Deathtrap Dungeon: Meat and Greet (IC)

[Mechanisto]

The Naga seemed ever so slightly overwhelmed at the company she now spoke with. "Of course... the arcane library will be primarily a secure area, with a small public section. And should you need it, we can arrange for your personal quarters to include space for studies or workshops, if you need them."

"I do hope that was mentioned, by the by..." She reached for one of the cups of red liquid being carried about by the tiny Kobold servants. "...those who are chosen to become councilors will also become landholders, with their own property. What you do in your own homes will, within certain limits, be your business."

[VAE]

 

Glup sees the Gryphon that has demonstrated the "fancy magics" before with the plate approach, so he turns in a way allowing to see everyone (it helps when you have eyes on the sides somewhat) and greets it.
"Ggleethingsh! Nice woglk with the plate befogl *gargle* Wash tha' 'elekineshish ash well?  "

[techmaster-glitch]

   Unfortunately, Xephelon could understand only a few scraps of the great lobster-thing's speech. He responded to what he could understand.
   "My exoshell was created with enchantments...my race is naturally gifted with such magic. Some of my kind create large, battle-suited exoshells, but mine is small because it is not meant for battle."
   The large creature then turned a bit, and also greeted the same Gryphon that Xephelon had been observing. Xephelon merely stood by to see how the Gryphon would respond.

[Liatai]

Well, he seemed pleasant enough. It took a moment to puzzle out what he meant, though. "Telekinesis? Ah, no... just wind, I'm afraid. Psionics are somewhat beyond me." She stood, putting the bone beside the plate before stepping closer.

"Kittrick," she said by means of introduction, smiling politely. "And you're...?"

[VAE]

"Name'sh Glup...." thinks  for a little.
"Wind you shay? Hmm, nise!" :: I really must learn to apply the force at a distance:: Glup thought.
"Kiffgliskch ... Kithglicsk... you 'eally have a name imposhible to shay... can i call you Kif?" The creature started pacing a little with its hind  3 legs.

[Liatai]

"Yes, well, I would imagine it is for one who doesn't chirp." She nodded. "Kitt is fine. And you're... Xephelon, if I heard your name correctly?" she asked the four-legged mechanical creature.

[SquirrelWizard]

The sound of boots clomped down the hallway as Urist, and his assistant Urvol made their way to the party. "S'thsjub slud?" Urvol grumbled to Urist. The clan had just recently finished sapping a few buildings up north and were now seeking employment.

"Ya jub paigud. Lukshop! Weewan tampres boos." They gave a quick glance at each other. Both were covered in grease and grime, and dirt was flecking off their clothes. Urist had a sack hanging off his belt, and a jug of something evil. Urvol had a grimy looking book satchel. Between the two of them they smelled like an over-ripe cow corpse that had been defecated on and left sitting int the sun for several days. Urvol scratched his head, "Fancie?"

Urist rolled his eyes and nodded. "Ay fancie." Both grumbled, spat into their paws and swept their hair back. Urist gave Urvol a toothy grin, "Gud, shee weedu fancie tu." and they marched into the party.

[Mechanisto]

"Xephelon..." Nadhiya furrowed her eyebrows at the name mentioned, and scanned her clipboard. her eyes brightened up at that. "You must be the artificer my employer mentioned! He gave me a name, but nothing more..."

She offered a bow to the mechanical quadrupedal armor. "Welcome to you. You arrived via our portal room, I assume... are you familiar with such enchanted portals? You simply must tell me what you think of it." Though her words sounded like any other casual talk, there was a tiny hint of urgency to her voice. The topic of the portal room seemed important.

[techmaster-glitch]

   The gryphon introduced herself to the lobster-thing, identifying herself as "Kittrick", while the lobster-thing identified as "Glup". He continued to struggle with speaking proper words, and Xephelon began to wonder if there was anything he could do about that...
   Something Glup had said earlier suddenly hit Xephelon. "Wait...did you say Zinvth? As in, the city Zinvth, in a world called Furrae? Could you possibly be some kind of Mythos?"
   The Gryphon the adressed Xephelon, presumably for the coutesy of making acquaintence. Yet, she probably didn't realize that they at least had some sort of connection, moreso than the other entities here...
   "Yes, Xephelon is my name." A pause. "And I have a question for you, Kittrick...by any chance, are you from Furrae as well?"
   But then, yet another voice entered the conversation. Xephelon turned his exoshell slightly to face a regal-looking, if skimpily dressed (though Xephelon didn't exactly have much say or perception on that), serpentoid creature. She mentioned him being an artificer, and asked him about the portal room that providing access to the dungeon.
   "Why yes, I am an artificer...your portal room, you say? I have worked with a wide variety of enchantments before, but rarely fixed-location mass-transporting objects. However, I have yet to come across an enchantment I couldn't analyze and understand, given time to study it. I only took a quick glance at them when I entered, doing more might've been rude...do you wish me to do so?"

[VAE]

Glup heard the machinist and responded after a thought.
"Yesh, the sity of Zinvth, in the Fuglea landsh. Howeve' i am not Mythosh - md kind do not belong to the Mythosh alliance. We agle the Chuul. I come fglom anothe' wogld, 'aving come to Fuglea  ash thegl sheemsh to be much lesh peshky dgluidsh meshing with one'sh profitsh...  Shome shay we come fglom othe' wogld, Fa' 'ealm or sho - I know nothing of it, and neithe' i know the name of the wogld i hatched in. Bu' it ish of no impogltanse - i like thish wogld fa' mo' - in hegl  one doesh not need to hide no' defend at evegly shtep ... ash wegl ash thegl   being many mogl cushtomegls buying bglainsh fglom me ....
The chuul goes on about a  rant comparing the economies of his own world and Furrea, proving his point exhaustively, litterally as he does not use or understand any intonation, making the topic even more boring ...

[Liatai]

The question struck Kittrick as odd. "Why, yes, I am from Furrae... Aren't most of us --" She stopped as Glup began his explanation, tipping one long ear to the side quizzically. "The Chuul?"

Well. That explained a lot. At first, she had thought that the assembled people were mostly creatures with Mythos blood. The idea that they were from different realms -- different worlds, even -- was a little boggling.

"Pardon, did you say... customers for brains? What do people use them for? I thought that notion about the undead eating them was a myth."

[VAE]

"Undead? *gargle* *glurp*" The creature seems to enjoy itself at the notion?
"Lichesh do not eats, and the othe' undead are too shtupid to buy anything - i quite ofthen had to lay sombiesh
to untimely 'esht as they wanted to take my shtuff!" *clang*  He closes a spiked pincer rapidly to demonstrate what exactly he has done to the zombies....
"Bglainsh have ushesh. Fo' one, illithidsh eats them, and then thegle agl pglenthy of sshientishts and liches  that use them fo' theigl woglks *glurp*  Fogl ush they agl dishgushthing shtuff... we have no use of them" 

[Drayco84]

Zyrais sighed softly as he followed the naga, using tactics that his minion-level underlings had used when they needed his attention, hopefully without drawing his ire. Yes, he had something to offer the clipboard-wielding naga, but few made good impressions by annoying creatures that A: looked busy, or B: looked annoyed, and she looked like a combination of the two. So, he kept himself outside of arm's reach, but within her sight. She had moved back to Glup, a gryphon that called herself Kittrick, and the creature wearing the skillfully-made magitech armor called itself Xephelon.

Zyrais was about to speak up when the naga asked the artificer what he thought of the portal room. What caused him to pause was the hint of urgency in her voice, making him wonder if things only looked like they were under control. Well, it wouldn't have been the first time chaos broke loose in the middle of a grand opening... Thus, he continued following the naga around, not knowing how quickly his skils might be needed. Shame he didn't bring any of his still-working scrying eyes along...

[Mechanisto]

The Naga smiled at Xephelon's response, but quickly waved her hand. "I would be grateful if you would... but I must ask you to examine them later. The portal chamber is currently undergoing extended use, and I wouldn't dare risk interrupting it's operation. We wouldn't want any visitors to end up marooned here."

Something about Nadhiya's concerns didn't quite make sense... understandable, as she was probably not an expert on portals. With what Xephelon knew, once a traveler emerged from the portal, that was that; no further risk was possible. The only way a traveler could be trapped was if the portal shut down completely.

[techmaster-glitch]

   Glup called himself a "Chuul", and explained that he was not of Furrae, but from another world, and had only found that he liked Furrae better. Then he went on quite a tirade about the commerce of brains, of all things, which Xephelon found rather distasteful and unpleasant.
  As for the Gryphon, she seemed to have caught on that most of the things here were not from the place she called home. "Although I may not look it, I am from Furrae as well, Kittrick." Xephelon said to her. "I am a type of Mythos, a Green Imbuer. This..." He gestured to himself, "is only part of my body, my exoshell. My real body is inside this shell. And I must say, it is pleasing to meet a fellow Furrae native amongst this gathering."
  At the serpent-creature's explanation about the portals, Xephelon concluded that she might think analysis of the portals would affect their operation and thus prevent anyone from returning to their place of origin, and while Xephelon thought he was skilled enough to analyze magic without disassembling it (though that helped), he wasn't going to contest the probable assumption. "Of course, fellow creature. I would be more than pleased to examine the portals, after they are no longer so heavily needed."

[Liatai]

"Hm." The gryphon nodded politely to Glup, but couldn't help casting a quick look around to see if there were any undead nearby that had overheard him. She thought she had seen a man in a suit with bony claws walking around earlier...

"Likewise," she replied to the Mythos, tilting her head to the side curiously as he explained. "Exo-shell, you say? Fascinating! May I ask what it's made of? Er -- if that isn't too personal of a question, that is. Magical constructs are something of an interest of mine, although I normally only see them after they have been inactive for hundreds of years..."

[WhiteFox]

"M'lady Kt-rrrick," Nathalzar said, pronouncing the gryphon's name in the appropriate accent, "Zombies do eat brains. There are many kinds of undead, however. The creature race commonly known as Undead are simply the most well known, since they're the most socially acceptable of the brood."

He turned to the Naga. "Nadihya, The fellow mentioned he was a dealer in brains. Most undead loose their sapience when their gray matter turns green. With a proper supply, I would be able to transplant replacements on a regular basis."

"Incidentally, I am native to Furrae as well."

Kyaa... slow to post. Gomen.

[VAE]

::First day, no druids, and already two business contracts! How i love this land!:: Glup thought although not revealing much outside - it is quite easy to hide emotions if you lack a facial expression, although he began to tangle and whirl some of his tentacles.

"Of couglshe i can shupply you! In fact, i have shome with me even, conseglved in a liquid ai' conthaine' - they lasht fo' agesh that way!"
Glup said, and extended one of his tentacles a surprising distance , until it tapped the left bag hanging over his back.  "On the pglishe we shall aglee , but as fo' you , i assepth intheglsting booksh as well - shometsing on advansed psionics maybe - the shtuff ish uncommon aglound theshe landsh"
He thinks for a while , again shown by pacing the hind three legs, and then remarks/
"You shay thegle a'e undead he'e that a'e not  mindless bglain-thiefsh yet a'e not of powe' ash liches?"

[WhiteFox]

"Oh, my yes." Nathalzar answered. "Undead entities are as varied in nature as living ones. Common Undead are as intelligent as their living counterparts. They degrade over time if not in and ideal environment, such as high humidity or temperature." He sipped his wine. "Although their continued unlife does not require most of the organs a living creature needs, their minds do go a bit fuzzy without a brain in good condition."

"Some Undead are not intelligent at all, such as skelletons, or do not require a physical brain to maintain their intellect, such as myself. Flesh golems function better with a brain. They are strictly speaking, not actually undead, but an animated construct made from dead material. Animated flesh golems can, however, serve as hosts for incorporeal undead entities such as ghosts, specters, apparations, et cetra, that are capable of posession or if bound to the body through rituals. Again, a brain in good condition facilitates the process."

"Nadihya, would the cost of brain replacements for Undead be covered by the dungeon treasury? It is somewhat of a necessity, afterall. Unless you'd like a few shambling hordes wandering the halls."

danman: Cracked open the DnD (3ed.) Monster Manual to look up some undead critters. You know what was on page when I first opened the book? Chull.

[VAE]

"Oh sho it ish! Mosht of what i have met was the degladed kind *gargle* - woglshe than glatsh!"
Glup thinks a little and grows aware at the mention of the flesh golem....
"Golemsh, nashty shtuff... The illithidsh usht to have a bglain golem... i go' to a fight with ith onse, neagly killed me..." ... "I wash just monthsh afte' hatching then, of couglshe"   he immediately adds on. ::No good making myself an even bigger idiot ... besides i did not know psionics then:: he thinks, and then remarks
"I do not mind who paysh me, ash fa' ash i gleceive the shtuff i need, and have shelthe' and corpses to eat and pglosesh  - bglainsh do not bgleed *gargle* *glurp* " The creature emits the  bubbling noises again - it seems to be its equivalent of laughter

[Drayco84]

"I've tried using golems and enchanted suits of armor before, but I probably screwed something up as they kept trying to attack me..." Zyrais sighed, wondering why nobody was even noticing him... Did he have his Somebody Else's Problem Aura up again? A quick check revealed that yes, yes he did... <SONUVA!> He thought, holding his head in one of hands for the second time within an hour. This also presented a problem as since the necromancer noticed him before, it probably meant that he was immune to the aura's effects. Huh... No wonder that group of undead managed to find his Scry-Eyes so easily... Aw heck, the lobster-creature saw through it too! Hmmm... Things could get interesting here...

"Sorry about seeming like I've just appeared out of nowhere, everyone." He stated, after he disabled his aura. "I am Zyrais. Yes, I know that I'm an angel, and I know that it looks like I've been sneaking around, but this is the first time I've taken part in any kind of alliance, rather than a hostile takeover. So, I sat back to observe how things worked for a bit. I specialize in surveillance-based services, which sounds useless, but when coupled with some means of communication, can be quite useful." Zyrais then reached into one of the pockets in his coat and fumbled around for bit before pulling out a small hand mirror. "Would anyone like to see a demonstration? Especially you, Lady Nadhiya, whenever you have a moment."

Why does everyone keep ignoring me?! Seriously people, there's an angel wandering around! I thought that would at least raise a few eyebrows or something... I mean, at least mention that you're ignoring me or something... *Continues rant about how people never pay any attention to him for three minutes, then gets bored.

[VAE]

Gulp noticed that the fluffy-winged lizard began talking behind him.
"Sho, show whats you can do with the mirror! 'm intereshted!" ::Hmm, this one seems to like to clank before surfacing :: Glup thought dismissively ::Let's see if he is as good as he says:: (Clanking pincers loudly in a particular pattern is a part of the mating ritual if a conflict arises. This expression refers to someone doing something he is not enough to ,as  before the first three moltings, the young, not yet rep. mature chuuls live in water exclusively)
He turned around and began watching the lizard

[Drayco84]

Zyrais closed his eyes and focused his magic, putting a portion of it into the mirror. Meanwhile, the gem on his forehead began to slow just slightly. By the time he opened his eyes again, the gem had stopped glowing, but it somehow looked... Shinier... He took a glance at the mirror to make sure the magic was working, then delicately handed it to one of the Chuul's pincers.
"Please be careful with that as I don't have any more mirrors." He stated. "You'll notice that you're not seeing your reflection in the mirror, but rather what the gemstone in my forehead is 'seeing'. Normally, I enchant a crystal as the 'focus' of a permanent scrying spell, and enchant a mirror as the 'receiver'. Obviously, this is only a temporary spell and will wear out after about ten minutes. But, it does function quite well, unless the crystal is broken or hit with potent enough dispelling magic. Oh, and I'll need that back once you're all done looking at it."

[WhiteFox]

Nathalzar blithely observed the demonstration. "Hm." He said, and sipped his wine again.

"Lady Nadihya. I can see there are numerous trivialities that demand your attention. I shall not occupy any more of your time then necessary." He bowed. "Kittrik, Xephelon, Glup... I look forward to having you all as colleagues." He nodded to each of them in turn, then stepped back from the circle.

"Thessaly?" He said.

One of the enshrouded figures approached. "Yesss, master?"

Nathalzar regarded his glass. "Another, if you would. Not wine, vitae." He said.

"Of courssse." She she said. With a few nimble gestures, the apprentice wove a spell. Without fanfare, Nathalzars glass filled with a much more opaque red beverage.

"How goesss the night?" She said.

"Fairly well. The... crustation will be a useful one. I'm not sure what purpose the Greyphon will have, but she's pleasant at least." He sipped at the glass. "That Xephon... I look forward to working with that one. An enchanter, you know. I'd expect him to be a regular at a library."

"And... that Zyarissss?"

A corner of the giraffe's lip twitched. "He certainly shows his heritage; self important as a dragon, aloof as an angel. I am not concerned by his reputation, or his scrying trinkets."

As a servitor passed with a tray of fungus-stuffed pasteries, Nathalzar turned his head slightly. A three foot, blue tongue snaked out, plucked one of them off the tray, and snapped back into his mouth. "If he looks into things the living are not meant to behold, I have no doubt he'll gouge his own eyes out, and gibber for a week. It will save me the trouble."

"Of courssse, massster."

"Thessaly, You're lisping." He said. "Are your teeth out of alignment? Were you gnawing knucklebones again?"

The minion held the tome she was carrying up, covering the lower half of her shadowy hood. "Nooo..." She said, looking away.

He sipped his... drink. "Filthy habit. I'd better not catch you at it this evening."

Drayco: Nothing against you personally, this is all IC. Nathalzar is not particularly well inclined towards Zyrais.

[techmaster-glitch]

   Kittrick seemed curious about Xephelon's exoshell, asking a few questions about it. Xephelon responded with "Not too personal at all. The outer layer of the exoshell is made primarily of metal and metal alloys, and a composite of other materials run through the inner structure. I have also crafted several self-contained constructs before, although they are no longer with me. I intend to make more if I am to stay here..."
  Yet another figure entered the conversation, one who also identified as being from Furrae. Xephelon's exoshell faced the creature--and was met with a towering giraffe, much like Glup the Chuul, and twice the height of Xephelon's exoshell. He had bat-wings, denoting Creature heritage, though it didn't seem to matter as he also had several exposed bones, meaning he was one of the several creatures of undeath wandering around the gathering. Xephelon didn't quite have much of a response to that...
  However, Glup then opened up dialogue with the undead giraffe, talking about various kinds of undead. The exoshell began shuffling away from those two at that point, especially when "flesh golems" were mentioned.
  Yet another creature entered the conversation, this one most probably not of Furrae, and introduced himself as being an expert in security and surveillance devices. He then demonstrated one such device for Glup, some kind of magic mirror that was linked to a magical seeing-gem on the creature's forehead after he worked some magic over it. Xephelon was quite interested in this, and wondered if the gem's enchantment was at all similar to the enchantments for the "eyes" oh his exoshell...but it seemed the gem's magic was far more sophisticated.

[VAE]

::Hmm, the trinket seems to work. He might after all be more than a big mouth!:: Glup thought as he glanced through the small mirror , seeing things from Zyrais's perspective. Then he overheard the somewhat condescending remark about carefulness. ::As if i am some kind of kludge! Hmm, this will show him!::
He said nothing, but when he finished looking, he took the mirror diagonally and put it on top of a pincer where some minerals became lodged, giving it a few calculated shears to transform the sharp tip of the glass into a small but flat and smooth plate.
Then, placing it onto one tentacle, he, by the force of mind, made it spin on the end with such velocity that it looked like two cones stuck together at the base, and as such, with a careful movement, placed it still spinning onto Zyrais's hand where it spun for about a second, slowing down and laying flat.
"No woglying, i will be caglful"  he responded to the original comment

OOC: as far as my knowledge of mechanics goes, this should work - if it is moving fast enough it should be stabilised by its angular momentum

[Drayco84]

Zyrais watched Glup's display carefully, ready to use a shield spell in case the mirror suddenly went out of control. Only after the creature put the mirror back into his hand and it slowed to a stop did he finally relax his guard a little.

"Interesting... I didn't sense any magic, so you must be using... Psionics? It's a very rare ability in Furrae." He stated, eying Glup with new insight. It explained a lot, and he wondered if the creature was reading his thoughts even now... Fortunately, he had quite a few passages from various law books memorized in case he needed it. "Anyone else want to observe?"

EDIT: Augh, forgot IC...
WhiteFox: I'm not surprised. You've already tipped me off with the concerns for privacy, so either your character is up to something, or they just wanna dance to La Vida Loca/whatever, without getting blackmailed... Either way, Nathalzar has made Spy Target Number One on Zyrais's list. However, that "things mortal eyes weren't meant to see" does concern me a bit...
Danman: That's odd... I mentally pictured a round mirror. Serves me right for not being specific.

[VAE]

"Tglue, it ish pshionicsh. But infglequent? i thought that the cubi ushe it too?  One of them tglied shome mind-manipulashion on me  *gargle* but i know a few thingsh on my own... suffise to shay the heale' wash out of codeine fo' a week"
"In between illithidsh. abolethsh  and ou' kind it ish  soglt of common - shome thought it comesh fglom the fa' 'ealm but i shay nonshenshe - the'e a'e thoshe that ushe it  even he'e"
::Hmm, maybe this lizard will not be so bad after all. But... it feels like he is alert. I wonder why.:: Glup thought for a moment then  resumed, inquiring about the new guest

"And what about you??  Lizagldmen i shaw even back at my wogld, but not onesh quite like you" he looks at his fluffy wings contrasting with the rest of exterior

I can just imagine the "things mortal eyes are not meant to see" including the undead dancing t o some Furrean britney spears equivalent .... LOL well done Drayco84
As far as the mirror goes, if it was round the trick would have been far easier- would not need the polishing!
It is just that pretty much all mirrors i ever saw or used were angled, and it is easier to cut glass that way   

[Drayco84]

"No, cubi have some thought-reading and dream-lurking talents, but actual psionics, like telekinesis for example, are normally quite beyond their abilities." Zyrais explained. "As for myself, I'm an Angel, not a lizardman, dragon, nor even reptilian for that matter, and a Furrae native. Although, with angels and demons, it's hard to tell if we're really native or not..."

I haven't seen too many angular hand mirrors though, Danman. Then again, I normally avoid mirrors in general...

[VAE]

"Ekshplainsh. Although, i have neve' heagld of angelsh outside but dglagonsh agle common in ou' wogld too - just they a'e bigge' , lot bigge'"
::no actual psionics? damn, i cannot read a thought yet , and even proper telekinesis seems easy compared to that!:: Glup thought angrily. : must get to the root of that stuff!::

Hmm i never thought it was a hand-mirror , just some cut piece of mirrorglass