[Sunday, October 12th. 5 PM.] [With two days (mostly) off, all of you are just about fully recovered from the fight against the Kitchen Cinqo. An assault of SPLEE-NY is a big deal, so the incident got plenty of news coverage, with Lt. Stone giving glowing (if non-specific) descriptions of your actions.] [Yesterday evening, a planned training session finally happened, and it went fairly well. Obviously, there are still some kinks to work out, but slowly and surely you're all getting a feel for your teammates' strengths, weaknesses, and habits.] [Today is supposed to be another training session, but from the way Solaris and Sister Admin are locked in conversation near SA's computers as you all walk in, it seems that something else might be going on...] [Session Start!] * Horus does, in fact, walk in. She's looking about like she always does, and she sits where she always does... only about a week, and she's already totally in habits. [Redcoat arrives upside down for rooting for the Phillies in the OOC channel.] [Well, not really. But she should!] * Christian walks in as well and then glances computer-ward. "Yo. Somethin' goin' on?" He doesn't take a seat because he's more interested in the convo. * Jacqueline glances sidelong towards Sister Admin and Solaris on her way in. "Don't worry, girls, I can make this easy for you: Lavender Lad is our only boy here, so he's the cutest by default." * Christian snorts. "You never know. American Dream might be their type." Boy, not bubbling cesspool. Granted. * Mizuki floats in, looking slightly annoyed as she slips into seiza and rests one hand on the table, the other around her staff. [Solaris and SA look back and GLARE at Christian with looks that could melt through Unobtanium.] * Jacqueline smiles happily to herself as she slides into place. Man, Christian, you're fucked. * Christian goes back to trying to catch a glimpse of the monitor screen...only to catch a Solaris-Sister Admin twin-stare. "Woah woah. Joke! Calm down!" Yeah, thanks for the fuckin' status report, Horus. [SA and Solaris simultaneously growl "Don't even *joke* about that!", then look back at each other and snicker. SA goes back to what she was doing, while Solaris walks over to the table.] * Christian lets out a breath then goes to take his seat. It's probably not a good idea to bug Sis Admin at this point. * Mizuki runs her hand over her forehead a moment, sighs, then sidesays to Christian, "What did make you think it would be smart to insinuate yourself in an argument?" [Solaris takes a seat, and looks at you all. "We've got a bit of good news, for once. Sister Admin managed to crack the puzzle Dr. Potts-Chambers used to encrypt the location of an emergency entrance to his labs."] Then when shall I begin confiscating his goods? For science. ["Recovering any documents and files relating to the black hole bombs he produced for us takes priority over another training session. As soon as Sister Admin finishes processing the data she recovered, you'll be heading over there."] * Christian glances at Mizuki and mutters. "I didn't know there was any arguments going on...besides...ah forget it..." He leans back more in his chair. * Horus doesn't glare at Jackie, and she doesn't say anything to her. Instead, she says, "Gotcha." [Sister Admin calls back as she types away. "It ain't going to be easy, though. Dr. Potts-Chambers was obsessive and a damn bit strange about security... the location of this entrance could only be accessed by ascending as a tourist in his custom, uber-difficult build of Nethack."] [With a mutter of "fucking eels...", Sister Admin goes back to her work.] * Jacqueline smiles to herself as she idly wonders, "How many tiems did they bite, darling?" * Christian rubs his forehead. "Gamer locks? Seriously?" * Mizuki idly says, "One works with what will work with them." Then a frown flits across her face and she says something quietly to herself in an odd language. [SA responds with more mumbled curses about eels as Solaris looks on, mildly bemused. Shaking her head, Solaris turns back to all of you. "Dr. Potts-Chambers was brilliant, but... eccentric. You should expect some unconventional security measures, so be on your toes. He was one of this world's foremost scientific minds, so there's a lot of things in there worth protecting."] [A door opens from the medical bay, and in walks your hero and mine, American Dream. "Well now! Nobody told me they were taping an episode of The View here today!"] * Jacqueline 's gun is out and pointed in American Dream's direction as soon as his voice is heard, and flatly she says, "American Boogaloo." [He gives Jacky a contemptuous look, then looks around the table. "So we have the bitchy one... the bitchy one... the bitchy one..." He looks at Horus. "Whoopi..." And now at Christian. "And the one that Panzermensch spiked like a volleyball. You bounced like a pro, kid."] Still standin', ain't I? [Pause] [Unpause] * Mizuki 's grip on her staff tightens, eyes closing, her free hand going to rest on her lap. [AD then looks over at Redcoat. "And trying to trip him with your little scarf? Seriously? Does that shit actually work back in the Motherland?"] * TheRedcoat continues ignoring AD. [As he walks by Redcoat, he reaches out with incredible speed and tips the hat off of Redcoat's head, smirking as he does. Solaris starts telling him to knock it off, but he interrupts her as he turns to look at the lot of you.] ["Look at all of you... I bet you're feeling real good about yourselves. I mean, heck, you beat those Greek carpet cleaners, and managed to stop the Five Morons from nuking the cops little tinker toys. Go you."] * TheRedcoat calmly picks her hat back up and puts it where it belongs, and resumes being leaned back in her chair with her legs out and crossed at the ankles, arms crossed, to all appearances asleep. * Christian doesn't look at AD, but he does respond. "Wasn't it Eternal Warrior who had to finish your fight for you too? Memory's a bit fuzzy..." [AD grins viciously. "I figured I'd let you guys have a bit of fun with Panzermensch, give you a feel for what a real hero does every day."] * Jacqueline 's gun winds up being lowered for use as a nail file as she idly ponders, "How badly concussed were you, I wonder?" * Horus bristles, but she still tries to restrain herself. And continues to pretty much succeed. [*That* gets Solaris up out of her chair. "For god's sakes! I've known for years that you were an ass, William, but letting Panzermensch loose intentionally? Are you out of your mind?"] * TheRedcoat glances down at AD's leg as he struts around, and seems to almost smirk at herself. * Christian flicks his fingers slightly. "Apparently a real hero lets criminals loose for fun. I could learn a lot from you." He looks up. "Or could it be because of that leg?" [AD just shrugs. "You're obviously doing a shit job getting them ready for what's comin' down the road. Someone's gotta teach these punks what combat... real life-or-death combat... is like!"] [He turns to glare at Christian, but sputters for a response.] * Christian doesn't look pleased or much of anything. Just meets his gaze right back. [He finally just settles on flipping you all off, and leaves.] * Jacqueline 's free hand comes up to wave delicately as she says without looking up, "Do stay classy, Willie." [Solaris holds her head in her hands. "And that's why he wasn't invited to go on the space mission with the other heroes."] * Christian looks back at his fingers, concentrating on them for a bit. "Asshole." Jesus fucking fuck. What the fuck is his *problem*. * TheRedcoat yawns a long, eloquent yawn. * Mizuki relaxes slightly and murmurs, "Power comes to children poorly." [Solaris shrugs. "He's been like that for as long as I've known him." She nods at Mizuki. "When they decided to christen a new American Dream, they wanted someone more... aggressively patriotic than the original. That's the result."] And in choosing America, discarded the Dream. He's not aggressively patriotic. He's aggressively asshole. If that's patriotic, sign me up for fuckin' Mexico. * Mizuki looks to Solaris. "Where do we go? I have bargains to keep tonight if possible." [Sister Admin chimes in! "I've got the coordinates figured out."] ["If I've got this right... the permanent emergency entrance to his lab is..." She falls silent for a moment. "... a port-o-potty on a construction site on the Gowanus Expressway in Brooklyn."] That's not fucking disgusting. * TheRedcoat glances over at SA, notes that information is actually happening, and sits up, pressing something in one of her sleeves. She pulls her hair back from in front of her ears and takes out the little black earbuds that are revealed by that action. "So we go now?" * Christian looks at Horus. "Compared to what we just had in here, I bet it smells like fuckin' roses." * Horus snerks. "Too right." She looks to SA and Solaris at Red's question. [Solaris nods. Sister Admin speaks up: "I'll teleport you within a few blocks; you'll have to walk or fly up to the overpass to reach the entrance."] Do I *want* to know how you enter? * Mizuki sighs and rises from seiza. "It seems... necessary." [SA shrugs. "The guy's codename was Shit for Brains. If you do, I definitely don't."] Flying is...not my strong suit. * Christian looks at Redcoat for a moment, then shrugs. "We'll all get their at our own pace then. Ain't like I can fly either, but I'm pretty sure I could make it up there." ...very well. I don't see why we couldn't just borrow a car. For a good cause. I do know how to hotwire them. [You all head out!] [You're teleported to a train station under the elevated Gowanus expressway, and find yourself in a classy neighborhood filled with car repair places and porno shops. It's pretty deserted on a Sunday, but there's still a fair amount of traffic.] [By various means, you all make it onto the expressway, where only one lane of traffic is open; the other two are blocked off, even though you can't where any work has been done, or any workers for that matter, for as far as you can see in either direction.] [In the midst of the construction area, you see one lone port-o-potty. It looks fairly clean on the outside, all things considered.] That ain't suspicious at all. * Horus walks up and, er... opens the door. She's in full, semi-blinding costume now, since she flew a bit to get there. * Mizuki replies, "Is it usually more populated?" * Jacqueline glares into the port-o-potty as it's opened. "One would hope not." [No, it isn't. There are never any construction workers there. There's never any work being done there. They just shut off all but one lane of traffic because THEY HATE US ARGH] Well our hope is that he wouldn't want to get shit all over him too when he went in. ...and that he didn't always use a side entrance and just left this here to laugh at other people. [Horus opens the door! Inside is... the most immaculately clean port-o-potty you've ever laid eyes upon. It sparkles almost as brightly as Horus. It smells like a lovely spring day. It's even got a full roll of toilet paper!] * TheRedcoat ignores the crazy GM, and enters. [A tinny voice speaks as Redcoat enters. "Congratulations. You've discovered the hidden entrance to the laboratory of the world famous Dr. Potts-Chambers. Please all come in and your journey shall begin."] * Mizuki looks slightly suspicious. "It doesn't seem like we will fit as is." ... Yeah, really. * Horus doesn't seem eager to cram into a one person toilet with everyone else. Even if it's the cleanest toilet ever. ...okay, one it's not a fuckin' hidden entrance if you announce it. Two...there's gotta be cameras or somethin' 'round here if it knows we're all here. This ain't good. * TheRedcoat sighs and squeezes into a corner. ["So you have discerned the first challenge you shall face to prove yourself worthy of entrance. Are you bad enough dudes..." It pauses. "... and dudettes to meet this challenge?"] * Horus grumbles. "Fuckin' kill you if you weren't fuckin' dead," but she does step into the port-a-potty. [Slowly and carefully, you all manage to wedge yourself in. It's an incredibly tight fit, but you all manage, though Mizuki does end up with either an elbow or a knee jammed into her ribs. And if she was any closer to Christian, she'd be behind him.] I'm expecting robot ninjas next. * Mizuki is biting her lip and says in a slightly strained voice, "I'd like it if this entrance worked soon." Yes. I do not like any of y--well. Almost none of you quite this much. [The door closes behind you. 'The Girl from Ipanima' starts playing.] * Christian oofs at the squishing and manages out. "Yeah, I'd say it's a bit tight. ...don't do well in cramped spaces like this." [Well, at least it's well lit thanks to Horus!] * Horus is squished between the wall and Christian. "No... fucking kidding." * TheRedcoat starts singing the song to herself quietly, in the original Portuguese. Oh god damn it, Red, I'ma fucking kill you next. * Horus doesn't sound like she means it, at least. Look, can we wait on the killing until we get to the end of this? This is a good shirt. * TheRedcoat blinks at Horus. Slowly. "Not a fan of bossa nova?" * Mizuki laughs faintly, but stills herself quickly. "Ah--not my most favorite language. One I really should put in the time on, however." * Jacqueline gruffly harmonizes, because she can't do much else. Albeit in Sumerian as opposed to Portugese. [The potty jolts abruptly, but quickly returns to normal.] [And positions shift slightly! The elbow/knee is out of Mizuki's ribs, and she's no longer in quite as intimate a position with Christian. But Horus and Jacky are now face-to-face, and there appears to be a hand on Redcoat's thigh.] No, this- ow. Fucking humiliating. * Mizuki sucks in a breath through her teeth as she relaxes just slightly. "At least he is not alive to enjoy the video." * TheRedcoat shrugs and twitches her leg a bit. "In comparison to the Moscow Metro, this is nothing." She continues singing along to herself, though more quietly. If he were, he wouldn't be for long. * Jacqueline manages to flash a sweet smile in Horus' direction, once she has recovered from jolting around so very much. * Christian breathes now that there's breathing room. [Redcoat realizes that it is, in fact, Christian's hand!] ['The Girl From Ipanima' ends... and the eurobeat remix starts up.] * Mizuki says slowly, "Is it possible we have arrived?" * Horus shrugs with difficulty. And smiles back at Jacqueline, not meaning a bit of it! But she should be used to that, from her own experience. [Alas, you are not destined to hear the full glory of this remix, for about thirty seconds in, you feel a slight jolt, and suddenly the four walls of the port-o-potty fall over like dominos.] [Mizuki and Jacky manage to keep their footing as they're freed from the tight confines. Christian does as well, but is knocked back slightly as Horus tumbles into him. Redcoat stumbles, but thanks to her incredible balance, manages to stay upright... until her legs get tangled up with the reeling Christian and Horus, and all three end up in a heap on the ground.] * TheRedcoat spins gracefully back up, and reaches a hand down for Christian and for Horus. [The top and bottom of the port-o-potty are still sitting there. You find yourself on a flat, empty plane, with tile floors, no ceiling, and nothing around for as far as the eye can see, aside from that one holographic figure over there.] * Horus mrfls from her spot on top of Christian. She blinks, then reaches up and grabs Red's hand and pulls herself up. "Thanks." * Mizuki keeps her, uh, 'footing' and stays mostly upright, instead ending up looking at the heap a moment before looking around and saying, "Ah... keeping linear, at least." [The figure walks over to you, and you recognize it from the picture you saw a few days ago as Dr. Potts-Chambers. He looks kinda like Bill Gates, but a bit less hip.] * TheRedcoat tilts her head a bit. "A hologram, I suppose?" * Christian rubs his head and reaches up for Redcoat's hand to pull himself up. "Yeah, shoulda expected that..." ["Indeed. I am an artificial intelligence construct created by the doctor to guard this entrance. Since I've been activated, you are either here to loot the scientific marvels contained herein, or else Dr. Potts-Chambers has done something spectacularly stupid and gotten himself killed."] 's the second, I'm afraid. Some of A, mostly B. ["Well damn. I owe the washing machine twenty bucks."] What's a washing machine going to do with twenty bucks? ["Take the dryer for a spin."] * Christian groans. Where? * TheRedcoat looks around, too. ["Regardless. Searching data banks for identification information... hmm." He looks at Jacky. "The doctor kind of figured you'd end up here one day. Welcome, Miss Hyde."] * Jacqueline smiles thinly as she says, "I'm disappointed that I don't already have a drink in hand, then." ["I discern that you are all here for relatively noble purposes, but I'm afraid my programming is rather specific." He actually looks a bit abashed here. "Per the doctors instructions, any wishing to gain entrance to his lab must undergo tests of Wisdom, Courage and Power. Are you prepared to proceed?"] Are they particularly annoying or humiliating? * Mizuki groans and puts her hand to her forehead, murmuring, "Oh, come on, Zelda, really?" I'd say it took a lot of fuckin' courage for us all to cram into a port-a-potty together on the way down here. ["Without going into specifics... more the former than the latter, but yes."] Can't say much for Wisdom though. Then not really, but I'll do it anyway. ["So say you all?"] Do we all even need to enter? ["If you wish to find the exit, yes."] * Mizuki shakes her head and 'stands' with her back straight. "Let us go, then." * Jacqueline exhales with a put-upon sigh. "And me with my ocarina in my other coat." Sooner we get it over with, sooner we can get the hell outta here. ["Very well then. Let the trials commence." He favors you all with a sympathetic look. "I'm so, so sorry." And you all are engulfed in a pillar of light!] * TheRedcoat sighs. [You all find yourself in... a room! There are no doors or windows. The walls, floor and ceiling are made up of large stones.] [There's a large, rectangular wooden table in the center of the room, with high-backed chairs all around it. On the table is a huge feast: a suckling pig, a roasted turkey, a huge rack of ribs, giant bowls of mashed potatoes and other sides, big plates of fruit, and a variety of cakes and pies.] [On two opposite walls are five paintings each. Along one of the other walls are three sets of armor: one banded mail, one an intracately engraved breastplate and greaves, and the third a beautiful set of full plate armor, with shield.] [Along the fourth wall are several weapon racks. One has swords, one has polearms, one has axes, one has various blunt weapons, and one has bows and arrows.] * Horus stands there, blinking in slight confusion. At least, it's probably Horus, since it's a black chick with wings... but the wings are real and have white feathers, her face is maskless, and she's covered in silver and gold plate armor. She's carrying a flaming sword and a large shield that matches her armor. "What in the fuck?" * Jacqueline has found a way to admire herself in her own goggles, probably because she looks nothing at all like herself, save for still having black hair. Her skin is bright red, her eyes are solid gold, horns are growing from her forehead and a very large tail is snaking down from the back of her chair. * Jacqueline is also wearing a combination of brass gears and steel chains across her chest in somewhat modest fashion, along with black pants. A heavy, gear-laden gauntlet is covering her right hand. * Christian stands and has a look around as well, only he looks a might bit taller. And apparently has slight green tint now and is a lot...hairier than you would have expected him to be. He's also well muscled, but doesn't seem to be wearing much in the way of clothing, decked in a loin cloth and fuzzy boots from some dead animal. Draped around his neck is a white wolf pelt. He's looking over his hands in a weird way. * Christian 's also got enlarged canines and a big battle axe in a leather strap tied to his back, with a water skin at his side. * Mizuki has lost her somewhat trademark glow, looking like the short brown-eyed black-haired japanese woman that she would look like without the glow. The stylish feathered cap, however, is an odd addition indeed, and she's apparently decided modesty is for other people. A light, breezy pair of shorts combined with an upper body support shows off about 50% more Mizuki than normal. * Mizuki is wearing a long flamboyant cloak of yellow and red, and her outfit is green and blue otherwise. She is holding, in place of her staff, a lyre. * TheRedcoat is wearing a dark red cape over an outfit of black and dark red, a dark red musketeer hat with a black band and feather, and black buckskin boots. Her half-mask remains in place, but her sunglasses are gone--the alienly long, slanted silver-white eyes there are probably not what her real ones look like, though. * TheRedcoat 's hair is also no longer in a casual bun, but loose, waist-long, and dark blue. Her skin is rather more bronzed...oh, and she is now apparently 1) sporting a pair of long, pointy ears and 2) male. * Horus stares down the stuff in her hands, then at her armor, then turns and looks at her wings, and finally looks around. "O... kay. Are you guys who I think you are?" * TheRedcoat just *stares* at everyone. "I have no idea." * Jacqueline looks up from her self just long enough to breezily note, "Huh. I'm positively surrounded by transpeople." * Mizuki reaches up to scratch her face with her left hand (the one with the lyre), and then slowly peer down at herself before saying, a bit quickly, "This is very indecent for me." She reaches back to touch her long hair, only to find it cut short. * Christian rubs his head, slightly. His voice sounds rather deeper than it did before. "Fuck if I know." * Horus tests her wings, trying to flap them, then looks confused when they actually flap. Now that she has no mask on, it's very, very clear when she's confused. * Horus is, for the record, still extremely pretty without the mask on. Too bad nobody knows if it's her real face or not. * TheRedcoat checks the two black leather bandoliers crisscrossed over her chest, under a vest and above her tunic. An expression of confused semi-relief passes over her face. [The voice from the AI speaks. "Again, I'm so, so sorry. This is the Test of Wisdom. Escape, and you shall be one step closer to your ultimate goal." Pause. "This dialogue is terrible."] 'kay, so it is you guys. Who are you? I'm Horus. * Mizuki licks her lips and turns to walk around to look at the room, lips pressed together. She tightly answers, "Mizuki. Does someone have a mirror?" * TheRedcoat tips her hat up a tad and gives Horus a look. "I'll give you three guesses and the first two don't count." * Horus glances into her shield, catches her own reflection, and then holds it out for Mizuki. "Here, this should work." * Horus looks to Red, blinks a few times, and then comments, "At least you got to keep your mask." * Christian takes the axe off his back and inspects it, then gives a practice swing. "I've no idea if I'm supposed to use this fuckin' thing or not." He hasn't said who he is but it's probably really obvious by now. * TheRedcoat looks into it as well, pauses, blinks, pauses, looks at Mizuki and looks back at herself, then at the shield again, and blinks again. "Yes, but apparently I am also a man." * Mizuki walks over near Horus and looks at the shield a moment, and then sighs with obvious relief. "Ah, at least I... look myself." She glances to her bared stomach, and pulls her cloak slightly around her. "Is this really necessary?" Why the hell's my skin green? * Horus shrugs helplessly. And looks for a place to put her sword. It takes a moment of searching before she finds her scabbard, and she shoves it in with a little difficulty. * Horus proceeds to have more trouble with the shield. * TheRedcoat shakes aside issues of the appearance changes, and roams around to check out the room. * Jacqueline glances towards Horus' shield, nods absently to herself, then presses her hands to the table to stand as she declares, "Right. Well. I'm predictably gorgeous." She heads for the paintings to begin examining them carefully. "Let us move on from here." [The north and south walls have paintings, the east wall has the armor, and the west wall has the weapons.] * TheRedcoat does not touch anything, but it looks like a close call when her hands twitch at some of the finer items along the armor wall and the weapons wall...and also as she approaches the paintings. * Horus finally manages to secure her shield on her back. "You're hairy, too," she offers to Christian helpfully. "But we'll get you changed back." A gauntleted pat on his shoulder, and then she starts looking around. Paintings first! [The table has food. And drinks. Wine and mead and a bottle of Mr. Pibb.] * Mizuki just gingerly sits down at the table and looks it over. Or tries to! I figured. This Potts guy is a fuckin' moron. Well, he *is* dead... * Christian puts away his axe. He's not going to bash anything to try it. [The north paintings are all battle scenes. From right to left, they depict two tribal groups fighting, two groups of mounted knights charging each other, a knight and a demon in pitched combat, a party of adventurers fighting a dragon, and a small rabbit, covered in blood, standing over a group of dead knights.] [Mizuki sits down. Nothing happens for the moment.] [The south paintings are all portraits. From right to left, they depict a king and queen, a beautiful warrior maiden in a rather impractical looking chainmail bikini, a mage surrounded by a huge nimbus of energy, a barbarian chieftan, and a huge castle on a hill.] [Granted, the castle really isn't a portrait, but work with me here.] * Horus reaches over to the castle on the hill painting and touches it. Maybe something will happen! * TheRedcoat gives up and goes to sleep on the spot! Or she goes and looks at the final painting wall also. [You are all engulfed in pillars of light!] * TheRedcoat looks down at herself, then at everyone else. "What in--" [A moment later, you reappear... in the middle of the same room.] ... What in the fuck. That was...odd. Think that wasn't the solution, whatever the hell it was. [Horus has a feeling something is off, but can't quite place it.] I dunno, I just touched that castle one... * Christian rubs his head. "Stupid RPG puzzles." What? * Horus looks at the castle painting again. [It's a castle painting. Yup, that sure is a pretty castle.] * Christian looks at Redcoat. "We're in a fuckin' video game." The painting with the castle on it. I touched it, and got the light show. Somethin's different, though... * Jacqueline looks down at herself briskly, takes a moment to run a hand along her tail, and then tries opening the bottle of Mr. Pibb up and pouring a little onto the ground, to see what happens. Oh. [You are all engulfed in pillars of light!] * Horus starts looking around, for anything that seems different than last time. [A moment later, you reappear... in the middle of the same room.] ... 'kay. I didn't do that. Glad I didn't smash anything then. You could try smashing the wall. * Horus grins. * Christian rubs his head again. "That's gonna get annoyin'" Could. Bets on it just teleportin' us back here? No bet. Do it anyway. It may or may not matter. * TheRedcoat frowns and thinks for a bit. * Jacqueline gestures towards the miraculously untouched bottle of soda. * Christian shrugs and takes out his axe and takes a swing at the wall. [Christian hits the wall with all his might... and bubkis happens. The AI voice comes out. "Test of Wisdom. Seriously, now."] * Horus calls to the AI, "Seriously, sometimes the wisest thing to do is the most obvious." * TheRedcoat picks up the bottle of soda and looks at it curiously, not doing anything else. * Christian snerks. "We got somethin' fuckin' different outta ya, didn't we?" [You are all engulfed in pillars of light!] [A moment later, you reappear... in the middle of the same room.] Be fuckin' stupid not to- Jesus fucking Christ, this is already annoying. Goddamn it. * TheRedcoat sighs and shakes her head. She then thinks some more, then goes over to the mage painting and eyes it. * Mizuki lets herself reappear a few times, then says, slowly, "I can't figure if we should touch nothing, or just stuff that matches us." Well, could... hey, Hyde, wanna try it? * Christian points to the chieftain portrait. "He does look like he's kinda dressed like me. That is to say, no fuckin' class." * Horus points out the painting with the demon vs. the knight. * Jacqueline murmurs, as she does just that, "I suppose I'll have to say goodbye to this tail..." You can always make yourself a real one. * Horus touches the painting at the same time as Jackie. [You are all engulfed in pillars of light!] [A moment later, you reappear... in the middle of the same room.] * TheRedcoat curses a Russian curse. * Horus looks around. "Aw man, and we're not even locked in combat or somethin'." [You all notice that the bottle of Mr. Pibb is laying down on its side on the table.] Perhaps we all need to touch something at the same time. Maybe you need to smash each other's fuckin'...wait, that bottle wasn't like that, was it? Whoa hey, it wasn't. [Unopened, mind you.] No idea what the fuck kind of significance that is. * TheRedcoat eyes the mage painting again. "And a scientist is something like a mage..." My theory is that is because there were two activation triggers this time. Could all touch the one with the dudes fightin' the fuckin' dragon. * Christian goes over to the barbarian painting and gestures to it. "So we all find somethin' together?" I'd rather not be fighting a dragon, though. I bet we could take a fuckin' dragon. I'd rather not be fighting Hyde. These are risks we have to take as adventurers. * Horus sounds almost serious, saying that. Or we could touch another one, and not have to fight a dragon. There are eight alternatives here. * Horus shrugs. She doesn't seem scared by some dragon. Maybe because paladins have an immunity to fear. Well hell with it. We either all touch 'em together, or I'm touchin' mine. Worst that'll happen is we get back to the same spot. * Jacqueline glances sidelong towards Horus as she idly says, "Very thoughtful of you; perhaps you could continue by giving the chainmail painting a try?" Exactly. * Horus snerks. "Think it's more up your alley, Hyde. With the missing clothes an' all." * Mizuki closes her eyes and looks at the bottle, before glancing to the others and finally saying, "Perhaps... we should try doing just as we did last time." So like... what? * Mizuki looks over at the Horus/Jackie. "The... demon and the knight painting again, yes?" * Jacqueline moves towards the demon painting again as she gestures towards the platemail. "We don't all /have/ strongly corresponding paintings - where is the Redcoat's, after all? Where is Mizuki's, at that? But perhaps some of the other objects?" * Christian goes over to the bottle of Mr. Pibb and tries setting it back upright just to see what'll happen. [You are all engulfed in pillars of light!] [A moment later, you reappear... in the middle of the same room.] Which is why I suggested everyone touching the mage painting. Or something that relates more to Potts-Chambers than to ourselves. * Christian looks back at the bottle. Upright or tipped? [Untipped.] Yeah. That didn't work. Hell. * Horus looks around for some sort of clue. Anything? * Jacqueline slowly exhales. "Mine has changed. Christian. Touch yours." Whoa, really? * Horus looks. "Hey, it did." * Christian huhs and then goes back to touch the barbarian chieftain portrait. [You are all engulfed in pillars of light!] [A moment later, you reappear... in the middle of the same room.] * Mizuki reappears scratching her head with the lyre. "Anooo... right." * Horus takes stock of everything, then comments, "Hey, the castle painting's kinda knocked." * TheRedcoat sighs. So it's doin' *somethin'*. But I'll be fucked if I can figure out what. * Mizuki glances to Christian, then over at Horus, then asks, "You touched that one, yeah?" Not just now, but back a few? You thinkin' there's an order? * Horus nods. "Yeah." * Jacqueline takes the time to examine the weapons and armour, while she's at it. * Mizuki shakes her head. "Don't know, but things we haven't touched aren't changing. And things that change... change in the ways we touch 'em." Was the first time the light show happened. Okay, that makes sense. So. If we change stuff in a way that gets us out, eventually? [The arms and armor are as described above. All of it is of rather impressive craftsmanship.] * Christian snorts. "I doubt taking bricks out of the wall one by one is gonna count, huh?" * Mizuki frowns and gestures with her lyre, before sighing. "I want a chalkboard. Ugh." * Horus walks up to the castle picture again, and this time, she tries to take it off the wall before the light show. [You are all engulfed in pillars of light!] [A moment later, you reappear... in the middle of the same room.] [With Mr. Pibb spilled on the floor.] * TheRedcoat sighs, gives the mage picture another look, shrugs, and goes over to examine the engravings on the armor, without touching anything. * Mizuki nods. "Yeah. It's ordered." Now I really want a chalkboard. * Horus moves to the other side and tries to pull the demon vs. knight picture off the wall. This is going to be fun. [You are all engulfed in pillars of light!] [A moment later, you reappear... in the middle of the same room.] * Mizuki gestures with her lyre again. "Castle... then you tried to drink the cola, the--" [As you all look around the room, all but Christian realize that everything is exactly as it was in that initial room. Nothing has been disturbed.] Aw, man, I sent us fucking backwards. ...how are you counting our changes as progress? They are just changes. If all we had to do was change something each time we would already be out. * Mizuki frowns, then says, "I... think it's rooms. Each touch moves us to another room." So we're going into different rooms that all look kinda the same but not? * Mizuki nods a little. "Maybe this is a brand new room for us." In which case the order of what we touch still doesn't seem to really matter. Come to think of it, the tilted demon portrait happened a lot earlier than it would have from just touchin' it. * Horus goes over to one of the chairs and sits down, trying to think. Still, what happens if we touch 'em all at once? Everything that has to do with each of us? [The chair eats Horus.] [Well, it wants to, but can't. Poor chair.] We ain't tried that yet. There is nothing that has to do with each of us, though. * Horus sets herself on fire- oh, okay then. Never mind. Nothing for myself. Nothing for Mizuki. So I fail to see what purpose that would do. * Jacqueline picks the two jousting knights to try touching, after absently continuing to play with her tail. "Unless one of the armours, or weapons..." Well, I really can't figure out where it'd take us. Even if we're right. [You are all engulfed in pillars of light!] [A moment later, you reappear... in the middle of the same room.] * Christian looks up. "Wait a minute. All the portraits...do they tell a story? * Horus is still seated then, probably, and still thinking. She's getting used to this. "Okay... the first time we touched the demon and knight picture, we popped into a room with the Pibb on the side..." Because maybe we have to put 'em in order. Wait, when we were in the room with the Pibb on the side, did someone turn it right side up? Yeah. How can we do that when every time we touch something, we're instantly moved? That was me. [The Pibb is undisturbed.] Then the next time I touched the demon and knight picture, we might've gone back to the SAME room... But the Pibb would be right side up 'cause you turned it right side up. [And all but Mizuki and Christian notice that nothing in the room is disturbed.] I mean, if Mizuki's right, then that would totally make sense. * Mizuki nods slowly, then says, "That... would mean that one thing would let us out, maybe." * Horus stands and continues excitedly, "So maybe if we keep going back to the same room after we make whatever changes in the other room, by touching the same picture or item or whatever the fuck..." Then we can check the walls and under the furniture and in the turkey and whatever for a way out. * Horus looks around. "Because this time, we used a totally different way to get to another room, right?" * TheRedcoat sighs and sits down at the table, since this is liable to take a long time. She takes out a small tube filled with herbs and lights it with what looks like a flint and tinder. I mean, so, it's that or we try touching everything just to see if it takes us to the room that gets us out. Only one problem... If the other thing she said was right and it actually takes us to different rooms, it'd get us fuckin' nowhere if we had to get to another room first. * Christian shakes his head. "Goddamn it, I hate games like this." * Mizuki sighs, rubs her head, and walks over to the barbarian picture. "Maybe this..." * Mizuki will even hit it sideways slightly. It's crazy. [You are all not engulfed in pillars of light!] [The picture is now crooked.] * Horus blinks. "What in the fuck? What'd you do?" * TheRedcoat makes a surprised face, and with it, a smoke ring! Last time it was the other pic, wasn't it? * Mizuki looks over her shoulder. "I just hit it from the side." * Mizuki tries to touch its surface. * TheRedcoat raises her eyebrows, impressed, then ashes in the mashed potatoes 'cause she has no class. [You are most certainly not all engulfed in pillars of light!] * Horus offers, "Try taking it off the wall. If nothing's happening, maybe there's somethin' underneath it." [But now you are!] [A moment later, you reappear... in the middle of the same room.] * TheRedcoat freezes at that, then glances at the bowl of probably-clean potatoes in this room. [Yup. Them potatoes be clean, yo.] * Jacqueline tries the king and queen next! Knocking it to the side a little instead of just touching. [You are all engulfed in pillars of light!] [A moment later, you reappear... in the middle of the same room.] [There are ashes in the potatoes! Eww.] * Horus sees the ashes in the potatoes, and she immediately turns her attention the barbarian chieftan pic. Is it knocked to one side? [It is!] * Jacqueline look to the king and queen and jousting knights. Wait, so the King and Queen got us here, and... what got us here last time? The joust one? [That one looks fine.] * Mizuki nods a little. "Yes. The one that was off last room." * Horus goes over to the barbarian picture and tries knocking it more to the side. * TheRedcoat yawns again and takes another drag. [Nothing happens, except the painting is more crooked now.] * Horus tries removing the painting, which is what she suggested before! [There's a wall behind it.] Huh. No light. * Horus touches the wall and tries to find a sekrit trigger stone or something wacky. "Whaddaya mean?" He means there is no source of light in this room. No. Oh. I meant we didn't end up somewhere else this time. * TheRedcoat shrugs. "Mizuki was doing all sorts of things to that one before." * Mizuki hrms and sighs again. After a moment, she tries touching the picture of the maiden right next to the barbarian's former position. Nah, it did it last time. I thought that was my ashes falling into the food that did it. [Nada except crooked picture.] * Horus blinks at Mizuki. "... Hey." * Mizuki nods slowly, tries the castle next. "Hey." [Castle is now at an angle!] * Horus sets the barbarian painting on the floor near where she pulled it off the wall, then follows Mizuki and tries pulling chainmail chick off the wall. * Mizuki looks over at Horus, then says, "I'm thinking... this entire wall is safe." Yeah, me too. But only in this room. * Horus nods. [Against their will, you put the pictures on the floor.] So check out this wall? * TheRedcoat checks it out from her seat. What up, wall? How it be? * Mizuki nods a little and will try to examine the wall! * Horus examines, too, once she gets all of the portraity paintings on the floor. [The wall is cool as the other side of the pillow, G.] * Mizuki shakes her head and says, "I don't see anything on the wall..." I wonder if we could smash it now. * TheRedcoat shrugs and takes another drag. "It is just a wall." ... Try it. I doubt that would do any good. You might as well just smash the paintings or something. * Horus steps aside to let CHRISTIAN SMASH. Doesn't hurt, y'know? * Christian nods slightly and waits for other people to get out of the way before giving the bare touchable wall a healthy swing. * TheRedcoat shrugs again. [Christian's axe bounces off the wall.] Didn't think so. Crap. [A stone slides open, and Christian dodges a coconut custard pie aimed at his face before the stone slides back into place. The AI voice returns. "Test. Of. Wisdom."] Man, you're a fuckin' testy AI. * Christian tries to wedge his axe in place of the stone before it closes. How's *that* for wisdom? * Mizuki exhales noisily and says, "It'd have been wise if I had just stayed home." She then looks around. "Okay, now what do we play with? We haven't touched the armor or weapons yet." [Christian fails miserably.] * Christian curses. "Well it was worth a shot." And how. I'dve given you the win. * Horus looks to Mizuki. "Yeah... wanna try the armor? There's only three of 'em." * Mizuki shrugs and walks that way. "It's a puzzle... just gonna wanna kick yourself when it's done. Every time." * Mizuki knocks over the banded mail with her lyre. No. I'm gonna wanna kick Potts when this is done. But I can't, cause he's dead. And that pisses me off even more. [It falls over with a clatter.] * Horus blinks. "What in the..." She walks over and tries to do the same with the breastplate combo, standing clear. So now everything on the wall's broken. [It falls over with a somewhat louder clatter.] * Mizuki finishes it off with the full plate! Hey, helps release frustration at least. [Damn, that's loud.] * Horus kicks the full plate once it's down! Yes! [She dents it. Aww.] ...so we just take down everything on the walls in order? That's silly. * Mizuki exhales and says, "So... nothing from that either. Weapons?" * TheRedcoat takes another few deep drags. I don't see you doin' anything, Red. * Horus checks out this wall, now. I don't get it either. But... * Christian goes over to the weapon rack and takes up one of the polearms. You seem to have a good understanding of the rules involved here, which I can't understand at all. I had ideas, but it seems they are not wise ones here. So what should I be doing? [Mizuki and Horus take down all the weapons. Nothing happens. They then take down all the battle paintings. Even more nothing happens.] * TheRedcoat adjusts her hat and takes more cigarette. * Jacqueline tries drinking the Mr. Pibb, for good measure. * Horus eyes the food. She doesn't trust the food. [It's delicious. Oh, and you all disappear in pillars of light, too.] [A moment later, you reappear... in the middle of the same room.] * Horus looks around. Is it REALLY the same room? As in, did they bust it up? [Everything is non-disturbed... except for the jousting knights picture.] God fuck damn it going to fucking kill him and his fucking AI, too. Even if he's dead. ESPECIALLY if he's dead. * Christian looks at his hands and notices them empty. "G..dammit." * Mizuki shakes her head, then says, "Well, now I can test..." and walks over to the wall of pictures and touches the castle. * TheRedcoat shrugs and balances her boots on the edge of the table and...waits for Mizuki to do her thing. [You all disappear in flashes of light!] [And a moment later, reappear in the busted-up room.] * TheRedcoat then kicks over the table and, hopefully, everthing on it, keeping an eye on the place where the castle picture was. * Mizuki nods slightly, and says, finally, "The entire wall's pictures are direction. Food is a direction..." [You all disappear in flashes of light!] ...sorry. It was the castle picture, right? * TheRedcoat walks over and tries to reset back to Busted Room. [And a moment later, reappear in the room with the jousting knights and castle pictures crooked.] * TheRedcoat pauses before touching it just to wait and see what Mizuki says first. Okay, so if they're directions, what direction are they? We haven't touched the weapons or armor in a way that's moved us anywhere yet. * Mizuki shakes her head and says, "Let's... try something else. We know what that room does." Hit an armor or weapon, maybe. * TheRedcoat lowers her hand and shrugs. "Shall we try touching the arms in this--all right." * TheRedcoat goes to a sword and kicks it. Pah! [You all disappear in flashes of light!] * Christian starts walking towards the armor, but probably doesn't make it before..the light! [And a moment later, reappear in the busted-up room.] * Horus blinks. And blinks again. * Horus checks the Dr. Pibb on the table. * Mizuki frowns, but after a moment she says. "... Okay. Okay. Let's try to go back to the other room and mess with all the walls." I think... [The Mr. Pibb has been drunk.] [And the table's kicked over. Forgot that.] * Mizuki walks over to the food and touches it. * Christian looks at the floor underneath where the table was before Mizuki does that [Flash of light, back in the previous room with the two crooked paintings and the sword that got kicked over] * Christian knocks on the platemail this time. [Flash of light, messy room!] * Mizuki foods! [Flash of light, sword-on floor and two crooked paintings room again.] * Mizuki nods slightly and says, "I guess wisdom is.... food." ...how is that again? I don't know. Smelling all the food is making me kinda hungry. Fruit? * Horus shrugs philisophically and walks over to the turkey, pulling off a drumstick. * Christian looks at the fruit. [Flash of light!] * Christian looks at the fruit in this room too! [Mr Pibb spilled on floor, demon picture on floor.] Fruit is fooo--oh! * TheRedcoat looks for an apple. * Christian grabs an apple. [Flash of light!] [Castle painting on the floor] * Christian looks to see if he has his apple. [Nope] * Christian looks somewhat disappointed at that. * Mizuki touches food again, with her lyre. [Flash!] [Demon and Barbarian pictures are crooked.] * Horus picks up a bottle of wine and upends a little on the floor. * TheRedcoat looks at the chairs. And at the table. Then tries to push the table, not over, just to the side a bit. [Flash!] [... a completely undisturbed room.] New place. Well. Gotta make it look different. Kick over a chair or somethin'? * TheRedcoat looks around...then just sits right back down on one of the chairs. * TheRedcoat kicks over another one though. * Mizuki nods slowly, then after a moment shakes her head and says in a softer tone, wrapping her cloak around herself, "I think we stick with food until it doesn't work." [The chair is knocked over.] * Christian nods and takes an apple now. [Flash!] If the chairs worked, you would think we would not have been able to sit down at all without--moving. [Undisturbed room.] [AND HOLY SHIT A FUCKING DOOR] Yeah, furniture doesn't- hey! ... * TheRedcoat BLINKS. That's why I said to kick over the chair. * Horus rushes for the door, trying to open it! FREEDOM! And holy shit. * TheRedcoat looks around. Anything else different despite the door? [Nope. Same except for a door along the weapon wall.] [Horus opens the door!] [Session End!]