"possibly internal damage or a blockage, or maybe it needs a certain amount of liquid in the backpack to work."
Dragons Welcome: James in a new world
(57 posts) (3 voices)-
"Do you know its function, then? Have you seen one of these before?" The King seems very interested, while Grimalt looks on with an air of reserving judgment.
Wed Jun 3 2009 6:07 am # -
The King claps you on the shoulder, saying, "You have experience with dwarfish work? It's better than I'd hoped. I'm convinced."
Grimalt cuts in, "But Sire, that's not what this device was reported to do! If he can't even identify its function - "
"Gibbering gophers, Grimalt, don't ask him to work miracles in the dark! He obviously knows a thing or two, which is a thing or two more than we know without him. And besides, 'fine tools mark a fine craftsman' -- and I know a fine tool from a shoddy one.
"We can talk business in the morning. Grimalt will find you lodging for the night, and my guard will see to anything else you need, within reason. And I would appreciate it if you didn't mention this device to anyone outside of this room. With that, I'll bid you good night. Grimalt, I'll see you in the morning?"
"Yes, Sire."
"Good night, then."
Unless you've anything to say or do before the King leaves (or after), Grimalt will take you to an unoccupied one-room goblin house on the edge of town and leave you there with the guard, who will accommodate any reasonable requests. (If you have any unreasonable requests, he'll probably try.) If there's anything else you'd like to do or any specific plan you have for the morning, I'm listening.
Thu Jun 4 2009 6:40 am # -
Apologies for the badly-timed lapse. An essay ambushed me, followed by host duty.
When you awaken, something seems different. After a moment, you realize that you are in your bed at home. The light is on, and you're dressed in your usual nightwear.
Mon Jun 15 2009 9:00 am # -
This is most definitely your bedroom. It's not precisely how you left it before the trip to Charlotte - it's been cleaned up a bit, apparently, looking more like how it usually does - but nothing is here that shouldn't be, nor as far as you can tell is anything missing.
Except that there is a girl of about sixteen standing just in front of your closed door. She is wearing a white bed sheet, loosely wrapped and knotted, and is looking about your room with at least as much interest as you are. She is quite pretty, and her hair is the most vivid shade of purple you have ever seen on a real person.
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Simple intuition check (2d20): 32, failure; only reporting what I can't get away with neglecting, given your actions and the circumstances. (You do get credit for looking, for example, and you can rest easy that nothing obviously hospital-esque has been missed.)Mon Jun 15 2009 8:27 pm # -
JTM
MemberStock description to run away from really fast, though V-me never read the stories that make doing so seem particularly urgent. At least there aren't two random armed people standing around in the backround and grumbling about misuse of puncuation.
"Who are you?"
Tue Jun 16 2009 8:37 pm # -
"You are a strange one, aren't you?" She sounds as though she's half talking to herself. "What is this place? So many books . . . !"
She's taken a few steps further into your room and is running her finger along your dresser. You can't quite place her accent, nor can you help noticing she hasn't answered you.
Wed Jun 17 2009 12:46 am # -
She finally looks at you. "Don't you think that's a bit of a personal question?" She pouts a moment, then, "Call me Evelyn. Is this where you used to live, James? I like your rug. And the electric light! Do you deal with elves, too?"
She's leaning down to your level, bracing against the foot of your bed. You're still half under the covers. Her new posture draws your attention to her eyes, which are a rare color of green; you catch yourself staring into them while groping for a name to put to the hue.
Wed Jun 17 2009 10:26 pm # -
JTM
MemberNow's probably a good time to point out that the Age/gender/hair color would actually cause recognition of a stock description for annoying and shallow self-inserts in fanfiction by V-me, and thus irritation. Just not associated fear from the PPC stories.
I sit up and say, "No, i have not encountered any elves. Are lightbulbs uncommon where you come from?"
Thu Jun 18 2009 4:11 pm # -
Do you mean 'recognition . . . by V-me' or 'fanfiction by V-me'? I'm assuming the former, given your irritation.
She frowns. "No. But light bulbs are elf magic. Only, you're not an elf, are you? If this is what you're used to," she gestures vaguely at the room, "you'll have worlds of fun living with the goblins. Except - no, you won't. I got 'fun' mixed up with something else."
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Made a roll I'm not revealing yet. If I haven't mentioned it again after a week, remind me. Incidentally, you made me look up PPC stories; I find the entire concept outlandish, and thus hilarious.Fri Jun 19 2009 12:58 am # -
I'm sorry for the interruption--for those of us among the unenlightened, what are the "PPC" stories? I'm assuming it stands for something, but maybe I'm wrong.
--M. J. Young
Fri Jun 19 2009 11:02 pm # -
JTM
MemberIt stands for "Protectors of the Plot Continuum". It's a giant shared project meta-fiction setting, in which the characters go into bad fan-fiction, stick around a while to make a list of affronts to the source materials, logic, laws of physics, and the English language. Then they destroy the blatant self-inserts and characters that act as accessories to said blatant self-inserts. It's a bit like mystery science theater, except that bad things happen to the annoying characters at the end.
It's hard to feel sorry for the self-inserts, given just how bad things get in the fan-fiction stories.
Sat Jun 20 2009 1:57 am # -
They really are revoltingly bad. As for the PPCs, I'm fonder of the concept than the stories (or at least the one I glanced though). They strike me as more fun to write than to read.
The blinds are closed. Are you getting up to look out of them? (And if so, what would stop you?)
_
I hate to use a whole post for that (especially since I might not post at all this weekend - out of town), but it occurred to me - very late in working on your post - that not only had I been completely remiss in my description of the window, you might wish to conceal your intent (a quick glance being okay, but getting out of bed and raising the blinds not okay). While usually I would push forward and let you rein me back in if I overstepped, information of this kind is very hard to take back.Sat Jun 20 2009 3:49 am # -
Her smug expression drops away. "Ah - wait, um, don't you - ?"
The view from the window is not your neighborhood. For one thing, your room had ought to be on the second story, and the view is at ground level. For another, there is nothing at all suburban about the lush vegetation you see through the window glass. Tall trees whose canopies are out of sight give a green cast to what daylight makes it down this far. The bushes, shrubs and grasses are all in bloom, and have a wild, uncultivated look to them; despite that, there seem to be well-kept paths winding through it all.
"Ahem. I was going to ask if you wanted to move this conversation to the garden . . ."
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I figured impotent stuttering was far enough shy of yelling that you'd go ahead with peaking out the window. Also, I made another roll. It was 17, a success.Wed Jul 1 2009 9:07 am # -
"Rest yourself easy, James. Your room hasn't gone anywhere. This isn't your room, any more than that out there is my garden. This is a dream of your room, and that is a dream of my garden. I am a dream of me, talking to a dream of you. I am a witch; we find visiting is simpler this way.
"Shall we?" She motions to the door.
Wed Jul 8 2009 5:41 am # -
She pouts. "I was hoping to extend you an invitation. If you're going to keep reacting to everything with such discourtesy and suspicion, I'm not sure I should bother.
"Your turn, then. What is it you want?"
Mon Jul 13 2009 4:29 am # -
JTM
MemberRather late on this, mostly because I got bored partway through writing it and then lost it before I got back to writing. There was an extended period of live play.
I was generally evasive her. She turned out to be a witch, and perhaps inadvertently revealed that she knew about the device. At that point, I went with dead silence. She woke me up by turning into a snake.
Later, Grimalt, the king, and a nameless, completely nondescript goblin showed up to talk to me. Grimalt was apparently convinced I was a dwarven spy. I attempted to persuade them otherwise by showing off my LED flashlight. At some point during the conversation, the dragon began talking to me. He suggested that I blame it on witches. I did so, which attracted a great deal of interest from all of the goblins. The dragon then gave a description of a clearing in which i could claim to have met them, but I decided to instead be vague. The dragon was disappointed and ended the conversation, while the king was persuaded to arrest me and put me in "The Well". I sprinted off but immediately got a cramp, and was caught by Grimalt and the king, at which point I surrendered.
I was taken to The Well, which turned out to be a large number of cells with stout wooden doors with small windows, only accessable via a lift lowered from the top, dug into clay. A while later I got a sudden urge to escape, then was let out by a guard who seemed to be in a trance, then I walked off into the forest and met the witch in a clearing matching the dragon's description. She implied that the whole situation was an elaborate ploy instigated by Grimalt, who was himself a dwarven spy.
The rest should probably wait on robert writing up his section of live play, as he showed up around this piont. On a side note, this session involved perhaps the worst rolling in my gaming history, counting nethack. I failed every single attribute check I attempted, and got high 20s on the GE roll for the dungeon
Tue Feb 9 2010 11:50 pm # -
And unless I misremember, two of those attribute checks were critical failures. I know the cramp was (chaining a stamina check), but I have a vague notion that a persuasion check during the "I-am-not-a-spy" conversation went nova as well.
I'll pop over to Robert's thread and check on how much he has to write; I think we left him still alive in Turok's world, poor dear. Tell him to email me if he's got questions or if he wants to make futile attempts to get me to write it for him.
At some point during the conversation, the dragon began talking to me . . .
I'll just mention for clarity that this was mind-to-mind, and all James/dragon communication was concurrent with his conversation with the goblins, as well as apparently undetected by them. Conversing with the dragon in this way was less like answering a mental cell phone call (selective two-way communication) and more like being addressed over the PA system by the man behind the two-way mirror (effectively two-way, but only one party is transmitting).
The LED flashlight was thought to be Elvish make, which clouded the whole issue of "dwarvish spy" but raised more questions than it settled.
There was a great deal of subtlety, detail, and tension in the scene, most of which is lost to time and wouldn't come through well in a summary anyway. Such is the way of things.
She implied that the whole situation was an elaborate ploy instigated by Grimalt, who was himself a dwarven spy.
If you remember anything else on this point, it would help if you could recount it for me. If not, no worries.
Wed Feb 10 2010 5:27 am #
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