Friendly fire? Did he really expect Kuro to just set off spells with complete disregard for the people around him? He has enough trouble keeping his wild magic from hurting others (and embarrassing himself), so why would he just throw all sense of self preservation out the window and barbecue his teammates? Wait...mage armor? He doesn't know that spell! Good grief, who does Father think he is?
He is rather relieved when Mom takes Father upstairs. If that had continued... well more then likely Kuro wouldn't have been able to get any sleep due to someone's not so quiet ramblings. As his parents ascend the staircase, Kuro takes a piece of meat (probably a chicken leg) and heads to his room. Finding himself less hungry then before, he takes a few bites before tearing it apart with his hands and throwing it down to the cats outside his window. ...at least they liked him the way he was. They don't care if he's out burning friends and enemies alike.
As he stares down at the felines outside the window, he feels his crystal buzz. ...great, who could that be? He lets one of the cats lick the juice off his left hand while using his right to pull out the crystal and look at the text... Zahira? He blinks in surprise... nearly having forgotten about the sketch he'd given her. ...he doesn't really know how to feel about this...
He stares at the tomcat sitting in his window for a moment, then wipes his hand on his pant leg before looking back at his crystal. ...what is he supposed to say to her? After what feels like ages of staring at the phone...and then the cat... and then the cats outside his window after the tom jumps down... he types "Thanks" and sends that. Then he takes a picture of the cats outside his window as they gather around the bone from the chicken leg he'd dropped out there, and hesitates a moment longer before sending it to her. Why had he done that? Oh well. To late to take it back now.
______
(Will add something for the time skip, just wanted to post this first...)
Zephyro fights back the urge to tell his father, "Well, would you rather me be the frontline fighter?" But holds his tongue. That was exactly what he intended to do, though he is glad he will not have to do it alone. With Zim planning getting more training, and Arthur being able to help out, he feels a lot more comfortable in that position... Especially since he knows he will likely have to get some training as a wizard eventually.
That night, once his parents are away, he let's Shaylin visit in his room for a while while he recounts the event to her. He tells her everything he could remember, including the fact that both Zahira and Arthur had practically brought him back from the dead. Though he does ask that she not share all the details with their parents.
Through the first week of school. Zephyro can't help but feel proud of himself for the week's accomplishments. He feels a lot more confident in his abilities, especially now that Danny had taught him about how to use Ki. That mystical energy will surely be useful in the future... Hopefully, all his parent's see are his grades for now.
(Lol just saw Kirai and Aroc's posts. lol The cat's are glorious. And I sense the the rise of a Drakewarden. :D)
Also, Zeph would have studied that tome in his downtime, so Arcana? 11 (eesh)
Zephyro feels his crystal buzz just as he's finishing breakfast. A missing student? That's no good. Could the person responsible been the same one who orchestrated the gremlin attack?
After putting his dishes away, he pulls up the group text and starts typing, "Well, despite the disturbing news, are any of you up for a bit of adventuring?"
"Nyah! I think I've mastered CATastrophic levels of cat puns! To fit in Crystal Meadow better! How did you sleep? I learned another student was cat napped sadly.."
Put your spoiler here.
(Tricks Dad Wantabe)
"Yes.. Be careful I asked the school about you're party.. It seems everyone in it appears to be.. Nobility of some kind. I know were used to a quieter way of living so that may be.. A lot to endure. Also you're Jade dear.. The cat puns are not needed people here don't mind Tabaxi's either way.."
"Aww but I know some of them think were savages out hunting animals! I wanna show them a sweeter side! I wanna be pawstively hilarious for Trick's friends!"
"Oh no.."
The home was a mixture of high technology and gardens and nature wandering around, flowers growing in a metal containers and many projects were going. A clash of science and nature a true solarpunk feel. The little bots around had bumped into Trick's leg, the machines and such really clashed with Trick's outfit he appeared rather... Well his outfit was one of an outlander in Starkwood after all. The robot had indeed another flower crown on his head trying to remove it.
"Help me, help me help me."
OOC Zahira's text to Kuro was super duper cute aww xD
Kuro, in his room since its Saturday, has no intention of going outside if he can help it. He's honestly half surprised that Father wasn't telling him to go chase down the kidnapper... good thing he hadn't told him about his teammates taking evidence from the crime scene... ugh, that would have been a really bad decision.
Right now, he's just laying on his bed and staring out the window. His grades were...not to good, but he's wondering if the principle even knows or cares about that seems how Father hasn't yelled at him about it yet. ...or maybe Forthright just hasn't said anything? Maybe Kuro should be grateful. Or, maybe his teacher was just to lazy to put his grades into the system... that was also a very strong possibility now that he thought about it. Heh... cool.
The sound of cats at the window draws him to his feet, and he opens the window to let the large tomcat come inside. ...He's surprised Mom hasn't said anything about this yet...he's sure that if she'd noticed him letting the animals in his room that she would have a fit... maybe? Oh well, if she hasn't noticed yet great, if she doesn't care that's fine too. He runs a hand over the tom's back, giving a small half-smile as the animal arched its spine under his hand. The tom was a dark grey, almost black, with darker stripes, one white paw, and amber eyes. Kuro named him Smokey. He peered down through the window to count the other cats, noting some new ones among them. ...Mom won't like that. Oh well. If the cats are here then that means they aren't out on the road getting smashed.
He then promptly dumps some crackers out the window and watches as the animals below swarm on them only to give him irritated looks when they found out that the crackers were bread and not chicken. When they realize he doesn't have any meat, they begrudgingly settle for the crackers anyways. Some of them stay, Smokey being one of them, and others wander off once the food is gone.
(OOC: This happens the morning after receiving Kuro's message)
Ohhh? Kuro has actually answered? With a picture? OF CATS??
- Woooooooooooooow, amazing!!
So she types back:
"Heeeey! Look at those four-legged friends of yours! Aren't they cute? Thanks for the pic, I love it. "
(OOC: Timeskip! This happens a week later)
That Saturday morning, Zahira wakes up feeling very rested. She checks her crystal for a while before actually getting out of bed.
She opens the KZZZT group and types
"Heya! How are you all doing? Any plans for today? Do you guys wanna do something? I may have a couple of things to do, but I guess we could meet in town for a while if you want!"
Then she texts Arthur:"Good morning! Hey, didn't we say something about having ice cream together? How about it maybe today or tomorrow? I may do something with my party today - just asked them - but I guess this could be doable too?"
As Kuro would awaken he would have course have many cats meowing at his window. One tomcat of course was always the first to be at his window eager to greet him for the morning it would seem. (Just thought I'd write this before you post the timeskip haha) Kuro's parents were actually not home? With the missing kid his father was determined to go out and do something about it. Of course he was working on his own without the police or the knights a rather foolish move for a nobleman to make some would see. However he couldn't stand back with a kid missing he seemed harsh to strangers and others but he had a strong moral compass.
Zephyro
Zephyro had studied the tome, though he knew transmutation magic was mentioned and something on orbs he got the feeling that perhaps he should let Zahira take a look at this as well? Maybe when they all went to go hang out would be a good time to ask? Zephyro's parents were also missing today, they had an important meeting to attend at the Knight's Barracks today it had seemed. Zephyro had asked the group if they were of course up to do some adventuring and with the weather bright and shiny as it was? It was a perfect day for it.
Oh no. His mom was back on the cat puns. It wasn't going to end was it? Even his father was telling her that she didn't have to. He looked down and let out a soft sigh.
"Mom. Please. You can't do that in front of my friends. I'll never live it down. I won't fit in..."
He looks over to his father with a pleading kind of look. He really didn't want to have to deal with this. He would make sure none of his friends ever stepped foot in this house. He wanted to at least appear more normal than he actually was. He looked down at the little robot and sighed. He reached down taking the flower crown from off of its head.
"You've been helped again little one. Mom stop doing this. They don't like it."
His crystal went off and he glanced at it. Oh. It was the group chat. Apparently several people could send messages at once in here. Everyone could see what was being said. "I would say that I'm up for it!"
Zephyro makes sure the tome is safe in his bag. Hopefully Zahira would have more luck with it. Then he looks back at his Crystal. "Well, you all want to meet at Flurries Ice Cream? Or does someone have a better idea?"
Kuro was lucky his mom wasn't home to see Smokey inside. Also it was hard to tell if Silas was forgetful or not sharing his grades with Kuro's father. Of course Kuro now had his friend Zephyro in the group chat ready to go out.
Zahira
Arthur had replied back to Zahira rather quickly!
I'd like that! That kid went missing though.. If you're party is out too look I can help if you wish! My party is looking around the town too but "Reaper" offered to take my stead for the day if I help you guys! If not though I may hold up on ice cream today and go tomorrow! I really wanna try and help find that kid today if I can.. Hope that isn't rude I.. Well I think you're really cute I just worry about that poor student honestly."
Trick
"You'll never fit in? But the students around here are so nice! They are purrfect little sweeties! We should keep candy around they love to visit us for some reason!"
"Bzzt.. Thank you!"
"Aww they look so adorable though!"
"Thank you son, do be careful today if you head out and... If you hang out with Roger.. Bring a friend or two okay? We don't need him getting the wrong idea around you...."
Seeing that Father was out by himself... perhaps its a good thing he seems to prefer working alone, else he might have dragged Kuro along for some 'training'. If he's lucky then Father will find the kidnapper and have his own adventure to go bragging about, and maybe he'll forget about how boring Kuro's past week has been.
When he gets Zahira's text message, he frowns for a moment. This is the weekend... they don't have to meet up for school on the weekend. Right? Or was there homework he was forgetting about? Great.
After a moment he texts back, "I guess. What time?"
Zahira hadn't really read about the missing kid just yet! So she answers back:
To Arthur: "Oh, you're totally right, I hadn't read that! Let's just leave the ice cream for tomorrow, yes! Sorry for that! Let's hope any of us find that kid soon! By the way, who's the missing student? Do you know?"
To Kuro: "Wait, let's just move the conversation ot the team group, sorry for the mess!"
To KZZZT: "Flurry's ok for me. What about meeting there in a couple of hours? We can talk about this missing kid, and what we've learned about the gremlins and other things during this week!"
(OOC: Right after arriving to Flurry's, Zahira talks to Zephyro, as she has prepared something for him!)
- Hey, Zephyro, I got something for you. I think you might find it useful. Give me your sickle for a moment, please - she says, extending her hand towards the monk. If she sees any questioning look on the elf she insists - Come on, trust your party artificer!
(OOC: Hopefully he will give it to her, or else this post is going to be a waste, haha!)
When she receives the sickle, Zahira weighs it a little on her hands and inspects it closely for a moment, and then looks again at Zephyro and the rest:
- So it seems the fight at the cafeteria the other day has allowed me to delve deeper into my studies and I've been able to unlock some infusions. These will allow me to weave some magic into some of our items. Armor, weapons, even arcane foci. Unfortunately, I cannot infuse many things just yet. I've already worked upon my scale armor so it can help me keep my concentration on spells, and as I could do just another infusion, I thought of you Zephyro. Being the only front liner we have for the moment, I thought it was best to use my second infusion on you.
After saying this, she puts the sickle in one hand and with the other she begins tracing its shape with her fingers and as she does this tiny white sparks appear in her figers and are infused into the handle and the blade.
Infusion: Enhanced Weapon
Item: A simple or martial weapon
This magic weapon grants a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with it.
The bonus increases to +2 when you reach 10th level in this class. (ignore this part for the moment, Rynn hahah Still not level 10, sadly)
- Answering the possible questions you may already have: infusions remain on an item indefinitely, but as I can only currently maintain two, if I do a third or a fourth, then the infusions on your sickle and on my armor will disappear. So we will have to be wise when we are nearing any kind of quest or battle, as we may need to change them to improve ourselves as a team. Otherwise, infusions will disappear ...- she thinks - ... three days after with my death. Let's hope we don't get to that, all right? - she laughs. She didn't like to think about death but... well... that was indeed how they worked.
Infuse Item
Whenever you finish a long rest, you can touch up to 2 nonmagical objects, imbuing each of them with one of your artificer infusions, turning it into a magic item. You can attune yourself to the item the instant you infuse it, or you can forgo attunement so that someone else can attune to the item.
Your infusion remains in an item indefinitely, but when you die, the infusion vanishes after 3 days. The infusion also vanishes if you give up your knowledge of the infusion or you exceed your maximum number of infusions.
These are the infusions Zahira currently knows, in case you're curious. Unfortunately, the sheet's not currently displaying the descriptions:
Zephyro's response back to everyone: "A couple hours sounds great. And yeah, I was thinking about the missing student as well. See you all soon!"
When Zahira asks for his sickle, the monk gives her a confused look before shrugging and handing her his weapon. He watches her curiously as she explains what she is doing, while infusing the item.
When she is finished he nods slowly as she finishes explaining the details and hands him back his weapon. "Wow, that sounds really great Zahira. Haha, thanks for looking out for me."He smiles, "Looks like your training is paying off!" He sheaths the small blade. "And I agree, with both your infusions, and our party structure, we are going to have to be careful and make wise decisions when preparing for battle."
"...and don't think about death right now. I'm sure we are all far better prepared for a skirmish than we were before."
He pauses for a moment, "Oh and before I forget, I think you should take this next." He opens up his bag and pulls out a binder. If she peeks inside, it holds the tome from the gremlins. "I just can't seem to figure it out. ...and I feel like it's connected to whoever is responsible for the missing student."
(I'll add a +1 sickle to my inventory and just switch between them whenever the infusion is on or off. :D )
Circling slowly around his target, Zim was careful to maintain the appropriate distance he had been shown to set up his final attack. Sword and shield in hand, he lunged forward at his enemy. The tip of his rapier guided his thrust true through the dummies faux chainmail rope-armor. Returning his sword to his sheath, Zim permitted himself a deep stretch of his limbs and back. He silently commended himself for not dawning the scale armor for this bit of courtyard practice.
He had spent his week feeling like he might have bitten off more than he could chew. Between his normal bardic classes and the extracurricular independent studies, he found himself feeling barely able to remain standing by the end of each day. For this, Zim's studies had suffered significantly. Sure, he was still able to shine during his required performances, but the young half elf had been too tired to keep up with his written homework.
If Zim was being completely honest with himself, he would realize that he had been somewhat avoiding focusing too much on the powers of music and magic. His extrasensory experiences frightened him a bit. Deep down he felt as if staying away from those things might make his perceptions of the world return to normalcy. Thankfully, whether it was from his efforts or not, he had at least been able to better tolerate his enhanced sense of taste. Eating anything had been just too much in the beginning.
He had thus far successfully thwarted his mother from knowing about his sudden eating disorder by telling her that he was eating at his after-school training session, but he knew she had started to wax suspicious. He had started looking quite gaunt, when finally he managed to make it through eating an entire slice of bread on the fifth morning. He had surrendered to the flavor and realized that he tasted all of the ingredients of the bread both simultaneously and separately. Flour, salt, yeast, egg and a touch of sugar. All of it was amplified and completely different from how he remembered bread tasting! Despite this, it helped him adjust his expectations a bit, and food had become more palatable...if still alien.
Taking Herron's advice, Zim had talked to Roger a bit about what he had been experiencing since KZZZT's fight in the cafeteria. The bard had indicated that he would look into it, but he had mostly focused on training Zim in the ways of the sword. For all of Roger's bardiness, he seemed to be an excellent teacher and a strict martial arts instructor. His movement with the blade inspired Zim. Maybe he could concede that Roger might not suck so bad after all. Trick seemed to be okay with him, after all.
Zim couldn't bring himself to talk to Eros about his altered senses. They spent a lot of time together, and Zim didn't want to do anything to jeopardize their friendship by sounding like a freak. Roger's tutelage rarely involved instruction regarding shields, so Eros had been a super big help in that department. Still, Zim felt like he had really only learned enough about melee combat as to not stab himself in the foot with his own sword. His armor wasn't particularly clunky, still he found himself still feeling heavy and awkward trying to move around fluidly while wearing the stuff.
Upon receiving the group texts, Zim smiled a little bit. He didn't know how the others were managing with their own studies. He really hoped that he could prove to be less of a liability while they were out adventuring. He also hadn't seen anyone besides Trick during the week, and that had been only in passing. Nearly every waking moment had been dedicated to his training; he really could use a break.
I absolutely look forward to see you all there.
After his text, Zim decided to head in for a shower... he reekedby his own measure.
The ice cream shop came into view as Zim walked, and the day KZZZT had last been there returned to him. There had been something about the sensory overload he had experienced after leaving the shop that resurfaced in his mind's eye. He had not wanted to think about that experience at all, but it had nevertheless continued to float around at the edges of his consciousness ever since.
There had been a moment before he had headed home that late afternoon, where among the other audial and visual "hallucinations" (as he occasionally rationalized them to be) that went berserk on him that first time had come to a crescendo. On the one hand, it had felt as though something positive that he didn't quite comprehend had occurred. On the other, there had been something that had caused him to run; to get himself home as fast as possible. It was what had solidified within Zim that he needed to learn to fight to protect whoever he could. He had run out of fear.
Arriving at the shop, Zim opens the door and is careful to make it through without accidently clanging his armor or shield against the door or its frame. He was excited to show his friends what he has been up to. He also felt guilty for not trying to contact any of them throughout the week, though he had thought to do so often at the worst of times. Seeing Zahira hand something to Zephyro, Zim went to the counter to make an order. He had known exactly what he had wanted ever since he received the group text. Seeing Flurry stood ready for him, Zim ordered, "Small vanilla cone, please." He felt confident that he would be able to handle ice cream this time!
The order hadn't taken Flurry very long to complete. Zim thanked him and took his cone over to the other Zs. Standing before them with his shield in one hand, and his vanilla ice cream cone in the other, he shuffled awkwardly as he tried to find a good spot to put his shield but then gave up. "Well guys, what do you think?"
The air genasi waves at Zim. She's about to make her pun about the vanilla ice cream again, but then she remembers how Zim didn't seem quite himself the first time they went to Flurry's, and decides that today is not the day to make a joke about it. Instead she says:
- Nice shield you got there! So you've been working on your martial skills? How's that been going? Jeez, I'm going to have to do some physical training myself, as I'm clearly the weakling of the Z's!
Zahira then resumes the conversation she had started with Zepyro:
- Well, I wish my written part had turned out as good as my infusions! I did pretty good at the practical casting part - I beat many of my fellow students at keeping my concentration and now some of them call me "The practical caster" ! - but my written part was shameful and because of this some call me "Pencil Crusher"- she smirks. Though that was meant to be a mockery, she had found the nickname to be actually funny -I really need to improve that. Can you believe that Arthur got better grades than me? I mean, I'm happy for him of course! But I'm still amazed by that ... and so is he, to be honest! - she laughs again.
When the monk tells her to not think of death, she nods. But inevitably, a shadow seems to appear in her face as thinks again of Plash. Really! Almost executed!?? She was still shocked. This revelation had made realize that what she had considered real issues in her life - her relationship with her parents, the cafeteria fight, her grades... - weren't really that important in the great scheme of life. She hadn't really thought that much about the past war, politics, the meaning of Crystal Meadows itself ... she should probably start thinking about all of that stuff, shouldn't she?
She took the book from Zephyro and said:
- Ah, yes, it's my turn to study this. I can ritual cast Detect Magic on it right here. I'll need 10 minutes concentrating on it. Give me a moment, please. And then I'll sare my findings about it and, also, what I learned about the scroll pieces.
With that, she takes a last bite to her ice-cream (coconut again. She had decided she would be tasting the Snowstrom blizzard with Arthur the next day), makes space in the table and puts the book on it. The spell didn't have a component material so she didn't really need her arcane focus to be present, but despite that, she felt that holding her lockpick helped her concentrating. So she took the tool with her left hand, put that hand on the book, then touched her forehead with her right hand's index and middle finger and closed her eyes.
If Plash Etesian hadn't described to his niece beforehand what to expect when casting a ritual was, she would have been more surprised. But all in all, she did gasp - gasp that was visible to the others sitting at the table with her - when she actually saw in her mind the arcane tethers that bound that book to the arcane weaving that surrounded the whole of Spiral.
She extended her hand a little - only it wasn't her real hand at all, it was still touching her forehead - and began touching an feeling at those curiously looking blue, gray and white tethers. She wondered if they displayed those specific colours for everyone, of if they took like that in honor of her air genasis features. She would have to ask Plash - or Profesor Geyser - about that. Perhaps in Plash's case those tethers would all shaded in watery blues?
Minutes later the ritual is finished and the real Zahira opens her eyes and shares with the rest what she has learned...
(OOC: Shield's turn! What does Zahira see about the book? And what does she know about the scroll pieces?)
Kuro is likely the last person to show up at the ice cream shop, still unsure of whether or not he really wants to be here. He glances around, slowly, before catching sight of the group and making his way over to their table. He stands there for a moment, eyes passing over Zim's shield and Zahira examining the book... oh great, shouldn't they be keeping that thing hidden away? What if the police find them with it? Would that make them suspects if they find out that the gremlins were connected to the disappearances?
Zephyro's attention falls on Zim when the half-elf joins their table. Noting the bard's new gear, he grins, "Nice! You look ready for battle! Heh, Looks like we've got our second frontline fighter!" He scoots down to the end of the booth to make room for Zim, "Though that thing looks a bit awkward to carry around all the time. Here, you can lean it against the booth until we're ready to head out. Haha, I take it your studies are going well too?"
He turns back to Zahira, "Hey, don't say that! Physical strength isn't everything you know!" He continues listening to the genasi recount her time in class this week. He laughs at the two nicknames the girl has earned for herself. "Well, it is just the start of the year. You have plenty of time to bump up those grades."
Zephyro decides to refrain from mentioning his extreme success this week, as he does not wish to sound like he is bragging. He'd even surprised himself with how well he'd started the year, though he hasn't decided whether it's a good thing or not. Danny clearly liked him and is invested in his learning, however, his success had gained him some rivals. While that fact doesn't particularly bother him, he can't push the feeling away that their dislike for him will eventually lead to some sort of trouble. Whether at school or at home. School would be preferable.
After Zahira takes the tome, the young elf notices Kuro enter the shop--glum as ever. Smiling, he ignores the boy's perpetual blank expression and waves him over.
As Zahira conducts her ritual, he turns to his other two companions. "Looks like we're just waiting on Trick. Hopefully he makes it here safely." He had meant the line as a joke, but as soon as the words are out of his mouth he wishes he hadn't said them. Pushing that thought away he continues, "Soooo, how's life?"
Friendly fire? Did he really expect Kuro to just set off spells with complete disregard for the people around him? He has enough trouble keeping his wild magic from hurting others (and embarrassing himself), so why would he just throw all sense of self preservation out the window and barbecue his teammates? Wait...mage armor? He doesn't know that spell! Good grief, who does Father think he is?
He is rather relieved when Mom takes Father upstairs. If that had continued... well more then likely Kuro wouldn't have been able to get any sleep due to someone's not so quiet ramblings. As his parents ascend the staircase, Kuro takes a piece of meat (probably a chicken leg) and heads to his room. Finding himself less hungry then before, he takes a few bites before tearing it apart with his hands and throwing it down to the cats outside his window. ...at least they liked him the way he was. They don't care if he's out burning friends and enemies alike.
As he stares down at the felines outside the window, he feels his crystal buzz. ...great, who could that be? He lets one of the cats lick the juice off his left hand while using his right to pull out the crystal and look at the text... Zahira? He blinks in surprise... nearly having forgotten about the sketch he'd given her. ...he doesn't really know how to feel about this...
He stares at the tomcat sitting in his window for a moment, then wipes his hand on his pant leg before looking back at his crystal. ...what is he supposed to say to her? After what feels like ages of staring at the phone...and then the cat... and then the cats outside his window after the tom jumps down... he types "Thanks" and sends that. Then he takes a picture of the cats outside his window as they gather around the bone from the chicken leg he'd dropped out there, and hesitates a moment longer before sending it to her. Why had he done that? Oh well. To late to take it back now.
______
(Will add something for the time skip, just wanted to post this first...)
Zephyro fights back the urge to tell his father, "Well, would you rather me be the frontline fighter?" But holds his tongue. That was exactly what he intended to do, though he is glad he will not have to do it alone. With Zim planning getting more training, and Arthur being able to help out, he feels a lot more comfortable in that position... Especially since he knows he will likely have to get some training as a wizard eventually.
That night, once his parents are away, he let's Shaylin visit in his room for a while while he recounts the event to her. He tells her everything he could remember, including the fact that both Zahira and Arthur had practically brought him back from the dead. Though he does ask that she not share all the details with their parents.
Through the first week of school. Zephyro can't help but feel proud of himself for the week's accomplishments. He feels a lot more confident in his abilities, especially now that Danny had taught him about how to use Ki. That mystical energy will surely be useful in the future... Hopefully, all his parent's see are his grades for now.
(Lol just saw Kirai and Aroc's posts. lol The cat's are glorious. And I sense the the rise of a Drakewarden. :D)
Also, Zeph would have studied that tome in his downtime, so Arcana? 11 (eesh)
Zephyro feels his crystal buzz just as he's finishing breakfast. A missing student? That's no good. Could the person responsible been the same one who orchestrated the gremlin attack?
After putting his dishes away, he pulls up the group text and starts typing, "Well, despite the disturbing news, are any of you up for a bit of adventuring?"
Put your spoiler here.
(Trick's Mother Jade Spirit)
"Nyah! I think I've mastered CATastrophic levels of cat puns! To fit in Crystal Meadow better! How did you sleep? I learned another student was cat napped sadly.."
Put your spoiler here.
(Tricks Dad Wantabe)
"Yes.. Be careful I asked the school about you're party.. It seems everyone in it appears to be.. Nobility of some kind. I know were used to a quieter way of living so that may be.. A lot to endure. Also you're Jade dear.. The cat puns are not needed people here don't mind Tabaxi's either way.."
"Aww but I know some of them think were savages out hunting animals! I wanna show them a sweeter side! I wanna be pawstively hilarious for Trick's friends!"
"Oh no.."
The home was a mixture of high technology and gardens and nature wandering around, flowers growing in a metal containers and many projects were going. A clash of science and nature a true solarpunk feel. The little bots around had bumped into Trick's leg, the machines and such really clashed with Trick's outfit he appeared rather... Well his outfit was one of an outlander in Starkwood after all. The robot had indeed another flower crown on his head trying to remove it.
"Help me, help me help me."
OOC
Zahira's text to Kuro was super duper cute aww xD
Kuro, in his room since its Saturday, has no intention of going outside if he can help it. He's honestly half surprised that Father wasn't telling him to go chase down the kidnapper... good thing he hadn't told him about his teammates taking evidence from the crime scene... ugh, that would have been a really bad decision.
Right now, he's just laying on his bed and staring out the window. His grades were...not to good, but he's wondering if the principle even knows or cares about that seems how Father hasn't yelled at him about it yet. ...or maybe Forthright just hasn't said anything? Maybe Kuro should be grateful. Or, maybe his teacher was just to lazy to put his grades into the system... that was also a very strong possibility now that he thought about it. Heh... cool.
The sound of cats at the window draws him to his feet, and he opens the window to let the large tomcat come inside. ...He's surprised Mom hasn't said anything about this yet...he's sure that if she'd noticed him letting the animals in his room that she would have a fit... maybe? Oh well, if she hasn't noticed yet great, if she doesn't care that's fine too. He runs a hand over the tom's back, giving a small half-smile as the animal arched its spine under his hand. The tom was a dark grey, almost black, with darker stripes, one white paw, and amber eyes. Kuro named him Smokey. He peered down through the window to count the other cats, noting some new ones among them. ...Mom won't like that. Oh well. If the cats are here then that means they aren't out on the road getting smashed.
He then promptly dumps some crackers out the window and watches as the animals below swarm on them only to give him irritated looks when they found out that the crackers were bread and not chicken. When they realize he doesn't have any meat, they begrudgingly settle for the crackers anyways. Some of them stay, Smokey being one of them, and others wander off once the food is gone.
(OOC: This happens the morning after receiving Kuro's message)
Ohhh? Kuro has actually answered? With a picture? OF CATS??
- Woooooooooooooow, amazing!!
So she types back:
"Heeeey! Look at those four-legged friends of yours! Aren't they cute? Thanks for the pic, I love it. "
(OOC: Timeskip! This happens a week later)
That Saturday morning, Zahira wakes up feeling very rested. She checks her crystal for a while before actually getting out of bed.
She opens the KZZZT group and types
"Heya! How are you all doing? Any plans for today? Do you guys wanna do something? I may have a couple of things to do, but I guess we could meet in town for a while if you want!"
Then she texts Arthur: "Good morning! Hey, didn't we say something about having ice cream together? How about it maybe today or tomorrow? I may do something with my party today - just asked them - but I guess this could be doable too?"
Peindre l'amour, peindre la vie, pleurer en couleur ♫
Auriel | Shenua | Arren | Lyra
Kuro
As Kuro would awaken he would have course have many cats meowing at his window. One tomcat of course was always the first to be at his window eager to greet him for the morning it would seem. (Just thought I'd write this before you post the timeskip haha) Kuro's parents were actually not home? With the missing kid his father was determined to go out and do something about it. Of course he was working on his own without the police or the knights a rather foolish move for a nobleman to make some would see. However he couldn't stand back with a kid missing he seemed harsh to strangers and others but he had a strong moral compass.
Zephyro
Zephyro had studied the tome, though he knew transmutation magic was mentioned and something on orbs he got the feeling that perhaps he should let Zahira take a look at this as well? Maybe when they all went to go hang out would be a good time to ask? Zephyro's parents were also missing today, they had an important meeting to attend at the Knight's Barracks today it had seemed. Zephyro had asked the group if they were of course up to do some adventuring and with the weather bright and shiny as it was? It was a perfect day for it.
Oh no. His mom was back on the cat puns. It wasn't going to end was it? Even his father was telling her that she didn't have to. He looked down and let out a soft sigh.
"Mom. Please. You can't do that in front of my friends. I'll never live it down. I won't fit in..."
He looks over to his father with a pleading kind of look. He really didn't want to have to deal with this. He would make sure none of his friends ever stepped foot in this house. He wanted to at least appear more normal than he actually was. He looked down at the little robot and sighed. He reached down taking the flower crown from off of its head.
"You've been helped again little one. Mom stop doing this. They don't like it."
His crystal went off and he glanced at it. Oh. It was the group chat. Apparently several people could send messages at once in here. Everyone could see what was being said. "I would say that I'm up for it!"
Zephyro makes sure the tome is safe in his bag. Hopefully Zahira would have more luck with it. Then he looks back at his Crystal. "Well, you all want to meet at Flurries Ice Cream? Or does someone have a better idea?"
Kuro
Kuro was lucky his mom wasn't home to see Smokey inside. Also it was hard to tell if Silas was forgetful or not sharing his grades with Kuro's father. Of course Kuro now had his friend Zephyro in the group chat ready to go out.
Zahira
Arthur had replied back to Zahira rather quickly!
I'd like that! That kid went missing though.. If you're party is out too look I can help if you wish! My party is looking around the town too but "Reaper" offered to take my stead for the day if I help you guys! If not though I may hold up on ice cream today and go tomorrow! I really wanna try and help find that kid today if I can.. Hope that isn't rude I.. Well I think you're really cute I just worry about that poor student honestly."
Trick
"You'll never fit in? But the students around here are so nice! They are purrfect little sweeties! We should keep candy around they love to visit us for some reason!"
"Bzzt.. Thank you!"
"Aww they look so adorable though!"
"Thank you son, do be careful today if you head out and... If you hang out with Roger.. Bring a friend or two okay? We don't need him getting the wrong idea around you...."
Seeing that Father was out by himself... perhaps its a good thing he seems to prefer working alone, else he might have dragged Kuro along for some 'training'. If he's lucky then Father will find the kidnapper and have his own adventure to go bragging about, and maybe he'll forget about how boring Kuro's past week has been.
When he gets Zahira's text message, he frowns for a moment. This is the weekend... they don't have to meet up for school on the weekend. Right? Or was there homework he was forgetting about? Great.
After a moment he texts back, "I guess. What time?"
Zahira hadn't really read about the missing kid just yet! So she answers back:
To Arthur: "Oh, you're totally right, I hadn't read that! Let's just leave the ice cream for tomorrow, yes! Sorry for that! Let's hope any of us find that kid soon! By the way, who's the missing student? Do you know?"
To Kuro: "Wait, let's just move the conversation ot the team group, sorry for the mess!"
To KZZZT: "Flurry's ok for me. What about meeting there in a couple of hours? We can talk about this missing kid, and what we've learned about the gremlins and other things during this week!"
Peindre l'amour, peindre la vie, pleurer en couleur ♫
Auriel | Shenua | Arren | Lyra
(OOC: Right after arriving to Flurry's, Zahira talks to Zephyro, as she has prepared something for him!)
- Hey, Zephyro, I got something for you. I think you might find it useful. Give me your sickle for a moment, please - she says, extending her hand towards the monk. If she sees any questioning look on the elf she insists - Come on, trust your party artificer!
(OOC: Hopefully he will give it to her, or else this post is going to be a waste, haha!)
When she receives the sickle, Zahira weighs it a little on her hands and inspects it closely for a moment, and then looks again at Zephyro and the rest:
- So it seems the fight at the cafeteria the other day has allowed me to delve deeper into my studies and I've been able to unlock some infusions. These will allow me to weave some magic into some of our items. Armor, weapons, even arcane foci. Unfortunately, I cannot infuse many things just yet. I've already worked upon my scale armor so it can help me keep my concentration on spells, and as I could do just another infusion, I thought of you Zephyro. Being the only front liner we have for the moment, I thought it was best to use my second infusion on you.
After saying this, she puts the sickle in one hand and with the other she begins tracing its shape with her fingers and as she does this tiny white sparks appear in her figers and are infused into the handle and the blade.
Infusion: Enhanced Weapon
Item: A simple or martial weapon
This magic weapon grants a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with it.
The bonus increases to +2 when you reach 10th level in this class. (ignore this part for the moment, Rynn hahah Still not level 10, sadly)
- Answering the possible questions you may already have: infusions remain on an item indefinitely, but as I can only currently maintain two, if I do a third or a fourth, then the infusions on your sickle and on my armor will disappear. So we will have to be wise when we are nearing any kind of quest or battle, as we may need to change them to improve ourselves as a team. Otherwise, infusions will disappear ...- she thinks - ... three days after with my death. Let's hope we don't get to that, all right? - she laughs. She didn't like to think about death but... well... that was indeed how they worked.
Whenever you finish a long rest, you can touch up to 2 nonmagical objects, imbuing each of them with one of your artificer infusions, turning it into a magic item. You can attune yourself to the item the instant you infuse it, or you can forgo attunement so that someone else can attune to the item.
Your infusion remains in an item indefinitely, but when you die, the infusion vanishes after 3 days. The infusion also vanishes if you give up your knowledge of the infusion or you exceed your maximum number of infusions.
These are the infusions Zahira currently knows, in case you're curious. Unfortunately, the sheet's not currently displaying the descriptions:
Peindre l'amour, peindre la vie, pleurer en couleur ♫
Auriel | Shenua | Arren | Lyra
Zephyro's response back to everyone: "A couple hours sounds great. And yeah, I was thinking about the missing student as well. See you all soon!"
When Zahira asks for his sickle, the monk gives her a confused look before shrugging and handing her his weapon. He watches her curiously as she explains what she is doing, while infusing the item.
When she is finished he nods slowly as she finishes explaining the details and hands him back his weapon. "Wow, that sounds really great Zahira. Haha, thanks for looking out for me." He smiles, "Looks like your training is paying off!" He sheaths the small blade. "And I agree, with both your infusions, and our party structure, we are going to have to be careful and make wise decisions when preparing for battle."
"...and don't think about death right now. I'm sure we are all far better prepared for a skirmish than we were before."
He pauses for a moment, "Oh and before I forget, I think you should take this next." He opens up his bag and pulls out a binder. If she peeks inside, it holds the tome from the gremlins. "I just can't seem to figure it out. ...and I feel like it's connected to whoever is responsible for the missing student."
(I'll add a +1 sickle to my inventory and just switch between them whenever the infusion is on or off. :D )
Circling slowly around his target, Zim was careful to maintain the appropriate distance he had been shown to set up his final attack. Sword and shield in hand, he lunged forward at his enemy. The tip of his rapier guided his thrust true through the dummies faux chainmail rope-armor. Returning his sword to his sheath, Zim permitted himself a deep stretch of his limbs and back. He silently commended himself for not dawning the scale armor for this bit of courtyard practice.
He had spent his week feeling like he might have bitten off more than he could chew. Between his normal bardic classes and the extracurricular independent studies, he found himself feeling barely able to remain standing by the end of each day. For this, Zim's studies had suffered significantly. Sure, he was still able to shine during his required performances, but the young half elf had been too tired to keep up with his written homework.
If Zim was being completely honest with himself, he would realize that he had been somewhat avoiding focusing too much on the powers of music and magic. His extrasensory experiences frightened him a bit. Deep down he felt as if staying away from those things might make his perceptions of the world return to normalcy. Thankfully, whether it was from his efforts or not, he had at least been able to better tolerate his enhanced sense of taste. Eating anything had been just too much in the beginning.
He had thus far successfully thwarted his mother from knowing about his sudden eating disorder by telling her that he was eating at his after-school training session, but he knew she had started to wax suspicious. He had started looking quite gaunt, when finally he managed to make it through eating an entire slice of bread on the fifth morning. He had surrendered to the flavor and realized that he tasted all of the ingredients of the bread both simultaneously and separately. Flour, salt, yeast, egg and a touch of sugar. All of it was amplified and completely different from how he remembered bread tasting! Despite this, it helped him adjust his expectations a bit, and food had become more palatable...if still alien.
Taking Herron's advice, Zim had talked to Roger a bit about what he had been experiencing since KZZZT's fight in the cafeteria. The bard had indicated that he would look into it, but he had mostly focused on training Zim in the ways of the sword. For all of Roger's bardiness, he seemed to be an excellent teacher and a strict martial arts instructor. His movement with the blade inspired Zim. Maybe he could concede that Roger might not suck so bad after all. Trick seemed to be okay with him, after all.
Zim couldn't bring himself to talk to Eros about his altered senses. They spent a lot of time together, and Zim didn't want to do anything to jeopardize their friendship by sounding like a freak. Roger's tutelage rarely involved instruction regarding shields, so Eros had been a super big help in that department. Still, Zim felt like he had really only learned enough about melee combat as to not stab himself in the foot with his own sword. His armor wasn't particularly clunky, still he found himself still feeling heavy and awkward trying to move around fluidly while wearing the stuff.
Upon receiving the group texts, Zim smiled a little bit. He didn't know how the others were managing with their own studies. He really hoped that he could prove to be less of a liability while they were out adventuring. He also hadn't seen anyone besides Trick during the week, and that had been only in passing. Nearly every waking moment had been dedicated to his training; he really could use a break.
I absolutely look forward to see you all there.
After his text, Zim decided to head in for a shower... he reeked by his own measure.
OOC
I will post after Kirai and they can all meet at Flurries! Kirai can post tomorrow I look forward to it!
The ice cream shop came into view as Zim walked, and the day KZZZT had last been there returned to him. There had been something about the sensory overload he had experienced after leaving the shop that resurfaced in his mind's eye. He had not wanted to think about that experience at all, but it had nevertheless continued to float around at the edges of his consciousness ever since.
There had been a moment before he had headed home that late afternoon, where among the other audial and visual "hallucinations" (as he occasionally rationalized them to be) that went berserk on him that first time had come to a crescendo. On the one hand, it had felt as though something positive that he didn't quite comprehend had occurred. On the other, there had been something that had caused him to run; to get himself home as fast as possible. It was what had solidified within Zim that he needed to learn to fight to protect whoever he could. He had run out of fear.
Arriving at the shop, Zim opens the door and is careful to make it through without accidently clanging his armor or shield against the door or its frame. He was excited to show his friends what he has been up to. He also felt guilty for not trying to contact any of them throughout the week, though he had thought to do so often at the worst of times. Seeing Zahira hand something to Zephyro, Zim went to the counter to make an order. He had known exactly what he had wanted ever since he received the group text. Seeing Flurry stood ready for him, Zim ordered, "Small vanilla cone, please." He felt confident that he would be able to handle ice cream this time!
The order hadn't taken Flurry very long to complete. Zim thanked him and took his cone over to the other Zs. Standing before them with his shield in one hand, and his vanilla ice cream cone in the other, he shuffled awkwardly as he tried to find a good spot to put his shield but then gave up. "Well guys, what do you think?"
The air genasi waves at Zim. She's about to make her pun about the vanilla ice cream again, but then she remembers how Zim didn't seem quite himself the first time they went to Flurry's, and decides that today is not the day to make a joke about it. Instead she says:
- Nice shield you got there! So you've been working on your martial skills? How's that been going? Jeez, I'm going to have to do some physical training myself, as I'm clearly the weakling of the Z's!
Zahira then resumes the conversation she had started with Zepyro:
- Well, I wish my written part had turned out as good as my infusions! I did pretty good at the practical casting part - I beat many of my fellow students at keeping my concentration and now some of them call me "The practical caster" ! - but my written part was shameful and because of this some call me "Pencil Crusher" - she smirks. Though that was meant to be a mockery, she had found the nickname to be actually funny - I really need to improve that. Can you believe that Arthur got better grades than me? I mean, I'm happy for him of course! But I'm still amazed by that ... and so is he, to be honest! - she laughs again.
When the monk tells her to not think of death, she nods. But inevitably, a shadow seems to appear in her face as thinks again of Plash. Really! Almost executed!?? She was still shocked. This revelation had made realize that what she had considered real issues in her life - her relationship with her parents, the cafeteria fight, her grades... - weren't really that important in the great scheme of life. She hadn't really thought that much about the past war, politics, the meaning of Crystal Meadows itself ... she should probably start thinking about all of that stuff, shouldn't she?
She took the book from Zephyro and said:
- Ah, yes, it's my turn to study this. I can ritual cast Detect Magic on it right here. I'll need 10 minutes concentrating on it. Give me a moment, please. And then I'll sare my findings about it and, also, what I learned about the scroll pieces.
With that, she takes a last bite to her ice-cream (coconut again. She had decided she would be tasting the Snowstrom blizzard with Arthur the next day), makes space in the table and puts the book on it. The spell didn't have a component material so she didn't really need her arcane focus to be present, but despite that, she felt that holding her lockpick helped her concentrating. So she took the tool with her left hand, put that hand on the book, then touched her forehead with her right hand's index and middle finger and closed her eyes.
If Plash Etesian hadn't described to his niece beforehand what to expect when casting a ritual was, she would have been more surprised. But all in all, she did gasp - gasp that was visible to the others sitting at the table with her - when she actually saw in her mind the arcane tethers that bound that book to the arcane weaving that surrounded the whole of Spiral.
She extended her hand a little - only it wasn't her real hand at all, it was still touching her forehead - and began touching an feeling at those curiously looking blue, gray and white tethers. She wondered if they displayed those specific colours for everyone, of if they took like that in honor of her air genasis features. She would have to ask Plash - or Profesor Geyser - about that. Perhaps in Plash's case those tethers would all shaded in watery blues?
Minutes later the ritual is finished and the real Zahira opens her eyes and shares with the rest what she has learned...
(OOC: Shield's turn! What does Zahira see about the book? And what does she know about the scroll pieces?)
Peindre l'amour, peindre la vie, pleurer en couleur ♫
Auriel | Shenua | Arren | Lyra
Kuro is likely the last person to show up at the ice cream shop, still unsure of whether or not he really wants to be here. He glances around, slowly, before catching sight of the group and making his way over to their table. He stands there for a moment, eyes passing over Zim's shield and Zahira examining the book... oh great, shouldn't they be keeping that thing hidden away? What if the police find them with it? Would that make them suspects if they find out that the gremlins were connected to the disappearances?
He lets out a huff, then pulls up a chair.
Zephyro's attention falls on Zim when the half-elf joins their table. Noting the bard's new gear, he grins, "Nice! You look ready for battle! Heh, Looks like we've got our second frontline fighter!" He scoots down to the end of the booth to make room for Zim, "Though that thing looks a bit awkward to carry around all the time. Here, you can lean it against the booth until we're ready to head out. Haha, I take it your studies are going well too?"
He turns back to Zahira, "Hey, don't say that! Physical strength isn't everything you know!" He continues listening to the genasi recount her time in class this week. He laughs at the two nicknames the girl has earned for herself. "Well, it is just the start of the year. You have plenty of time to bump up those grades."
Zephyro decides to refrain from mentioning his extreme success this week, as he does not wish to sound like he is bragging. He'd even surprised himself with how well he'd started the year, though he hasn't decided whether it's a good thing or not. Danny clearly liked him and is invested in his learning, however, his success had gained him some rivals. While that fact doesn't particularly bother him, he can't push the feeling away that their dislike for him will eventually lead to some sort of trouble. Whether at school or at home. School would be preferable.
After Zahira takes the tome, the young elf notices Kuro enter the shop--glum as ever. Smiling, he ignores the boy's perpetual blank expression and waves him over.
As Zahira conducts her ritual, he turns to his other two companions. "Looks like we're just waiting on Trick. Hopefully he makes it here safely." He had meant the line as a joke, but as soon as the words are out of his mouth he wishes he hadn't said them. Pushing that thought away he continues, "Soooo, how's life?"