ooc:
Don't forget to check the bottom of page 14, if you haven't done so recently.

Barry picks up his own glass, and follows you to the table. "I donno," he shrugs, and sits down in a chair to your left. "Mebbe it's ale, like this one."

Another elven woman walks out through the door beside the bar, and holds it open for a few seconds. The fellin woman, whose head you saw a moment ago, enters the room carrying two fully-loaded trays, one on each hand, above her head. She gives the elven woman a small curtsey as she passes.

Reyolen

Except for the layer of dust on the floor, the entry room at first appears like you remember it. A ring of six mushroom seats, also dusty, sit in the middle of the room. The curtains on the windows and the doorways have gotten somewhat overgrown, but a good trim would fix that.

Then you notice the footprints. A single line of cautiously placed indentations cross the floor, headed for the same curtained doorway you chose. Whoever left them had elf-sized feet, and hardly disturbed the dust at all.

Taylen

Your impromptu staring contest with Elder Regalor gets interrupted by a knock at the entrance door to your left. Sastakorlan rises from his seat slowly, and reaches the door just as a second round of knocking begins. He looks through a small gap in the silver mesh, then pulls the door open.

You recognize the elven woman standing outside it as one of the waitresses. She gives a curtsey to Elder Regalor, who nods his head. Then she turns to the innkeeper, "May I speak with you a moment?"

"Certainly," he nods, "come in, take a seat. Rest your legs a moment." He closes the door behind her, and escorts her to one of the mushrooms, before returning to his previous seat.

ooc:
...

You are in a rectangular room. Blue moss pads the floor under your feet. Four glowing flower bulbs in the corners of the room fill it with a soft light. A dozen grey mushrooms, large enough to sit on, make a ring in the center of the room. The walls, formed of the same living branches as almost everything else, carry hardly any decoration.

Regalor reaches into a hidden pocket of his robes, and pulls out an obsurdly thick book. Laying it open on his lap, he begins casually flipping pages.

The waitress and the innkeeper spend a moment whispering quietly to each other. You can't hear much of the conversation, but notice that Sastakorlan shakes his head in response to something the waitress says. He then says something to her, gesturing towards you. She nods, and gives him a short reply, then stands, curtseys, and walks out.

ooc:
Quiknotes for Reyolen:
>> On the map, light blue is silvervine (doors), and light green is moss (curtains or mats).
>> Presuming you followed the footprints, as your description indicates, you're now in the hallway.

Pressing the curtain aside, the smell of rotting plants and stagnant air hits your nose. You can't tell where the smell comes from, but the groweries and the kitchen are most likely. The trail of footprints leads to the right, into the dining room, then back out again, crossing in front of you and leading away to your left. Other than that, the hallway appears empty.

"Well I hope they have room anyway."

Your drink has a mildly sweet flavor to it, with a taste that reminds you of hickory smoke. It feels warm and smooth going down. Though you've had something very similar, you can't recall what it was at the moment. Definitely some sort of liquor.

A voice calls across the bar, "Miss, please tell your husband that his steak will be ready momentarily." The bartender has returned, and immediately following his statement, takes up conversation with the mumbling gnomish fellow.

"Husban?" Barry looks up at the bartender, stares at him for a few seconds, then glances around the room before turning his eyes to you. "Wha's he mean, yor husban?"

She has another look at the drink, "And no, this is definatly not ale."

[ 10-18-2003: Message edited by: Pvednes ]

He follows Aust inside as he asks the question if Aust does not stop his motion to respond.

ooc:
All four active participants are now on one or another of the maps.

Aust leads you into the inn, and a couple steps away from the door. Small groups approach the exit from both sides, leaving you and your friend leaning against a table to keep clear.

"No, the meeting isn't until morning," he answers your question. "Some of my travelling companions came, and I'd like to connect with them before I find a place to rest for the evening. We may even find a couple open rooms here." He looks across the room at the bar, "Grab a chair or something, I'll be back in a few minutes."

Without waiting for your reply, he climbs over the end of the table, and walks away towards the bar. Less than a third of the tables are filled, though some of the empty ones still have dishes and mugs on them from recent use.

Pvednes

Barry glares at you during parts of your description, with the sort of hard stare you've seen at jousting tournaments, or during tense moments around a negotiating table. When you finish, he thinks for a moment, then sits back with his mug. "Fin, jus no lies. I haf a waif alreedy, a good woman." He takes a swig from his mug.

The fellin waitress walks past you, raising one of her trays to clear Barry's head. She stops at the table of fellis near you, "Torali stew, right? This has to be your third round at least." "Fifth," one of them comments, "and we may get more after these." "Goodness, five bowls? Keep going like this and you'll pop before you get upstairs." Several of them chuckle, as the waitress passes bowls around.

Taylen

A healthy layer of blue moss on the floor covers any signs of what lies beneath, and reaches up about an inch onto the mushrooms' bases. You could pick at the moss, or at the mushroom underneath you, but doing so in front of the innkeeper might not be such a good idea.

"Something on your mind?" Sastakorlan asks you.

Once you enter the dining room, the unpleasant smells from the hallway grow faint. The footprints make a wide circle around the diningroom table, and show a slight scuffing at the kitchen entrance, before returning to the doorway beneath your feet.

"People will believe what they want to believe. Who are we to say otherwise?"

The waitress who you spoke to a moment ago now approaches your table, carrying a small tray. "Is that my steek?" Barry asks the instant the waitress stops. She glances over at the bartender, then looks at Barry.

"I suppose it is," she tells him, taking a plate off the tray and setting it down, "but that's not why I came to this table. Our proprietor would like to discuss something with you in person. With both of you," she adds, looking at you. "Linra?"

"Yes miss Menelaura?" the fellin steps over, holding her trays stacked one atop the other. Menelaura gestures to you and Barry, "When these two are ready, would you mind escorting them into the back? Sastak would like to speak with them." The fellin nods, "Just let me drop these off."

Finishing off her drink, she nods, "Be right with you," glancing a little uncertainly at the elven waitress.

[ 10-22-2003: Message edited by: Pvednes ]

[ 10-22-2003: Message edited by: Reyolen ]

ooc:
More quiknotes for Reyolen:
>> I added footprints to the map. These are only temporary, until they serve their purpose. Only the fooprints Silvan has seen (and not identified) are shown.
>> The post below takes you only part way through meditation. You have now unlocked your new spell slots, but have not filled them or replaced your spent spells.

Despite your lost interest in the footprints, you find yourself headed in the same direction as whoever left them. The prints turn towards the three bedroom, approaching each room in turn, with clusters at their doorways. Your own course takes you to your old bedroom, the leftmost of the three. Slightly larger than the other two rooms, it placed you wall to wall with your parents' room.

As you walk around the curtain, holding it aside, something in you backpack snags. You pull free, but the axe falls loose, hitting the floor with a clank and a couple thuds, and scattering the dust around it. Picking it up, you proceed into your room, before setting your belongings to one side of the doorway.

Your old room looks rather dark. The glowbulb at its center appears to have burst, and has since wilted. This may pose a problem when the time comes to read through your spells, but for the moment, you can meditate without light. You sit down on one of the old mushrooms; save for a layer of dust, it seems unaffected by the years of disuse.

Placing your spellbook across your lap, you close your eyes and begin your meditation. For a while, nothing happens around you, as the thoughts and events of recent days resolve in your mind.

Pvednes

"Technically, you'll be right with her," the elven waitress nods her head in Linra's general direction, while tucking the now-empty tray under her arm. "I have other tables to mind, in case your business takes a while." She wanders away towards another table.

"I'll be right back, okay?" the fellin says, giving a quick, toothy grin. "Just let me take these back to the kitchen." She lifts the stacked trays, with their piled contents, over Barry's head, and wanders past you, headed towards the door beside the bar.

ooc: Sorry, I don't really want to go through the large process of memorizing spells, and I don't understand it fully. If it isn't enough, let me know.

ooc:
At the moment, it isn't the process you're having difficulty with.

Looking at your spellbook, you find that your old bedroom is too dark for reading. You will need to find a room with a healthy glow bulb, or wait for morning.

Pvednes

Barry starts digging into his steak with fork and knife the moment the two waitresses walk away. "Mmm, vmf gmmd," he says with his lips closed, pointing at the steak with his knife as he chews.

After a moment, the fellin woman returns to your table, her arms no longer loaded down with trays. She turns a chair around, then strattles it, sitting directly across from Barry, with the chair's back in front of her abdomen. She watches Barry eat for a moment, then leans a bit in your direction, and whispers, "So, who are you really?"

Taylen now settles his gaze upon Regalor, "So, Regalor, what are you reading there?"

Taylen shifts his weight slightly in the seat to settle himself more comfortably in case this wait takes a great deal longer.

The innkeeper nods, "Thank you. Having an inn's staff helps quite a bit, and we try to keep things modest. I know some families keep wallflowers all year, but pruning the petals just takes too much time." When you turn your attention to the Elder, the innkeeper turns his attention towards the wall behind you.

Regalor flips a few more pages before answering. He doesn't look up, though as he speaks, his page turning slows a bit. "I recall something similar to the construct you described. This is an older archive from the library. I keep it handy for a bit of light reading. Ah, here we are. Does this look familiar?"

He turns the book around, and props it up so you can see. The opposing pages show three detailed pictures, and a lot of text in a language you can't read. One picture on the left-side page shows a section of a mountain range. One mountain, at the center of the picture, has a silver-domed top instead of the usual peak. A second picture has a drawing that closely resembles the structure you examined in the orc camp, with lines leading to small blurbs of text. The third picture shows the portrait of a gnome with a silver goatee, admiring his own hand.

A knock at the door rouses the innkeeper from his musing. He gets up and walks towards the door.

She taps her fingers lightly on the table, smiling slightly at the waitress.

[ 10-27-2003: Message edited by: Pvednes ]

"Considering where we are," the fellin waitress replies, speaking in elvish, though with several of the sounds softened by a slight accent, "I am surprised you chose this language for private matters. But if you're sure, I won't argue." She resumes speaking in a hushed tone which, combined with her accented elven, proves slightly difficult to understand. "If a waitress wants to better serve her clientelle, she often finds it beneficial to listen and learn. Your husband said to you that he already has a wife. I can only presume, then, that this wife is not you. So, who are you really?"

If/When he does so he takes a seat and slouches forward a bit, it dawns on him on how late it is (or he thinks it is)

Switching back to common, "Tania, yourself?" She grins. "Incidently, I don't suppose you know what the proprietor wishes to discuss with us? About our room, or what?" She glances at Barry, "I think we're about ready, anyhow."

[ 11-04-2003: Message edited by: Pvednes ]

ooc:
Kilrath: Yes, the gnome you met before implied it was late.
Reyolen: You might have a bit of a wait ahead of you.

You have no difficulty finding a nearby open table. A moment ago, you and Aust had pinned yourselves against one to let the crowd pass. It seems a bit big for one person, though at this hour it's unlikely that anyone will mind. Besides, you can always move if someone wants the table.

Following conversations with a few different individuals, Aust walks through a door in the far corner of the large dining hall. The soft murmur of random conversations echoes faintly in your ears.

Reyolen

Your bed feels soft, thick, and comfortable, along with a bit noisy, as you sit down for meditation. After a moment, your mind begins to clear. Today's events, meeting the Elders, revisiting the Whispering Wood, Neloreas' pregnancy, and the odd footprints in your home... you set them aside, and rest.

Taylen

Elder Regalor looks down at the gnome pictured in the upper corner of the right-side page. "I suppose olde Timbertock would have enjoyed looking at himself, but... let's just say it's a moot point nowadays." He turns the book around again to face himself. "Let's see here... historical notes and origins... mechanics... nothing about construction, but it does have a weakness."

"What has a weakness?" a vaguely familiar voice asks from the doorway. The innkeeper stands holding the door open, revealing the overladen form of Aust on the other side.

Pvednes

"Um... thank you... I think," the waitress says, staring at you with one ear flattened to her forehead, and a quizzical look across her muzzle. She starts speaking to you in Elven again. "Your gearspeak needs a bit of work, dearie, but you still managed to avoid my question. I haven't heard anything about why, yet, but I do count heads, and we ran out of rooms over an hour... hmm." She pauses a moment, then adds, "I'm Linra. You might want to pick a last name before your new husband finishes his meal."

Barry swallows another bite of his steak, and takes a swig before speaking up, "Wat's all the funny takking abote? Ramembur, you make a promees."

Peering over at Barry, she softly says "Do not fear, Barry dear, I have not uttered a single word that was not the truth." She grins slightly cruelly at him.

"Goud," Barry says sharply, and takes another bite of his steak. At the rate he's eating, he has just a few mouthfuls left.

Linra watches him, with her head tilted slightly, and her arms folded in front of her across the back of her chair. She speaks idly in the gnomish tongue, or 'gearspeak' as she called it, "I surmise that enquiring your purpose in the elf-built city would prove a futile action, since you select to curtain your bloodline identification."

After taking a moment to swallow, Barry glares back at the fellin waitress. "Kwit takking funny," he grumbles, as he cuts his remaining steak in half.

Taylen looks back at Regalor, "Now if you would be so kind. Could you tell us what the book says about the structure?"

Regalor nods, "Certainly. Now, let's see here..." he looks down at the book. Aust enters the room, and walks towards you, taking a seat nearby. The innkeeper closes his door, then returns to his seat opposite you.

"The first thing you need to know about Timbertock's Distributor is that the rocks making up its base aren't magic. The control band, then the orb, are fitted onto a stone pillar. Tapping the band with a glass rod summons the finger rings, so the thicker the glass rod, the larger the ring." He pauses a moment, and looks up at you and Aust.

"I'm sure you figured out by now that you can't just take the base apart. Even though it isn't magic, the magic of the Distributor holds it together. The weakness comes from how the rings work. There's only one control, so all the rings work together. If one ring is still on a glass rod when the distributor is activated, the spikes will plant in the glass. Here, I'll read it for you."

Regalor looks down at the book again, tracing briefly with his finger before speaking. "Whomever maintains the Distributor must be certain that all rings are in use before activating the control band. If any rings remain on the rods where they first appear, both the summoning rod and the stone pedestal will shatter. This allows the Distributor to be relocated once it has served its purpose. A single ring may be destroyed by breaking the glass rod originally used to summon it."

"So to destroy the pedestal, all we need is a glass rod?" Aust asks the Elder. Regalor nods, "That and good timing."

She turns to Barry, and says sweetly in common, "Problem, dear?"

[ 11-15-2003: Message edited by: Pvednes ]

Arthur tries his best not to concentrate on anyone or thing to long as he doesn't want to be perceived as eaves droping.

The echoes of the conversations brings great comfort to him, although it does make him a bit homesick, he tries to keep his mind at the task at hand.

Arthur's mind begins to wander as he thinks about the events that brought him to where he is now.

After a while he shakes his head as if awaking from a daze, and begins to wonder what Aust is up to.

He also tries to get a sense for the mood of the folks around him as he hears the bits and pieces. It hadn't occured to him how many people these monsters might have effected.

"Sounds like everyone else around here," Linra replies in a sombre tone, returning to the Common tongue. "Here I thought you'd be someone interesting." She watches Barry take a swig of ale, then stuff the last bite of steak into his mouth. "Well, I suppose it's about time I took you to see the proprietor. Follow me, please."

Linra stands up from the chair, turns it around, and slides it under the table. She walks towards the door beside the bar. Barry sits for a few seconds chewing, then stands and follows her, leaving his chair out.

Kilrath

It's hard to tell anything specific, but the room has a generally calm feel to it. You hear a child giggling for a few seconds. One of the elves at a nearby table flags a waitress. You don't see Aust anywhere around.

[ 11-20-2003: Message edited by: Pvednes ]

The brief moment quickly fades and Arthur again sits upright, slightly slouching forward with one arm on the table and his other hand on his thigh.

He scans the room a few times, making sure he doesn't see anyone he recognizes, and as a few moments go by he begins to tap his foot on the ground to a tune he has stuck in his head.

ooc:
Taylen, you need to at least try to post more often. The world is moving all around you, but it would move a lot more smoothly if you actually did something.

Linra leads you and Barry through the door beside the bar, then makes a quick right turn through another door. The three of you walk down a long hallway with soft lighting at intervals along the ceiling. You pass a few curtained doors along the way, including one on your left that gives off a faint odor of hickory and spices. Barry falls back a few steps as the pleasant aromas waft past.

When you reach the end of the hall, Linra drums her fingertips on the door a few times. A moment later, it opens, and an elven gentleman on the other side answers, "Ah, good, you brought them. Come in, both of you. You too, Linra. If you don't mind, I have a small favor to ask this evening." Once he pulls the door open, Linra steps through it, and stands on the opposite side of the doorway from the elf.

Inside, you see three other elves sitting on large grey mushrooms similar to the ones at the bar. Two of them have on traveler's garb. The third elf wears a green robe matching the ones worn by Esmerelda and Naeatalle, and you quickly recognize him as the fourth Elder of the city.

Taylen

"Good timing?" Aust asks, fumbling with the shoulder strap on one of his waterskins. "What does timing have to do with anything? You tap the construct thing, it makes the ring, the pedestal shatters, right?"

Regalor shakes his head, "Not necessarily. If the pedestal is already active, it won't make a new ring. You'd have to shut it off first. That is, of course, presuming you can get to the pedestal with a glass rod amidst a battle."

A gentle rapping on the door prompts the innkeeper to rise from his seat again, and approach the door. He opens it cautiously, then smiles, "Ah, good, you brought them. Come in, both of you. You too, Linra. If you don't mind, I have a small favor to ask this evening."

The fellin waitress, who you saw running around earlier, steps through the doorway and to the side, opposite Sastakorlan. Behind her, a young human woman and a very large, muscle-framed man stand behind the open doorway. You saw both of them earlier this evening, at the induction ceremony, though you didn't really speak to either of them.

Kilrath

No faces in the room look particularly familiar. After a moment, the waitress who stopped at the nearby table approaches you. "Can I get you anything? Or are you waiting for the rest of your party to arrive?" Accompanying her second question, she gives a casual glance at the large table where you chose to sit.

[ 11-24-2003: Message edited by: Ford Prefect ]