppose so." He awkwardly pats her on the
shoulder.

Beowulf says, "On the other hand, I suppose it could have been
worse... look at what happened to poor Jacqulene."

Mitsune sighs.  "She's more a fraidy cat than Thoric, and that takes
effort.  At least he was weaned on his mom's scary stories and has
some excuse."

Beowulf says, "Well, yes... of course, that could just mean something
worse happened to her."

Beowulf looks back at the remaining seven runes. "I suppose we could
also take these to someone who knows a bit more Sidar than I
do... hm."

Mitsune says, "Back at your old school?"

Beowulf says, "Yes, they'd undoubtedly have someone there. Of course,
there's always Fuyuutsuki, but..." He shrugs, and grins wryly.

Beowulf asks, "OOC how much time has he spent in the reference
stacks?"
Beowulf asks, "OOC Er, have *we* spent in the stacks?"
Anthy says, "OOC It's nearly 4 by now."
Beowulf says, "OOC If we've spent enough time before time to meet
Kanna, probably would be a good time to wrap and call it a night."

She says, "Oh, Fuyutsuki probably would think this was a hotdog stand
or something."

Anthy says, "OOC And it's a wrap."
Anthy says, "OOC As it be getting late."

Beowulf grins. "Probably."

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

Beowulf asks, "OOC So we'll pick up with Kanna next time, then?"

Anthy says, "OOC Yep.  I have Lucien scheduled for Monday and Nausicaa
maybe on Tuesday, depending on if TR makes it."

Anthy says, "OOC If I'm up to it, I might try running two groups at
once, but we'll have to see."

Beowulf says, "OOC Works for me. :) If TR doesn't make it and Phil's
on, we can go then... don't worry about running two groups on my
account, don't want to overwork you. :)"

Gabrielle says, "Lucien'll be interesting."

Anthy says, "OOC I need to run Moriya and Jacqui soon too."

Jacqueline of Amber says, "very interesting"

Beowulf nods to both.

Jacqueline of Amber says, "ah, so I's paired up with pure young lad
II, am I? :)"

Beowulf says, "OOC Yup... <evil g>"

Anthy yeps to Jacqui.

Beowulf says, "OOC Definitely a lot of 'moving 'round the castle and
seeing folks' this session... what an interesting world we have this
time 'round. ^_^"

Anthy says, "Well, one of my goals is to introduce as much of the
auxillary cast as I can, so everyone gets used to them :)"

Gabrielle says, "Gee, there's no possible ultrior motive THERE."

Jacqueline of Amber says, "to avoid a Shinobu Tragedy :)"

Anthy says, "Heh."

Beowulf says, "Ahhh. :) I admit, I was expecting to spend just a
couple of minutes giving Mutsumi her present, and the rest of the time
talking with Nanami and Kozue about the events of last time. :)"

Anthy says, "Well, the pace of this game will gradually pick up, but I
want to give everyone lots of time to RP and establish their
characters solidly before the meta-plots really get rolling :)"

Beowulf says, "Hmmmm, yes. And building useful NPC alliances? :)"

Gabrielle says, "Well, you got a LOT of the cast in one go tonight."

Gabrielle says, "Get Shinobu and Kentaro up, and boom."

Beowulf says, "Ooooooh, yah. o.o"

Jacqueline of Amber says, "true, if not the cast, then at least
MENTION of the cast"

Jacqueline of Amber says, "lots of names dropping"

Beowulf says, "Oh, and Keitaro."

Beowulf says, "Actually, was going to suggest having Shinobu Minor
bring us dinner in the library, except that got side-tracked."

Anthy says, "And building useful NPC alliances too :)"

Gabrielle asks, "Hey, is Nausicaa on the page yet?"

Jacqueline of Amber says, "yees, it's time to get king tylor in my
pocket, and the king of chaos too ^.-"

Jacqueline of Amber says, "conquer them with the Power of Kawaii"

Beowulf says, "Yup, Gabby."

Lian asks, "Jacqui? Power of Kawaii?"

Gabrielle says, "Well, the King of Chaos may actaully be kindly
dispossed towards Amber. Or then again, maybe not. "

Anthy says, "Heh."

Jacqueline of Amber says, "she'll flash Power Look Googly Eyes"

Anthy says, "Well, he did forbid the houses to kill the Children
during TAMD... :)"

Anthy says, "Lots of new spells added to the Grimoire on the magic
page."

Gabrielle says, "You could always ask Anthy about Ishmael."

Beowulf says, "OTOH, that prophecy hints at some rather nasty things
going on down Chaos way..."

Gabrielle says, "She seemed to have known him for awhile."

Anthy nods.  Yep, it does.

Beowulf asks, "Do we know who cast the fortune for Percy? Or did he do
it himself?"

Anthy says, "Anna tells you that Percy told her he went to see 'Madame
ZaZa' down in the Ward of the Tin Pot."

Gabrielle says, "Knowing John's sense of humor, the 'blue light'
probably refers to a sale at CAFAM."

Lian grins. "Just wait and see ... "

Beowulf says, "Hm. Quite possibly, Gabby. :) And will have to check
out this Madame ZaZa... after scrounging around in the Ward of the
Dead Monkey with Kanna, that is."

Gabrielle says, "And Gabby will be happy to help you preform the feat
of turning an utterly ordinary boat into a fifty-foot pillar of
flame. ^_^"

Beowulf says, "Heh. That might work... we'll have to see how the
Nautilus performs in action, too."

Beowulf says, "Anyway, tired, 1:40 AM, work tomorrow... need
sleep. :)"

Beowulf says, "Bye, all."

Jacqueline of Amber says, "ciao, wulf boy"

Windir falls asleep.

Gabrielle asks, "Hey, did the JoJ ever turn up?"

Jacqueline of Amber says, "...."

Anthy says, "The Jewel of Judgement is still missing, presumed in
Rebma."

Gabrielle says, "Cool."

Jacqueline of Amber eyes Moriya and wonders what possible mischeif
they could possibly be getting into...

Anthy says, "And lots of spikards are floating around the universe."

Anthy says, "And many other nifty toys."

Jacqueline of Amber says, "this one's going to last a long time."

Jacqueline of Amber says, "and darnit, if it can be done, i want the
valar sword back ;_;"

Anthy hehs.  "Faye won't give it up easily :)"

Jacqueline of Amber exclaims, "SHE has it? Doh!"

Anthy says, "And Jet still has Whoopass :)"

Jacqueline of Amber exclaims, "(*&!!!!!"

Anthy says, "Well, time for me to go bed."

Anthy wavies!

Gabrielle says, "Night, John."

Akemi has disconnected.

% You have new mail in /var/mail/pmoyer

Gabrielle says, "o/~Cause the Old Black Rums got a hold on me, like a
dog wrapped 'round my leg.... and the Old Black Rums got a hold on me,
may I live for another day! o/~"

Jacqueline of Amber snickers like Mutley

Gabrielle says, "Gah! People.... still awake...."

Jacqueline of Amber asks, "is daylight savings upon us?"

Gabrielle says, "..... I actually have no clue. I suppose I should
check. "

Gabrielle asks, "Isn't it in april, though?"

Jacqueline of Amber says, "if they go venturing to foreign lands, i
actuallly have a roundabout chance of achieving the goal of getting my
char in bed with droo's.  'M-Moriya.... I'm scared, can I sleep with
you tonight?'  'Ara....'"

Gabrielle says, "That's sick. I love it."

Jacqueline of Amber says, "i didn't say anything about sex, of course,
but technically i've met the requirements :)"

Jacqueline of Amber says, "should this come to pass, that is"

Gabrielle says, "You know Moriya is way to polite to not let you."

Jacqueline of Amber asks, "i generally suspect he will dodge in a
droo-esque way and take the floor or the couch, eh?"

Gabrielle says, "I hope you also know that Drew never logs off
anymore, and will probably read this in backscroll."

Jacqueline of Amber says, "aaah.  then he'll opt for the floor :)"

Jacqueline of Amber says, "how DOES one do that anyway.... never log
off, that is"

Gabrielle says, "Well, you could tell Moriya he reminds you fo a giant
teddy bear you had when you were a kid.... then go googly eyed and
tremble when he tries to brush you off."

Gabrielle says, "Simple. You never log off."

Gabrielle says, "Or turn your computer off."

Jacqueline of Amber asks, "the muck doesn't boot you off for idle
time?"

Gabrielle says, "Hell no."

Jacqueline of Amber says, "huh."

Jacqueline of Amber says, "must set that up one of these days."

Jacqueline of Amber says, "i just noticed.... there is no dragon slave
in the TAMD/UnS spell list"

Gabrielle says, "The pathetic likes of you couldn't possibly hope to
cast it."

Gabrielle says, "That, and just make it up yourself if you want. ^_^"

Jacqueline of Amber says, "oi! I can cast it, it'll just end up going
wildly out of control"

Gabrielle says, "Now, the REAL whammy is in your PATTERNSLAVE."

Jacqueline of Amber says, "mmm."

Jacqueline of Amber wonders what a Trump-Slave, Logrus-Slave and
Abyss-Slave would be like

Gabrielle says, "Which, unfortunatly, you need a DemiJewel to really
use properly."

Gabrielle says, "Oooooo. Abyss-Slave. Maybe I shold look into that."

Jacqueline of Amber scratches her head

Gabrielle asks, "Shaft should've visited the Abyss sometime. Did you
know you can bungee-jump into it?"

Jacqueline of Amber says, "yep"

Jacqueline of Amber says, "shaft has this thing against All Things
Mystical, tho, so....."

Gabrielle says, "Well, the Abyss isn't really mystical. It's a big
black pit. That's why they call it the Abyss."

Jacqueline of Amber says, "can't imagine trump-slave. guessing
logrus-slave would just spiral chaotically out of control"

Jacqueline of Amber says, "to the common idiot like Shaft, it looks
like magic, thus is magic."

Gabrielle says, "Logrus-slave would rule."

Jacqueline of Amber asks, "how so?"

Gabrielle says, "Because it would cause massive destruction."

Jacqueline of Amber raises an eyebrow

Jacqueline of Amber asks, "doesn't Patternslave do that?"

Gabrielle says, "Yeah, but you can never have too many ways to do
that."

Jacqueline of Amber says, "point"

Gabrielle says, "Huh. Lina was the only NPC on our side who got kilt."

Jacqueline of Amber says, "i guess whereas pattern slave would be a
nice precise area of destruction, log slave would best be cast and run
away from soon after"

Gabrielle says, "Maybe. It would depend on hwo you built the spell."

Jacqueline of Amber says, "lina... minor oversight in part of Hiko"

Jacqueline of Amber says, "mainly that in operating large machines of
war, warfare is the best thing to use"

Gabrielle asks, "Lina ruled. Remember that raid, way back when?"

Jacqueline of Amber says, "ah, yes, the first time ota got flash-fried
by the edge of a dragon slave."

Jacqueline of Amber says, "had my way, lipun would be ashes."

Jacqueline of Amber asks, "hiroshima, anybody?"

Gabrielle says, "Well, Sakhalin got pretty messed up."

Jacqueline of Amber says, "still would've liked to see some
carpet-slav-ing done on that (*&#!!ing place"

Jacqueline of Amber asks, "saaaay, how many amber mages knew the
dragon slave?"

Gabrielle says, "ask. ^_^"

Jacqueline of Amber says, "i think it's time for jacqueline to ask
where that legendary spellbook of lina's went..."

Gabrielle says, "Couldn't hurt."

Jacqueline of Amber says, "hm.  Yumi's twist to it: Sex Slave."

Gabrielle says, "Course, what you REALLY want is a Spikard."

Jacqueline of Amber says, "spikard, spikard, spikard...... not too
many of those around."

Jacqueline of Amber says, "easily available, that is"

Gabrielle shrugs. "gideon got one in a single session once."

Jacqueline of Amber says, "i greatly fear Nanami's done Something
Stupid to the one Ota gave her"

Jacqueline of Amber says, "like, for instance, wear it."

Gabrielle asks, "Was it Lion or Dragon?"

Jacqueline of Amber says, "it was one of annadil's"

Gabrielle asks, "I ask again; Lion or Dragon?"

Jacqueline of Amber says, "y'know, not sure. it says on thew ebpage
which one nanami was entrusted with"

Gabrielle says, "See, there are three kinds of Spikards; Lion, Dragon,
and Unicorn. Lion was bad because Annadil has the Master Lion Spikard,
which was used to make allllll the other Lion spikards, so it meant he
cold control people."

Jacqueline of Amber says, "ooor, maybe not"

Jacqueline of Amber says, "it was lion."

Jacqueline of Amber says, "it was definitely lion"

Gabrielle says, "Dragon was slightly better but still bad, because he
could influence, but not control people, through them. Except for
Hiko's Spikard, which was cleansed."

Gabrielle says, "Unicorn was GOOD, for obvious reasons."

Jacqueline of Amber says, "and had shizumaru taken notice, evil touga
was wearing a lion spikard as well"

Gabrielle says, "Yup. That's how the Outsiders mastered him."

Gabrielle says, "That was Sakura-in-Tougas-body."

Jacqueline of Amber asks, "the elusive and missing sakura, yes?"

Gabrielle says, "Yup. I dunno ifyou saw the log, but she sucked out
Touga's soul, put it in a bottle, and took his body."

Gabrielle says, "At least, that's what Touga-in-a-Bottle said."

Jacqueline of Amber asks, "hn. wait. wasn't that touga's mom?"

Gabrielle says, "Yup."

Gabrielle says, "Keep in mind that she was planning to gut Baby Nanami
with a butcher knife and use her blood to erase the Pattern."

Gabrielle says, "So stealing her son's soul isn't that much of a
reach."

Jacqueline of Amber says, "i would like to travel to that shadow where
only a neurotic nanami at the center of a decimated pattern remains"

Jacqueline of Amber says, "and see what's going on here"

Gabrielle says, "Not neurotic. Sleeping."

Jacqueline of Amber says, "aaah. must wake her up."

Gabrielle says, "According to Fuyutsuki, it's unbearably cute, in a
post-apoaclyptic way."

Jacqueline of Amber says, "uh? O.o"

Gabrielle says, "The sleeping Nanami."

Jacqueline of Amber says, "john put that out there like a big fat
tease.  who am i to resist"

Gabrielle says, "Well, think about it. You come back to amber with
woke-up Nanami."

Gabrielle says, "Then there's TWO of them."

Jacqueline of Amber asks, "yes, and?"

Gabrielle grins. "Just making sure."

Jacqueline of Amber says, "unless they're both egotistical idiots with
homocidal tendancies, we're okay"

Tybalt falls asleep.

Rod has disconnected.