A bustle in your hedgerow

[joey_picus]

Re: A bustle in your hedgerow

Mortimer: I'm with Sir Rageington, we should look at what's available to us, kupo! And then I would like to see the Lemon Collider too, kupo, I've heard about that...although I would also like to look at the classified zone, whatever's there must surely be of importance! Kupo!

[majinb]

Re: A bustle in your hedgerow

small MSN update, Alex/Anjushree asked me if some of the incidents seemed magic related... Gunter said that the Large Lemon Collider, due to lack of physical traces, smells of magic, and where the other incidents are concerned, magic can't be ruled out either

upon hearing this, Anjushree travels to the Large Lemon Collider

as it stands, Ragington and Mortimer travel to the Storage Hall

the other 3 characters will be black boxes at this point that will pop up at either of these locations, unless they post their plans before today's update :P

[kodster]

Re: A bustle in your hedgerow

Natsume likes lemons, specially magic ones, so she will go to the Collider as well.

[team_orr]

Re: A bustle in your hedgerow

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83M60qeRyMc

[majinb]

Re: A bustle in your hedgerow

€œOk everyone, I will lead you to the Space Center now.€ G¼nter raised his fishing rod, and swung it in the direction of the city. €œThere, no if you will please take my hand, I will take you there.€ 6 Hands reached out for the gnome€™s left arm, his right arm firmly holding the rod. As soon as all 6 characters had a good hold on G¼nter, he started reeling in his rod, effectively launching the lot towards the city.

€œWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!! !!!€ G¼nter screams€¦

And then the team finds itself in front of the Houst€™a Space Center. It is an industrial metropolis, that€™s what it is. Lots of wood and copper and concrete, plumes coming out of big, big chimneys. A place of science, and magic. Several things give away the space pedigree of it all, be it the use of Saturn-shaped logo€™s, or the big launch site a bit further ahead. The gnome gives the map they have to Dave, Natsume and Anjushree so they can find their way to their goal, the Large Lemon Collider. G¼nter then leads the remaining team member, Sir Shirley Ragington the Third, Arcifer and Mortimer, to the storage hall [note; if Andy posts that he would rather have gone to the Lemon Collider, I can retroactively have him go there]. G¼nter grabbed a set of keys from his pocket, and opened the hall€™s doors. The trio entered a big empty hallway, with one large door in front of them leading to one massive hall, according to G¼nter. Instead of this door, however, G¼nter opens a smaller door at the team€™s right hand, which gives access to a smaller storage room. €œThis is where I am allowed to let you pick 1 item each, investigate them thoroughly if you wish.€

The items were separated in 3 categories:

Abandoned experiments
- A number of fruits, magical or otherwise remarkable
- An enlarged helium atom
- An odd looking flashlight
- A space ladder
- A number of flags, magical or otherwise remarkable

Outdated models
- A number of loose items of spacesuit clothing, be it boots, gloves, helmets or backpacks, magical or otherwise remarkable
- A whole 1-piece space onesie with hood, 1-size-fits-all
- A number of firearms, magical or otherwise remarkable
- A crossbow

Historical space relics
- A number of possessions from the late Yuri Vampirin, a blood sample, a cape and an enchanted toothbrush
- A number of possessions from the late Neil Wolfstrong, enchanted swimming trunks, a werewolf€™s tooth and an enchanted dog leash
- An enchanted piece of moonstone
- A stave labelled €œMars€
__________________________________________________ _________________________

Elsewhere in the city, Anjushree, Dave and Natsume walked up to the building where the Large Lemon Collider is located. The door was opened by what seemed to be a strange cross between a nutty professor and Frankenstein€™s monster. Or rather, he was a bloke with a scar across his forehead. €œWelcome, my name is Flank, I€™ve been expecting you, you must be the special ops squad selected by the chief. Come on in.€ The building was chockfull of tubes, tubes in straight lines, tubes making loops, and even some tubes in knots. The air was filled with a smell of lemons, in the corner was a juicer. €œCome with me, these are all smaller colliders, although some of them are connected to the actual Large Lemon Collider. Downstairs we will find the real deal€¦ don€™t be overwhelmed by it, it has a quarter mile diameter and runs from here to the north coast of the island.€ And so it did. Natsume and Dave arrived first, while Anjushree was having problems walking down the human-made stairs, the Large Lemon Collider was truly overwhelming. €œAs I€™m sure you have noticed, the door behind you has been forcibly opened at one point. What happened afterwards is still a mystery to us, but the Lemon Collider won€™t collide lemons anymore€¦€

[alex_holt]

Re: A bustle in your hedgerow

Via the medium of MSN, I quizzed Martijn a bit and discovered the following:

Being an expert in counter-magic, Anjushree examined the broken in door and discovered several things. Firstly, it would have required being stronger that a Gryphon to open, and that it had been forced at specific points, Anjushree then tested it for magic and referenced it against my book of detailed magical notes and deduced the following.

Probable cause: An artifact imbued with vibrational magic (not a wizard using vibrational magic) had used this artifact on the hinges and handle to loosen the door. The artifact had apparently been enchanted for a long time, but it was a fairly common spell.

I've now requested all records of items matching that description to be sent to us, although whether such records exist is unclear so far.

[alex_holt]

Re: A bustle in your hedgerow

Update II:

After finding vibrational magic in the lemon collider, I went to an expert in physical magics who told be about this being caused by a vibrating object of person. Hes going to look into the collider to try and undo le damage, and put a spell to protect me from vibrations to some degree.

I then went back to the crime scene and discovered surveillance was switched off during the vandalism and access to this would require keys that only certain people have. Unfortunatly, the people who do have keys are important types who I dont get to stick in a parlour reveal with whoever has a missing key. As such Im going to set up an isolated surveillance crystal ball separate from the others to watch who goes in and out of that room while being immune to being switched off itself. Im also going to modify and shield it personally to stop interference.

Lastly, when enquiring about other gryphons I ended up at the Nepalese embassy where I purchased some gryphonic gauntlets.

[majinb]

Re: A bustle in your hedgerow

The following post gives details of those items that Mortimer, Acrifer and Ragington have asked questions about, on MSN. If there are more items you wanna know about, please ask :P

G¼nter:You have a lot of questions, let me run to the items you are interested in individually...

The fruits I have include...
A bananarang, that will always come back to you, and will make people slip in its path
A pair of cherries that cause mild explosions when they collide
A lemon that can be thrown at bullet-like speeds, it has however got a mind of its own and will go to more interesting targets whenever it fancies so, be it interesting for your quest, or just for the lemon himself

The enlarged helium atom... you can breathe it in and you will float just like a man on the Moon does, and your voice will be high-pitched and able to break brittle targets... after a while you will fart it out and can reuse it

The flashlight has got photons that will have a density of their own for roughly 1 meter after leaving the flashlight, effectively making it a lightsword of sorts

The space ladder is an old and simple model, that can get you into the lowest regions of what is officially space, where you can still (barely) survive without any specialised equipment

The flags consist of...
An American flag, which has a pole that is basically an excellent spear, only made more aerodynamic and easier to aim thanks to the flag
A Soviet flag, with, if you look real close, a real flat yet effective hammer and sickle on it
A European Union flag of which the stars can cause dizzyness
A Chinese flag that can make people more likeminded

Among the spacesuit clothing are two backpacks, both containing an oxygen mask
One is the gas backpack, which stores more gasses than just oxygen, like laughing gas and sleeping gas, which can be used offensively (wind blasts are also possible)
Then there's an arms backpack, which basically has an extra set of upper extremities coming out of it, giving a normally 2-handed person 4 hands

The space onesie really is just a 1-piece space suit

The enchanted swimming trunks will make its wearer excell at all kinds of watersports (no double entendre intended), be it swimming, diving, waterpolo, surfing, you name it

The werewolf's tooth is essentially a small dagger... it may still have some werewolf properties left

The moonstone... nobody has yet discovered the full extent of its properties... it has been seen glowing, and dust has been seen orbitting it, it certainly has powers, but we arent sure what those powers exactly are...

The stave labelled Mars, much like the moonstone, this is found during a space mission, God only knows what beings made this stave, but it seems to be quite destructive and incredibly well made

[joey_picus]

Re: A bustle in your hedgerow

Mortimer: I'll have the werewolf tooth, kupo! *surreptitiously begins to sharpen it*

And then...could you tell us more about the classified area? I'd like to go there, I think! Kupo!

[shadowflare]

Re: A bustle in your hedgerow

Ragington takes the flashlight. This will do nicely, I think. And, if this... he looks at Mortimer, ehm... Mortimer wants to head for that area, I think I'll tag along. One doesn't break the party too much, now does he? Besides, if he encounters trouble, he might need me, and as a point of fact I always go where I'm needed!

[kodster]

Re: A bustle in your hedgerow

Natsume examines the door also...

[you never know, it could be an inside job!]

[andrewj]

Re: A bustle in your hedgerow

I am intrigued by this moonstone, G¼nter. Do you mind if I take it? I'm happy to go to the classified area too.

[majinb]

Re: A bustle in your hedgerow

Moving on

Over at the Large Lemon Collider

Anjushree has thoroughly examined the situation with the help of his/her magical expertise, and also Natsume and Dave have been having a good look. Their findings can be described like this:
- The door has been subtly loosened by a person or item imbued with vibration magic
- The Collider has been made to malfunction by similar magic
- There are several items that can hold such magic on the island, there isn€™t exactly a definite record on this matter.
- Experts will try and undo the damage
- Surveillance has been switched off during the mischief. Only a small number of important people have the key to enter the Surveillance Sphere Command Center from where the spheres can be switched off, people who aren€™t easily contacted. Anjushree had an independent sphere placed in that command center, to see who enters or leaves.
Anjushree purchased Gryphon gauntlets, Anjushree is pleased.

Over at the Storage Hall

Ragington, Acrifer and Mortimer made their decisions. Ragington got himself the odd looking flashlight, Acrifer got the enchanted moonstone, and Mortimer got the tooth that once belonged to Neil Wolfstrong. All 3 give their items a swing€¦ Ragington and Mortimer swinging their newfound weapons through the air like a sword, Acrifer closely looking to his rock, dust particles orbiting it.
G¼nter:€So you wish to go to the Classified Zone next? It€™s getting late€¦ but I think we have enough time to visit this place€¦hang on, I will get you 3 meals so you can have dinner on your way there€¦€. G¼nter got 3 buns with hot dogs and sauerkraut out of some strange contraption€¦ he couldn€™t quite tell from the faces in front of him if this was the kind of meal his guests expected, but they did grab the hot dogs anyhow, and got walking to the Classified Zone.

Led by G¼nter, the quartet walked through the streets of Houst€™a. At some point their path was crossed by a weird bunch of what seemed to be hippies. A bloke with a leather jacket and spiked hairs, a long- and pink-haired Yorkshire Terrier with a pierced nose, and what seemed to be a reincarnation of John Lennon. The Yorkshire Terrier opened his mouth: €œWhat do you think you are doing?! You are corrupting our world! Make love, not space travel! And you, there, with the wings, is that really Neil Wolfstrong€™s tooth you are holding?! Blasphemy!€. Mortimer opened his mouth to explain himself, when the John Lennon clone grabbed his guitar and made it roar €œKRAKOW!€. G¼nter was knocked out, the three heroes were swept backwards and prepared to defend themselves, and out of a door a few yards away, a head popped up. €œWhat€™s going on there?€ Dave Grohl asked, eating a hot dog too, Ajushree and Natsume not far behind him. €œWhat a lucky coincidence you were nearby!€ Acrifer said, €œI hope we aren€™t interrupting your Lemon Collider research?€. €œNot really€, Natsume said, €œwe were just about done. So, are we fighting?€. €œSeems like we are€, Ragington said.

The John Lennon lookalike moved his hand for yet another guitar attack, when Acrifer shot a lightning bolt towards his hands. It paralyzed the guitarist€™s hands for a moment, halting the attack. Dave Grohl leaps, and glides towards the John Lennon dupe €œI have a great deal of respect for John Lennon man, it is you who is being blasphemous!€, Dave Grohl instinctively knew how to operate the offensive guitar, and with the villain still looking at his slightly toasted hands, Dave directed the guitar€™s powers towards the bad guy himself, knocking the long-haired man out.

The Yorkshire Terrier got a broadsword from out of his fur, and soon found himself in a swordfight with Mortimer and Ragington. Mortimer wielded the werewolf€™s tooth like an experienced dagger-fighter, and was nimble as hell with his small stature and wings. Ragington too had experience, given he had a sword-cane of his own, but still found himself caught by the Terrier€™s flexible moustache. Mortimer managed to sneak up behind the Terrier€™s back though, and stabbed him with the tooth. The Terrier started growling a bit, seemingly having his mental stability compromised by having been, well, €œbitten€ by a werewolf, and Ragington manages to break free and knocks out the Terrier with, well, a splash of tea in the face!

The leather jacketed, spiky haired punk rocker approaches Natsume and Anjushree with a sledgehammer. Natsume is much much quicker off the mark than Anjushree, and attacks the punker with her Spiral Edge and dark claws from the ground. An epic battle commences in which 2 skilled fighters fiercely go toe to toe, claws from the ground try to grab the legs of the rocker, and the rocker somehow telekinetically lifts his sledgehammer above his head to prepare a devastating blow. Anjushree, who hasn€™t been that involved in the fight so far, asks: €Tell me good man, exactly how are you lifting that sledgehammer so high into the air?€. €œWell, magic of course!€. €œThanks€¦ please turn that spell off€. Anjushree clicked the gryphon fingers he/she had, and the sledgehammer came down from the sky, right on top of the rocker€™s head. €œI couldn€™t have done that if it wasn€™t for you distracting him so well Natsume, thank you, this man was a skilled magician.€.

It is at this point that G¼nter regained consciousness. He looked around. €œWoaw, all 6 of you are here! And€¦ and you took down these nasty blokes from Occupy Houst€™a, what a great feat! Sadly this made us lose valuable time€¦ I€™m afraid we don€™t have time to go to the Classified Zone anymore, I have to send you to bed, my superiors demand that you do get enough hours of sleep. Follow me€¦€

END OF DAY 1

[kodster]

Re: A bustle in your hedgerow

Natsume: ^^ *poses and flashes the V for victory...before quickly realizing the seriousness of the situation and becoming grim again* Sorry.

[alex_holt]

Re: A bustle in your hedgerow

I wish to quickly interrogate these guys before we go to bed!

Quick questions:

Why do you hate space travel?
Isn't it ironic you think using an astronauts (a profession you claim to hate) tooth is blasphemy?
Surely love and space travel aren't mutually exclusive?
Did you sabotage anything?

Also, I want to ask Gunter if we are allowed to confiscate any stuff they had in their pockets :P