Active Plots (Alphabetical) - Updated 8/21/2010

Can't I Have Any Time? - (Eruantion Doriath [?], Amonost Doriath [?])

End of Solitude - (Verda Stelo [?])

No More Grape Soda - (Alex Dean [?], Samuel Jorgenson [?], Leon Mecheeto [?])

Questionable Means - (Tawny Black [?], Ishkan Ma'z)

Author	Comment
Lao-tzu Ancient Thinker 1/7/2009 7:55:13 AM Level: 1 Experience: 0 Total Posts: 56	RE: Of Spaceport Markets As Starcey watched the ballerina, Lao-tzu took the small box it came in and examined it.  There were small decorative markings etched along the bottom edge that seemed to hold his attention.  Passing his finger along it, he cast an opening spell, and the bottom of the box seemed to grow, yielding a second lid.   Raising his eyebrows at the now-rapt Starcey, he opened it and took out a letter.  "From your mother," he said as he read it.  When he finished, he said, "She obviously cares for you very much, but I cannot say more about it just yet. It would be rude to my other guests to ignore the reasons they came." A touch on the top of the letter caused it to fold itself into a tiny paper crane, which fluttered to the desk in the back of the room and perched there. After refilling teacups as necessary, Lao-tzu got up and walked to a bookshelf.  In it were some books and a couple of electronic screens.  He took out one of the latter and told Raelan, "Here is an instruction manual of sorts. In it I have attempted to record all the kinds of magic I have come across.  This list will never be complete, but I would appreciate it if you would add an entry on your own style.  An automatic cross-referencing system will tell you where you stand in the larger scheme of things.  I would love to sit down with you and discuss things, but this matter with the girl takes priority. We will talk shop later." He also took a key from a hook, saying, "This key will allow you to see and enter my workshop.  Take from it anything you need, as per my promise at the spaceport market." "Dante, if you are interested in the pursuit of knowledge and the development of wisdom, then I would gladly spend some time with you. I believe that your unique lifestyle embodies lessons that are far from obvious to most of us. For now, however, I humbly request that you follow Raelan to the workshop while I have a chat with my dear new friend about her mother."
Raelan inventor/mage 1/7/2009 10:06:48 AM Level: 1 Experience: 0 Total Posts: 94	RE: Of Spaceport Markets Raelan began to answer questions and fill in details about his style as he absentmindedly took the key and walked to the indicated door, but as he inserted the key a mischievous glint appeared in his eyes along with a smile of anticipation. He'd never really encountered many other true casters, much less been allowed into their labs, and any books he'd ever picked up seemed way too hokey to waste time on, so he'd been doing everything the hard way, but at least he could trust his work. He appeared to have inserted the key into a wall, but that changed rapidly as the wall opened and a door appeared as if it'd always been there. The workshop itself was built into a fairly expansive cave. A carpenter's workbench, a large table covered in magical crystals, all kinds of tools, a lathe, a kiln, a high-voltage power source, and some half-finished projects. It appeared to be split by an invisible line, one side appeared to be basic construction style, with all sorts of crafting tools, Raelan recognized a few of the things that were on Lao-Tsu's market stall in some of the pieces waiting to be assembled. The other part had notes strewn about in a fashion only the creator of the mess would ever truly understand, along with lots of interesting equipment to suggest that more experimentation than simple crafting went on there. All over the place, runes and other potent magical symbols are embedded in the stone. He couldn't have all of this in his workshop if he was going to have a permanent detection sphere up, it would make things more complicated than simply enchanting by feel. He makes a mental note to check the embeddings and runes with VERY small spheres to see what they do, A man like Lao-Tsu wouldn't have them there for no reason after all... However the notes and writings took his first attention, so attempting not to disturb anything, or putting it back right where he found it, preferably exactly how it was, he began investigating. Dimensional barriers, had interested him, but he hadn't done much work on the topic yet, most of his ideas on the topic were trashed as he read Lao-Tsu's notes, but a few of them stuck. It seemed Raelan hadn't quite grasped what the boundary was that separated dimensions. blinking at one of the notes he put down the electronic device which he'd been putting information into at a much slowed rate now, and dashed to the door, getting another look at the house. It's not borrowed space... that would be likely to damage things.... it's small space, either a physical shrink on everything that comes through the door, or a possibly a created pocket dimension or overlap of similar effect. Nodding to himself he went back into the lab and resumed reading and inputting information. (man I've been talkative these last several posts ^-^)
TheWalruss Starcey Crystal 1/7/2009 5:22:43 PM Level: 1 Experience: 0 Total Posts: 44	RE: Of Spaceport Markets What in blazes?!? My mother hiding a secret letter in one of her stupid trinket boxes, apparently addressed to Lao-Tzu??? What on Micc possessed her? She is the most shallow and superficial human being on the planet - how could I not have known? When Lao-Tzu caused the letter to fly over to his desk, Starcey snapped out of her bewilderment. I suppose the old man could be faking this whole thing. How the heck could I know? She was not at all pleased when Lao-Tzu sent the two away to his lab. Great, she thought, alone with the geezer and we're gonna talk about my mother. What in Cosmos does he know about mom, anyway, and what in bloody heck is in that letter? As Dante and Raelan closed the door behind them, Starcey decided to cut the crap and get back into character, so she stood up and stomped over to Lao-Tzu's desk to snatch up the little crane. "FRAK!" she yelled as the little paper bird leaped off the desk and pricked her in the forehead, before flying back to Lao-Tzu. "What do you think you're doing? What's going on?" she squeaked - frustrated and terrified at having lost control, afraid of what Lao-Tzu might say to her, but most of all, just desperately confused. Tears started to well up behind her lids, and she could feel her face flush. What's happening? she wondered. I never lose control of myself like this. Get a hold of yourself! It's all in your head; everything has a perfectly normal explanation - it's just the stress and the food and the tea and these weirdos got to you - it's fine. A few moments passed, and as Lao-Tzu calmly busied himself with cleaning up the tea cups, Starcey stopped shaking, stopped calming herself down, and was ready to listen to what Lao-Tzu had to say.
Dante Eccentric Assasin 1/7/2009 7:29:07 PM Level: 1 Experience: 0 Total Posts: 42	RE: Of Spaceport Markets He listened to Lao-Tzu's offer and silently considered it. He followed Raelan into the workshop. Dante was amazed by it all he had never seen so much magic in one place. It overloaded his senses and he stumbled a bit holding his head. His nose bled as he took in the energy of the room. He tried to ignore it, throwing water onto his own inner fire of magic. His fire had become a blazing inferno engulfing his body. After much concentration he was back under control. "This place...is interesting" he struggled to keep himself upright so he slumped against the nearest wall. Dante slid down the wall to a seated position and sat in silent reflection. 'pursuit of wisdom and knowledge...I would like to know why I can't control this...' . A cacophony of thoughts, images, and emotions swirled in his head   ENOUGH! . He wipes the blood from his nose and looks over at Raelan "If you don't mind me asking what're you doing?" trying to take his mind off things. Anxiety is the essential condition of intellectual and artistic creation
Lao-tzu Ancient Thinker 1/8/2009 11:48:33 AM Level: 1 Experience: 0 Total Posts: 56	RE: Of Spaceport Markets (super-long post because it seemed appropriate) Starcey's reaction surprised Lao-tzu.  It seemed like her mother had ignored all his advice and warnings regarding her child. Given the magnitude of the reaction and the content of the letter, it was obvious Sugar never told Starcey anything at all about herself. Now, of course, it was time for regrets and "problem solving".  This was ever the way things went, and Lao-tzu often wondered why people bothered coming to him if they didn't listen?   When she finally calmed down, Lao-tzu apologized for upsetting her and explained that he didn't know exactly what her mother did and did not tell her.  Handing her another cup of tea, he said, "Let me tell you a story, and the letter will make sense. Your mother loves you and wanted to protect you, and the way she decided to do that was to pretend to be someone she is not." He let that sink in a moment before continuing.  "Both your parents came to me soon after immigrating to Micc.  They wanted to start over as ordinary law-abiding citizens and needed guidance because the underground world of organized crime and our world are as different as day is from night. Your father was strong-willed and had a difficult time adjusting.  In particular, he could never bring himself to trust anyone except Sugar. It was this attitude that brought him success on Cerania and also brought him down. When he was killed, your mother was devastated.  She loved you so, and came to me again to ask me how she should raise you."   "For you see, you had already started to take after your dad. Your mother did not want you to grow up and repeat the same mistakes again. By giving you a role model that was utterly different from your father, she hoped to give you the chance to take a different path. Now she thinks that she has failed and sends you to me in the hope that I will be more successful.  The act you were putting on indicates that she's not entirely wrong, either. Both your parents were always acting a part, always calculating the effect of affect to greatest advantage."   "I am not in the business of changing people or even of telling them what to do. No one can effect a change in another person that wasn't already in them and no one can tell a person something that she doesn't already know is true." With that, Lao-tzu removed a subtle magic that altered a few action potentials in certain neurons and kept Starcey from interrupting and waited for the questions that he knew were coming. Back in the research lab, Raelan and Dante tried to figure out the purpose of the magical structures lining the walls.  Pretty quickly it was clear that they were all arrayed around a point in space in a complex geometrical shape.  The cacophony in Dante's head swelled to a crescendo of pain whenever he ventured close. When Raelan tried to cast a small detection sphere on one of the gems embedded in a wall, the sphere flashed white and then popped like a lightbulb and Raelan was filled with a flood of magical energy that felt raw, sharp, and pitted.  It was not at all pleasant, grating at his mind, leaking out of his pores, and filling his dragon aura with what felt like glass shards.
Raelan inventor/mage 1/8/2009 5:07:46 PM Level: 1 Experience: 0 Total Posts: 94	RE: Of Spaceport Markets (jumping the gun on our side aren't you? I was kinda planning on attending to Dante's distress oh well I merged the two) Raelan didn't pause from reading while he responded "I'm reading his notes about the things he's experimenting to figure out." he put a finger down on the page to mark his place as looked up at Dante, and then noticed the blood smear just below his nose. All interest and curiosity fades as worry crosses his face "Are you okay? What is the problem?" He moves closer to Dante, it has to be something in this room... while keeping an eye on Dante and waiting his response he tried the detection sphere and got rammed through with raw unprocessed, undigested energy. I've never felt energy this cold, it's not plant energy, it's not even rock energy... it's... As he staggered away, not from the bright light but from the sudden charge impact every spare piece of his dragon energy storage was filled and stretched, and claws were added to each of his fingertips. He fell onto his butt a few feet from Dante, and stared at the gem wide eyed. "This place is a magic generator! raw unprocessed, nonliving energy! If I had been storing any more energy than I was.... It wouldn't have been pretty...." The glass shards rubbed through his entire body, including the limbs he never physically owned... he closed his eyes concentrating, he'd been looking for a magic generator, unpleasant and painful as it is could this energy do even more. Then he opened his eyes, and wiped blood from his own nose, he looked at the blood, then at Dante. "Don't fight it, relax and let it flow through you. Let it go on its way..." He trailed off, this advice happened to be for both of them. However he had something in mind... glass shards are like puzzle pieces, what if he could align them... The metaphor can't be too wrong...
TheWalruss Starcey Crystal 1/9/2009 5:16:31 PM Level: 1 Experience: 0 Total Posts: 44	RE: Of Spaceport Markets "So... What does the letter say?" As she asked the question, it lifted up and away from Lao-Tzu, unfolded itself back into a sheet, and drifted towards Starcey's hands. She grabbed it out of the air and read: "Honorable Lao-Tzu, Out of the nourishing bosom of rock and earth flows forth a trickle of water. Pure and clean, it carries at first nothing but faint mineral traces of its granite ancestors, and chooses a path that is gentle and steady. Along the way it is joined by other streamlets, which join to form a brook. Brooks join to become streams, and streams form into rivers. Where it finally joins the sea, a lifetime later, there can be heard a thousand million voices, from a thousand million springs. Having crossed many lands, nourished a world of life, and joins the shining seas with the mountaintops in an unbroken chain, and the sea is both cleansed and enriched where the water flows into it. Not all streams are as fortunate. Some flow from a morass of suffering, where the putrid stench of death strikes fear into animals and men, and flowerless plants fester poisonously on the banks. The water itself is just as good, just as nourishing as that of the former stream, but carries memories of foul odors and toxic minerals that ravage and destroy, rather than enrich. These streams crash violently downward into black chasms, fearful of their powers, enraged at their loneliness, and reach the ocean very quickly, having known nothing of the light, never given life, and poisoning the sea with the pollution of the past. Perhaps it is possible that one such a stream, while still just a brook, could flow into the floodplain of a great river, where the soil and roots of life could filter and cleanse the poisons and the tar, such that it could choose its own path toward the sea, rather than submit to the path chosen for it? You are wiser than I, and the choice is yours. Whatever you decide to do, I deeply apologize for taking your time on a third occasion and for any trouble Starcey may cause you. Thank you for receiving this letter and my daughter. Don't worry about returning the correspondence - I will know it was received. Please have Starcey read this letter out loud. I have enchanted the letter to destroy itself once she is finished, to convince her of my sincerity and my love. With humble sincerity, Sugar Crystal" When the last syllable left Starcey's trembling lips, the letter folded itself back into a crane, flapped a circle around the room, and plunged itself into the flame under the tea kettle, quickly burning to a crisp. My... m... my whole life has been a lie! My mother isn't a dumb blonde trophy wife, but a partner in my father's crimes! She can do magic... and never told me?   A tear rolled down her cheek as she stood, silently pondering the unlikely chain of events that brought her here. She wasn't trying to keep me safe - she was just trying to hide! Just like she's hiding now behind stupid metaphors, stupid broadzilla. The blank expression turned into a snarl. "That stupid metaphor changes nothing! So what if my mom lied? I don't need her! Putrid creek - my rear end! I was gonna go off-planet as soon as I frakkin' could, anyways," she yelled, now glaring at Lao-Tzu. "And you! Thinking you're so much cleverer than everybody else. Pffft! I frakkin' need some air," she muttered, turned on her heels before Lao-Tzu could get a word in, and stalked out the door. She slammed the door behind her, flipped out a cigarette and lighter, drew a long pull, and leaned back against the dinky little cabin in a huff, blowing a cloud of smoke that remained floating in front of her.
Lao-tzu Ancient Thinker 1/9/2009 6:07:25 PM Level: 1 Experience: 0 Total Posts: 56	RE: Of Spaceport Markets The old man shook his head as the young girl slammed the door.  Truth was often a bitter medicine.  Time was what was needed now, but people like her tended to fill their head with so much nonsense that it could be years before she gave it the time it needed.  He considered casting a small spell to help, but without knowing her better the risk of detection was too high and the consequences certainly catastrophic. Lao-tzu, too, needed time. He spent a few moments carefully doing the dishes with some hot water left over from making tea. When he was done, he opened the door and stepped outside. Starcey was still angrily smoking and refused to look at him, her cheeks wet with tears. In a comforting tone, he said, "I'm going to see Dante and Raelan for a few minutes. When I am back, you might tell me why you came in the first place." Implied was the fact that he had discharged her mother's wishes and was free to treat her as her own person. He trusted that, thus reminded, she would not run off without seeking her prize, whatever it was.  If Lao-tzu managed to keep the girl around for just one day, everything would be much easier after a night of rest. Not expecting a reply in words, he received a look, nodded briefly, and moved on to his laboratory.  On opening the door, he was greeted with quite a scene.
Dante Eccentric Assasin 1/9/2009 9:41:41 PM Level: 1 Experience: 0 Total Posts: 42	RE: Of Spaceport Markets "I'm...fine just, fine" he struggled with the words. "But are you okay?" he tried to change the subject off himself. Dante looked away from Raelan and licked his thumb and wiped the blood off his upper lip. He listened to Raelan and muttered an "I can't...". He focused on smothering his own inner fire. Dante breathed in deep and meditated soon enough the headache lessened.
Raelan inventor/mage 1/10/2009 12:48:45 AM Level: 1 Experience: 0 Total Posts: 94	RE: Of Spaceport Markets (you know, that metaphor her mother used, that was pretty harsh, it basically said Starcey stunk of death and rot, that'd get even MY hackles up, and I've become a rather gentle person of late) Raelan quickly realized that the glass shard feeling was not actual chunks of anything, it was himself and his aura getting burned by the completely incompatibly raw energy. His only options were to dump it, or let it slowly attune to his vibration, while burning the whole time. "I just got loaded to the point of almost burning myself out, with raw magic that isn't suited for living bodies..." His voice sounded very strained and his hands shook with the pain. The problem was the energy got in because he opened up to channel, let his guard down, made worse by actually touching the gem with his magic, and the most effective method to get rid of energy is to disperse it into the floor for which he would have to let his guard down more... Instead he got an idea, this energy was unprocessed, and not suited for living matter. He needed to convert it. and so he began channeling as much energy through the defensive crystal on his left arm as he could manage, and poured that converted energy into the space around him. A too perfect clear green crystalline bubble formed around him, and he blinked at it. Usually when he casts defensive spells with the crystal he makes an invisible aura that gives pressure to any incoming objects, pushing their trajectory away from him, a deflection spell you could say. He had created a small crystalline shield like this one, but more like a 3 foot around dish, a floating shield that could block physical objects at his manipulation, he'd considered it mostly useless. He'd had no idea that it actually formed around the projected aura of deflection floating on top like oil on water. after a little bit of this bubble he realized there was a problem.... it even sealed the air from coming in, and he'd suffocate if he left it up as it was, however due to the grandeur of the spells his supply of energy was thinning, the burns and stabs were lessening. So he reduced the flow to both spells, and the perfectly clear green crystal weakened and shrank as the aura of deflection shrank as well until he'd removed the deflection aura altogether and could breathe. Raelan's eyes were closed at this point, what he didn't realize was that this crystal was now laying over his aura itself, making every detail of wings tail, horns, fins, and now claws physically visible, and he looked a strange sight, like a dragon hybrid, complete with two horns jutting backwards from just above his ears, and a slight snout off of the bridge of his nose to balance. In some places the crystal pinned down his clothing, and may have cut through where the strange appendages met his skin, he was going to need new shoes... the claws had formed on his toes as well. He continued to move his arms channeling more through the crystal to burn off the rest of the excess energy, with other defensive spells. It became apparent as he did so that this crystal when shaped not so circular, wasn't as impenetrable, it tried to form to it's proper curvature, and when something interrupted it would just try again, causing thousands of micro fractures all over. This spell could deflect a blow, but it wouldn't stop a direct hit. (Ha ha, I was thinking about blue, but that's such a typical color for shields, so I picked green based on the chakra color... I didn't even realize until halfway through... that I'd made it a green dragon.... if that's too cliche` I can change the color if you like...)

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