A bustle in your hedgerow

A bustle in your hedgerow

RIGHT, an RPG!

Felt like doing this for a while, I€™m actually doing it now.

First and foremost, my aim is to create a fun story with you people, not to host a stat based game, nor will any single player €œwin€. I€™m hoping that this disclaimer will keep everyone from abusing loopholes that I undoubtedly left in my character requirements to create grotesquely overpowered characters.

The setting!

Think fantasy. The RPG will be set on an alternative Earth in the year 2039. All the same continents and countries will exist (plus maybe some fictional places ;)), humans will very much exist, but so will roughly any fantasy themed creature or thing you might imagine. As well as magic. Just consider the industrial evolution never took place, and magic was the primary force putting the world where it is now, with equivalents of such things as cars, internet and what not being around. In the end, it wont be all THAT different, lol.

6 Individuals from around the globe have gotten a letter asking for help with a mysterious situation. All 6 are willing to help. You will be those 6. The story will start as you lot are escorted to the mysterious place where you are needed€¦

Not unlike the Oddestsey, your characters can ask questions, decide on actions, and I will glue it together with story updates and sometimes intriguing, sometimes humorous plot twists.

Looking for 6 people to enter 1 character each, almost everything with some fantasy pedigree is welcome, but I won€™t be happy with big monsters of sorts. Really think of what would help you through the RPG (which will be more, much more than just combat) and think of what would contribute to a fun story ;). Your description can be as elaborate as you want.

What I need€¦

Name: Well, duh
Species: As said, think fantasy. Humans, elves, dwarves, gnomes, anthropomorphisms, the lot.
Looks: Physique as well as clothes. If your clothes have significant functions beyond the usual €œkeeping you warm and looking fashionable€, I suggest you count them as your inventory ;).
Personality: The chief importance of this lays in the fact that in my updates I will be RP€™ing as YOUR character every so often. Will not have them make major decisions, but I will be put words in their mouth or have them perform minor actions.
Back-story: Again, be as elaborate as you want, but do tell roughly what occurred in your character€™s life prior to all of this, and where you are from (which must be Earth, lol).
Inventory: The letters clearly said to bring no more than five of your personal items along that you may find useful to carry with you ;). Once more, think Fantasy rather than Sci-Fi. And stay within reasonable power levels.
Abilities: Put down your physical or non-physical skills that should be considered €œsuperhuman€ here, be it acquired through the species you are from, or from somewhere in your back-story. For magic users I€™d like you to specify a field of magic (elementalism, bardism, et cetera) or maybe a certain superpower acquired through magic (telekinesis, et cetera) or maybe just a single powerful spell. As a rule of thumb€¦be reasonable ;).
Skills: Put down your skills that would be considered €œhuman€ (even if you yourself aren€™t ;)). Apply reasonable limits and make them true to your back-story.

Reserved spaces will only stay reserved for 7 days. If at any point after the RPG started (with its 6 entrants) you feel like playing along, do PM me and I will make you into a cameo of undefined magnitude. Alternatively if there are players willing to become inactive, such latecomers can replace them altogether if both parties agree.

Reservations:
Alex H
Joey M
Kody K

Reserve for me SVP :kiss:
Sorry i was a bit inactive, had loads to do...

i can has reservation plz?

...... :lol: This'll be fun.

I am interested! Reserve me a place, please.

Confirming my reserved space, and giving a surname for the character I'll be using, so you have something to go on with...

Oguro

between

Alex H
Joey M
Kody K
Jack O
Tracy F
Andy J

that's 6 places reserved! get your entries in within 7 days or your reservation will be lost!

Also, Alex H was so kind to tell me it'd be great if people also added weaknesses to their little character sheet. I won't be forcing this upon anyone but I do find it a great idea :P.

If you have questions, ask them here or on MSN.

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k4...yangryphon.jpg

Name: Anjushree

Species: Himalayan Crag Gryphon. A far rarer relation of normal gryphon. See the picture.

Looks: See the picture. Crag Gryphons all look fairly similar to each other to human eyes to the point where you can€™t readily tell the difference between their genders, and while the Gryphons can tell by through subtle scents, it is considered incredibly rude for a human to ask.

Personality: Generally good-natured, but a bit haughty, aloof and incredibly intellectually arrogant, though tries to remain polite about it.

Back-story: Born into the Gryphon colonies on India-Nepal border and descended into the world, Anjushree grew up to become one of the worlds greatest Magi-diagnosticians, which is essentially someone who comes in and solves magical problems that no one else can. Think House if rather than cure diseases he broke unexplained curses.

Inventory: A bag hung around the neck to store items.
Anjushree€™s journal and notes containing extensive research on obscure spells, including just about everything Anjushree has ever come across during their studies, even if only in rumours.
A pouch of filled with £2000 worth of money in £, $, and rupees, and a selection of small rubies that the gryphons use as currency.
A vial of mixed herbs brewed especially to heal gryphons, contains about 3 doses worth.
A selection of pigments that can be mixed with water and then used to temporarily dye Anjushree a different colour (comes off in warm water) contains black, copper, gold, silver, blue-grey and scarlet.

Abilities:
Gryphon Abilities:
Due to thick downy fur and feathers, Himalayan Crag Gryphons are incredibly resistant to cold to the point where they can pretty much shrug off any naturally occurring temperature on earth.
Griffons are also if nothing else, massive strong predators with talons capable of piercing and crushing armour and bone and a massive beak sharp and powerful enough to bite an arm off. With the huge wings, their most obvious ability though is that they can fly, and are strong enough that they can lift up to about the weight of a human for in the region of up to an hour if necessary.

Magical Abilities
In addition to the powers Anjushree has from just being a gryphon, the Gryphon is one of the world€™s premier experts in the specific field of counter-magic.
This includes things like
- Undoing spells, including breaking curses, opening mage-locks, closing mage portals, banishing summoned creatures and illusions, curing magical poisons, enemies buffing themselves and diseases and so on.
- Detecting and hiding from scrying or other magical surveillance.
- Putting up very tough magical shields that can deflect magical and non magical attacks. This requires total concentration to do so to the point of having to stand still and concentrate on nothing else. Shields can take the form of a wall or a dome.

Skills
Very good with languages, especially various ancient mystical languages.
Is also a passable amateur classical singer.

Weaknesses:
Can€™t move particularly fast on the ground, at best the speed of a human jogging. Doesn€™t have hands and while claws are more dextrous than normal birds, most things humans can do in their hands are more difficult or require specific custom versions. Stairs aren€™t too fun.

Because I'm unoriginal, a fan of dot hack, and because I've wanted to use her in an RP for a while, here she is:

Name: Natsume Oguro (for both the character and the [former] player behind her)

Species: Pretty much human? Although I don't know how falling directly out of a MMORPG into this current world will affect that.

Looks: Identical to this... http://images.wikia.com/dothack/images/ ... sumegu.jpg

Personality: Although she is naive, she does make up for it with energy and a positive outlook. This is a great contrast to her rather pessimistic e-mails. Her e-mails show that she doesn't think much of her abilities; but regardless of what she thinks, she gives it her all when battling in The World. She is actually more skilled than she gives herself credit for; in her quest to become stronger, she followed a hoax and successfully traversed to the bottom of a high-level dungeon solo before she had to be rescued by Kite, the Hero of The World and one whom she has much affection for.

Natsume appears to have two split personalities. Her main personality is her normal innocent and polite self, but when she sees a rare edge item that she wants, she turns violent and PKs (player kills) anyone in her way. Natsume claims not to know about these fits of hers and is actually surprised at the fact that rare equipment seems to just show up in her inventory. When approached about this condition, Natsume theorizes that it could be the work of a hacker, but since the hacker leaves her weapons, it might be a stalker. Natsume's goal is to find Tri-Edge, which she seems to believe to be a rare weapon and not an identity (which it is).

Backstory: (forgive me, this is kinda cheesy. Also, it's the real only original thing I have in here, which explains the cheesiness, sorry XD)

One day Natsume's aggressive 2nd personality managed to push a depressed player over the edge; after being PKed and having his items stolen from him, the young man committed suicide, not even bothering to remove his M2D first. Naturally, this news spread throughout The World and Natsume, having the blame pointed at her, went into shock, for here was undeniable evidence she was a PKer. Or so it seemed. No charges were laid against her, but her newly made friends turned their backs on her; even that big oaf Piros the 3rd stopped meeting with her. Guilt coursed through her in a sickening wave... a perfect opportunity... thus the demon Mephistopheles, still roaming about Earth, descended, cloaked in deceit. One night Natsume, distraught, witnessed his arrival. He revealed that he knew everything, and wished to make a deal with her... her soul for the man's; he would bring the young man back to life, without memory of what happened, and he would keep her soul in good hands. Naturally, in her current emotional state Natsume desperately accepted, for she didn't want the man to die because of her. But she made him promise to come back for her only after the man was brought back. And so they parted for that time.

Later on, Natsume, as her actual self, watched a news report on TV; there was a minor insert about a young man jumping in front of a train. It was the same man. As Natsume choked, a shadow rose in from behind; Mephistopheles had returned for his pay. Natsume demanded to know why the man had died, and Mephisto laughed; the young man was going to die through his own means anyway; she just took the guilt off herself to make herself feel better. Mephisto had truly held up the end of his bargain. And now he had her soul...in like kind, Natsume attacked him, causing a laughing Mephisto to alter time and reality to send Natsume to different ethereal plane...

Waking up, Natsume Oguro looks around, startled that she is the Natsume character from The World, complete with items, weapons, and magic... She wonders if this has all been just a dream and suddenly receives a letter...

[/cheesy backstory crossover]

Inventory: Spiral Edge (Twin Blade weapon, its Lv 133 doesn't matter so much here, lol), The Lovers (an item that causes the target to become infatuated for some reason), a heavy book labelled LOTR (she has no idea how this arrived with her), a printed picture of her obsession (Kite, a fellow Twin Blade himself) and a pen-knife for misc uses.

Abilites: Natsume can use a variety of magic spells she acquired in The World:

Vak Don (rain of fireballs from the sky)
GiAni Zot (dark claws erupt from the ground; this may have been made more powerful due to Mephisto's influence)
Rip Duk (cures poison)
Rip Suvi (cures paralysis)
LaPu Do (she and everybody around her gain a MASSIVE speed boost)

Skills: Natsume is a Twin Blade, and with that class comes lightning-fast speed and reflxes. She's also very cute and can infatuate many a being just by being passive.

Being Japanese in origin, she can speak Japanese and most English very well. Thanks to being a Tolkien geek, she is also able to reference Middle-Earth very easily and recite some of the made-up languages in that world.

She can also cook well!

Weaknesses: Natsume's defenses are next-to-nil; she is basically a glass cannon in that regard. She is also rather timid when not fighting.

Okay, forgive me, but that's that. :oops:

thanking the 2 of you, 2 very useable characters from 2 very different angles ;)

After a boring day at work that made me mildly insane (well, at least more so then before.) I present to thee:

Name: Sir Shirley Ragington the Third

Species: A human, thank you very much.

Looks: Imagine, if you will, a slightly older Benedict Cumberbatch, with Sherlock's thinking face on but grumpier, in a rather snazzy suit and a small gentlemanly 'stach. Now, imagine this man often being red in the face because everything is stupid and is annoying him a whole lot, and THAT is Sir Ragington.

Personality: This man is basicly a bundle of barely held back rage, there doesn't seem to be much that pleases him short of his tea and when he is able to act like a proper gentleman. He could be rather charismatic if he could put his rage aside for a few moments, but most humans and other things are so stupid, and he just can't help himself to give an exasperated sigh at the very least...
He is rather intelligent, and isn't afraid to show it, he often looks for the small details in things and is mildly stunned (and annoyed) that nobody else manages to see these things. If they do, Ragington isn't above approval and small bouts of happiness that everything isn't stupid, though this often comes off the wrong way. And for the love of all things holy, do NOT call him Shirley unless he says you may do so.

Back-story: A Ragington has been around in history for as long as anyone can remember, generally in the background of the more exciting historical things and seeming very displeased with the entire thing, though it could easily be another person of similar name. Clearly, there has been at least three, though nobody is quite sure how long this one has been around. He tells some rather exciting tales when pressed for them, like how he threw tea bags at the American Presidential Building, or sank the Spanish Armada with his rage alone. (he was 7 at the time, they stole his candy.) The Queen was so impressed with him, she knighted him on the spot, or so the stories say. He swears the stories are the truth (Gentlemen never lie!), and to be fair nearly everyone is too afraid of him and his nearly tangable cloud of raw fury to disagree.
Sir Ragington was sitting and having his afternoon tea when the letter appeared. He figured it was about time he was involved with something else exciting, he just hoped that, if there were other people, that they were to be more intelligent then the LAST crew he had to work with.

Inventory: Sword-Cane, functional in two ways, as your average walking stick, and, with the press of a button that releases a simple locking mechanism, the bottom part of the cane comes off, leaving the cane handle and a functional rapier. Like a sir, indeed.
All else is carried in a small drawstring bag, enchanted to hold more then it should. A bag of holding, if you will.
A box containing a full tea set, as nothing else gets Sir Ragington angry like people who can't drink their tea properly, and that's saying something.
A small collection of teas, for use with the tea set.
1000 money units in both Pounds and Dollars.
A small container of pure water.

Abilities: Ragington specializes in a form of elemental manipulation, if you look at Avatar: The Last Airbender's Water-benders, you've pretty well nailed it right on the head. He can manipulate water, be it in an offencive or defencive manner, and control the temperture of it. (obviously, he is far better at getting it hot then he is at making it freeze.) There are limitations, it's not like he can create a tidal wave for fun. The greater quantity of the water, the less likely he is able to keep it airborne. He is unable to use the water to slash or force people back if he is trying to use it as a shield, in fact, it takes him a few moments to switch stances to make the shield and to switch back to attacking. The more water there is, the harder it is to manipulate it, but when you can make a row of ice spikes appear at and through your opponent's feet with a thought, it can pay off if you can pull it off.
He does use this power to assist in the making of tea, and he can draw water out of nearly anything. (This can possibly include even living things in theroy, however Ragington refrains from using the power in that manner. It's rude and rather not gentlemanly at all to evaporate the opponent's bodily fluids because you can.)

His sheer quantity of rage can act as a wall of sorts to make people afraid or just leave, or even fuel his strength to near inhuman levels, however, even Ragington has a limit, so he tries to keep his fury in check. It isn't like he can't find other things to be mad at (his first name is a good start.), but it's better to keep some for emergancies. It takes time to build up this level of rage.

Skills: Extreamely observant, proficiant at sword fighting, good at etiquette and generally acting 'like a sir'. Can be very charismatic if he feels like.

Weakness: Teacakes, Anger Management Courses (potentially fatal to him, those are), Grass-types, getting over-angry. (Even Ragington can become so mad that he becomes a jabbering mess.)
-----

Is good? :)

Name: Mortimer

Species: Moogle

Looks: Is...well...a moogle, a small (roughly a third to half human size) furry koala/cat like creature with a small pair of bat-like wings protruding from his back and a bright red pom-pom sprouting from his head on a stalk. (those of you familiar with Final Fantasy will note he's based on the FFIX moogles) He isn't very physical, preferring to rely on his limited magic in everyday life, and usually sports a knitted woollen scarf around his neck and, less often, a knitted woollen sweater with a belly pocket (mainly in cold weather).

Personality: Has a tendency to be a loner normally, but if he likes someone he will attach to them to an extent and want to help his friends out. He also has a very serious protective streak which gets activated a lot despite his small size and has been known to make somewhat rash decisions in combat situations as a result. He will also threaten people who may potentially cause harm to him or his friends with his knives - with unknown results as his actual combat experience amounts to very little - but generally this is something of an aberration as he is usually quiet, helpful, and eager to learn. Despite his profession and use of magic, he also has a tendency to be more practically minded.
Also says 'kupo' a lot at the end of sentences or as a substitute for some words (example: That noise is beginning to really kupo me off, kupo!)

Back-story: Mortimer lived at first with his parents in the forests of the island of Hokkaido, in Japan, and although he isn't one hundred per cent certain thinks he was born there. After a skirmish with some hunters/armed gangs, he moved with his parents across Asia, from which early experience he picked up a love of the diversity of the world. He was raised mainly in the Caucascus and then in Ireland, where he began to educate himself in English and discovered maps. A largely self taught cartographer, he travelled most of Eurasia mapping various areas and coastlines in the employ of various monarchies, institutions of learning, and latterly Googol Maps, which has given him by his own admission a fairly good life, I've seen a lot of places and always had something to do, kupo!.
He is still fairly young by moogle standards, and at the time of the letter arriving he was living semi-permanently on Malta, working with the Magical University there to help definitively map all the different interconnected worlds of the islands.

Inventory:
- Mortimer's map book - almost as big as he is, contains copies of every map he has ever made (covering at various scales about 90% of Europe and 60% of Asia across multiple levels and realms) with lots of space in which to make more.
- A few combat knives including a small dagger and a butterfly knife
- A small toolkit with which he can tinker with mechanical devices, including the equipment needed to sharpen knives
- A wooden flute
- Safe pouch containing several types of nuts, some small gold pieces (no more than about 150g) and 100 Maltese pounds (or lira)

Abilities: As a moogle, Mortimer is good at foraging and living off the land and is suited particularly to cold temperatures, having a layer of downy fur (along with the sweater) to protect himself from all but the most extreme cold. He can also fly, although his speed cannot match that of more dedicated flying creatures (magic is involved to keep him airborne) and prefers to do so given the choice. He has some natural magic abilities but these are extremely limited - telekinesis of very lightweight objects, igniting dry tinder at room temperature, weak extrasensory abilities that seem to rely on the pom-pom, and some very limited abilities to conjure things from thin air (limited solely to his map book which appears to be about his size)

Skills: As well as the native moogle language, Mortimer speaks English to a near native level, Maltese conversationally, and bits and pieces of many other languages from many species (except for important world ones these are generally limited to basic greetings, barter, asking for directions and the names of places, and pleading for his life) and is an extremely good and quietly accomplished cartographer, being able to produce very accurate maps of any area he is in and keep them in his map book (or, if necessary, his head for a period of time).
He can tinker with mechanical things with some success, as can many moogles. He also can use knives in combat to enough of a degree to be somewhat effective, although it is far from his forte.
He always knows where north is and virtually never gets lost when retracing his steps.
Can play flute passably.

Weaknesses: Does not do well in hot temperatures - lacks much of a mechanism to cool his body down other than panting and staying in the shade.
Is somewhat naive about cultures he hasn't encountered and has a tendency to believe what he's told if it seems logical he doesn't know otherwise.
Moogles in general are the wrong shape to be stealthy (the red pom-pom tending to be a dead giveaway) and to fight or engage in other physical activities - when Mortimer's protective streak takes over or his patience snaps the results are far from guaranteed to be positive if it comes to actual fighting! - and his strength, running speed, and carrying capacity are consequently very low.

---

Hope he's suitable ^^

http://www.drummerworld.com/pics/drum46/davegrohl.jpg[

Name: Dave Grohl

Species: Footonian

Looks: Dave takes on a near identical human form, except for the fact his hair was severely damaged while exiting the FooTopian atmosphere which bizarrely consistently makes his hairstyle constantly out of fashion. Such examples include the 1991 6 foot ponytail, the 1997 plaits and the 2000 mullet. Clothes offer no practical use except for keeping him warm and containing one or two small pockets for carrying small bits of equipment. Black Tshirt with a red flannel jacket and blue jeans. He wears brown vanz shoes.

Personality: Fun loving individual who gets along with most people. Acts fairly immature around friends but years of being bombarded by the media has worn him down a bit. Also has a slight dark side brought on by the tragedy of FooTopia and the passing of those close to him. During these rare dark times Dave is never aggressive to anybody around him, preferring to keep it contained inside. Unfortunately when it does come out nobody has any pre warning so its a bit shocking.

Back-story: Dave grew up on the distant planet of FooTopia, a small unexciting area best known for its rich supply of mint confectionaries. Unfortunately after the great Footos-Pepsi disaster of 1989 he was forced to abandon the planet with a gaggle of other Footonians in search of new land. That new land turned out to be Earth. Dave set up residence in the small urban town of Seattle. He had been a avid musician for many years, and as such his talents were quickly noticed by one Kurt Cobain who invited Dave to become part of his band Nirvana. Nirvana's album Nevermind catapulted Dave to fame, a position he has been in ever since. After Nirvana ended in 1994 Dave went into a recluse, but decided to make a new band in honour of his fallen Footonians. The band is called Foo Fighters.

in 2014 Dave froze himself and his family/friends for a reason he has kept to himself. While he seems to have some problems adapting to this new technology this does have the positive effect of him being roughly 40 in human years instead of you know... dead.

Inventory:
- Gibson Custom Shop ES359 Guitar (Limited Edition) in Pelham Blue which has been specially modified by a expert Footonian mechanic to have a collapsable neck thus making it much more compact. The same expert also installed a built in amplifier louder than anything ever seen on Earth beforehand and coated the body in a unbreakable resin. The neck itself is detachable and can be used as a weapon- either as a club or a bladed weapon (inbuilt katana blade).
- 20x Steel plectrums that also act as ninja style throwing stars.
- Small amount of Footonian, British and Canadian currency.
- Rucksack with inbuilt guitar case as well as portable media pouch for his Ipad (which have camera's and word processors as well as compasses built in).

Abilities: Fluent in Footonian and English, he can also read music. Dave cannot fly but he can glide, so if needs be he can jump off tall buildings or tall natural structures and glide several miles. He also has the ability to control machines simply from thought.

Skills: Amazingly gifted at music, capable of playing most if not all instruments, especially guitar and drums. As well as being able to attack with the guitar neck and plectrums, the sheer volume of his inbuilt guitar amp is enough to incapacitate enemies.

Weaknesses: Deathly afraid of Spiders, Used to smoke back in the day so he has a lack of stamina- thus finds it hard to keep up on long treks or prolonged amounts of running.

thank you ever so much Tracy, Joey and Jack!

All 3 of your characters add something nice to the mix, only with Jack's I have to put forward the slight nitpick that the iPad (as we know it) wont excist as such in this world that has bypassed the industrial revolution that we know and love. I would however happily allow you to have a steampunkish/magical/mechanical contraption that allows you to store images, process words and have a compass. The only thing you'd have to is come up with a name for it (puns are good!)!

Fair play...

http://gaygamer.net/images/ipad.jpg

I introduce to you the Moses Board, a magical biblical artefact of great value.

besides the extra functions mentioned (compass, camera, word processing), do you also wanna store music on it btw?:P

Moses Board sounds fine!

Last but not least...

Name: Acrifer Castillo

Species: Human (Male)

Looks: Acrifer is a white, male, human with an athletic build - he is 6ft 2 tall. He has brown/green eyes and medium length dark brown hair (as an example, think Takashi from the Highschool of the Dead anime). He is most often seen in a plain black t-shirt, with dark blue jeans, and black trainers. Alternatively, Alex has kindly drawn a picture of him next to Anjushree.

Personality: Acrifer is a quiet and introverted character that goes about things in a methodical manner. He is, however, of slightly above average intelligence and quietly confident in his own ability. Acrifer is a deep and analytical thinker and enjoys listening to the opinions of others. Despite not being the most social person, Acrifer enjoys company and has a good sense of humour, although he does not take personal criticism well.

Back-Story: Acrifer is a pretty average 22-year-old computer science student from England. He lives alone in a small apartment and spends most of his time reading about his numerous interests, which include technology, elemental magic, and physical geography. When he's not studying, Acrifer also enjoys watching the local sports teams. Beyond this, his life is not particularly eventful, but that doesn't stop him from thinking that he is destined for bigger things. Upon finding a mystery letter in his apartment, Acrifer wonders whether this is the destiny he has been waiting for...

Inventory:

1) A black, leather, shoulder bag containing the following items:
2) Acrifer's favourite textbook on elemental magic
3) A notepad and pen
4) A small, collapsible tent for one person
5) A basic single-edged sword

Abilities: Acrifer has self-taught himself to use electrical elemental magic as part of his technological studies. Using this ability, he is able to light up a large room in the dark and power small electrical appliances. Offensively, Acrifer can produce moderate electric shocks, and at the cost of fatigue, is capable of producing a localised thunderstorm.

Skills: Acrifer is reasonably competent at fixing mechanical and electrical items. He is also capable of driving land-based methods of transport and can swim. His reflexes and running speed are above average for a human. Acrifer is fluent in English and can speak very basic French and Spanish. He is also an accomplished tea and coffee maker.

Weaknesses: Acrifer, being English, does not like extremes of climate at either end of the scale. Despite being knowledgeable, he is fairly inexperienced at using magic and weaponry for offensive purposes. His personality occasionally prevents him from sharing his ideas with others, preferring to hear what other people have to say first.

---

What? Were you expecting something creative from me? :P

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand thats all 6!

I wish to provide the small disclaimer that, as discussed with Andy on MSN, I'm fine with the excistence of electrical contraptions much like computers, Im even fine with them being called computers, but they will be a rarity on this world and overshadowed by the magical contraptions build by the competition. Some say, however, that electronics have the future, and Acrifer might just be one of those ;).

Expect a prologue tomorrow!

Yeah why not. Foo Fighters, Nirvana, Led Zepplin, them crooked vultures and flock of seagulls sounds like an interesting mix.

...am I allowed to have headphones?

headphones would be fine Jack

This, is a prologue. It serves a number of purposes, from my perspective, chief among these purposes is to get into writing this story, and to get into each of your characters. By all means tell me how good or bad a job I did voicing your characters.

The Prologue

On came the creature. Majestically. Swiftly. His body fit to travel through the water, or over the water, or even, as he was doing now, over the land. His back perfectly suited to carry a human, or another being of similar magnitude. He was a creature that was aptly called €œseahorse€. He was the 6 foot tall, intelligent variant of the species, as opposed to his much smaller brethren that could be found in zoos.
He was on a mission. He and 5 of his fellow seahorses. He thought he had the shittiest task of the 5, but he was of a humble and hardworking race. And the payout was great as well. Still, the others had to pick up people who were actually€¦ you know€¦ awake. Not frozen. To have a frozen man read a letter was peanuts given the amenities the organization had at its disposal. But acquiring his physical presence meant the seahorse had to break into Seattle€™s cryogenic facilities. After he finally got into the right cell, the seahorse was puzzled when he found it was empty.
€œWehee€, the seahorse said, with a whinnying sound one might expect from a drowning horse, which was odd because the seahorse was on dry land, €œMr. Grohl? I am your ride for your mission.€
€œOver here mate!€ Dave Grohl said from behind him, €œI was just packing my bag, this will be a blast!€.

*cue intro music*

Observe, the ocean. Six characters, with very little in common, other than the fact that they all received a mysterious letter asking for their assistance in a mysterious mission. The 6 seahorses escorted them such that the 6 of them met simultaneously in the middle of the ocean, to from there move to their final destination in a glorious convoy. This obviously meant that most of the seahorses had to take an absurdly long way to get from A to B, but humble as they are, none complained. And please do not forget the payout was great.
Dave Grohl found himself in the front of the group, holding on to seahorse€™ reins with one hand, chatting with Natsume Oguro and Sir Shirley Ragington the Third. Both were humans, technically, as opposed to the Footonian Dave Grohl. This fact proves that looks can in fact be deceiving. Dave was holding his headphones in his other hand, positioned such that Natsume Oguro could hear the music as well. Led Zeppelin was shouting through the speakers, Stairway to Heaven. Dave was singing along.
€œ€¦if there€™s a bustle in your hedgerow...€
€œHedgerow?! hEDGErow?!?!€, Natsume shouted, €œa whole row of edges?!€
€œ€¦ don€™t be alarmed now€¦€ Dave continued.
Natsume calmed down. €œAlarmed? Me? What are you talking about? I am just my€¦ positive and energetic self€¦ albeit in a world I had never expected to witness firsthand, of course€¦€
€œAdventures in strange new worlds, now that€™s a topic I can relate too.€ Dave said, with a wink.
€œI must say€, Sir Shirley Ragington the Third sighed, €œthat while I approve of your flannel jacket, I find your taste for music outrageous, as well as that so called €œhead banging€ you display to put your awful taste across. I have been in some glorious adventures in my live, but never with such simpletons. When I sunk the Spanish Armada for example, now that was something, don€™t get me started about that!€.
And, for the sake of not turning this prologue into a full-length essay, neither Natsume nor Dave got Sir Shirley Ragington the Third started.
Sir Shirley Ragington the Third grabbed a cup out of his bag, and scooped some water out of the ocean. It cooked instantly.
€œWho wants some tea?€.
Slightly behind these 3, the more introvert duo of Mortimer and Acrifer Castillo were having a chat.
€œSo, you are a Maltese map maker?€, Acrifer asked while looking at the weird creature next to him. Even though the different species on the planet got more and more integrated over the last few centuries, Acrifer believes he had never seen a Moogle before, let alone one that makes maps in Malta.
€œYes I do!€, said Mortimer, somewhat proudly.
€œThen surely you can tell us where we are now, and where we are going?€
€œErrrrm€¦€ Mortimer looked around him, there was no land in sight, €œI did keep track of the route until crossing the Strait of Gibraltar, but I very much lost track since€¦€
Acrifer looked somewhat disappointed€¦
€œBut I do think we are very much in an ocean!€ Mortimer concluded, trying to keep the spirits high.
€œOn University, we got to work with this small computer that could tell one where he is at all times, it works through a connection with some weird contraptions orbiting the Earth. If we were at Uni now I could demonstrate one to you.€, Acrifer said, €œOn the other hand though, I€™m glad I€™m not there. This wonderful letter I got allows me to skip today€™s lecture! And I€™m sure I can accomplish much greater things here than in that classroom.€
Mortimer agreed.

€¦

About a quarter of a mile behind the quintet, was a sole seahorse carrying the 6th member of the team. Despite the specie€™s inherent humbleness, and despite the great payout, the seahorse opened his mouth.
€œListen, Anjushree, I know I am meant to be humble and all, but you are by far the heaviest passenger here, I am used to carrying normal humans you see. I managed to keep up with the rest for most of the route, but my back is starting to get sore€¦ And because your paws can€™t cope with these human made reins you are using your claws to hold on to me€¦€
€œWhat are you hinting at?€ Anjushree asked.
€œWell, see, I can€™t help but notice you can fly€¦ and you are easily strong enough to carry me€¦ could you please help me cover those last few miles?€
€œNonsense!€ the Gryphon shouted, €œI will not have this! I am part of the group, and I will be escorted as such! What a humiliating thought! Me, a leading expert on the field of counter-magic, carrying a horse€¦€
€œSea horse.€
€œ€¦ carrying a sea horse! That thought is preposterous! Besides, I can already see land!€
The seahorse watched with glee to where the gryphon was pointing. Sooner than he had expecting, during the argument between him and his passenger, the other 5 had reached their destination, a small and obscure island in the Atlantic Ocean. It wasn€™t before long that Anjushree too walked on dry land on the island€™s beach.
€œSorry that I couldn€™t keep up with you during the latter half of our journey, fellow adventurers, but luckily we had already become acquainted back when my seahorse was still fresh.€ Anjushree said, €œLets get this adventure started!€

Tune in tomorrow for some actual RPG action!

*round of applause* :D

This is where it starts.

Chapter 1

The unholy sextet stood on the beach, wondering why nobody has welcomed them so far.
Anjushree and Mortimer had flown into the air to get a view of the island, and Mortimer, mapmaker after all, had drawn some lines in the sand.
€œWe seem to be on a small subtropical island, kupo, not unlike my kupo Malta. Unlike Malta, however, there seems to be a massive industrial city in the middle of it all€¦€
€œLook guys, someone left a lawn gnome on the beach!€ Natsume said, somewhat distracted.
€œOf what importance is a stupid lawn gnome?!€ Sir Shirley Ragington the Third replied, €œwe are preparing our mission here!€
€œWe don€™t even know our mission yet€¦ and I thought this lawn gnome was cute, look at that little fishing rod!€
€œI can inform you€ the lawn gnome suddenly said €œthat I am neither stupid nor cute.€
The group stared in amazement.
€œLet me introduce myself, I am G¼nter, I have been selected to welcome you because of the virtue of my extreme patience as a lawn gnome. Sadly this means I can get a bit€¦ isolated€¦€
G¼nter looked at Natsume and Sir Shirley Ragington the Third, pointing with his rod
€œ€¦ but when people call me stupid or cute, I do notice!€
G¼nter turned his view to the rest of the group again
€œWelcome to the island of Houst€™a, I hope you all had a nice journey.€
in the sea stables, Anjushree€™s seahorse whinnied fretfully
€œThat €œcity€ you saw, Moogle, is the Houst€™a International Space Center. Allow me to explain exactly who we are. I realise not many people about what we do nowadays, with the focus of most high-ups in the world being on more fundamental magic these days. And even when it comes to applied magic like ours, people are much more interested in topics like commercial flight and the world wide web and what not€¦ even though we have done such great things!€
G¼nter€™s voice becomes deeper, which is quite something for a 1 foot tall stone creature
€œWe have send people to space! Everyone in the world knows how the Soviet Union managed to send someone into space back in 1961! Many nations had been trying to do it. In the end, the United States of America and the Soviet Union managed to finish their space ladder simultaneously. In what became known as the €œspace race€ the American astronaut and the Russian cosmonaut ran up the steps of their respective ladders. It was space magic at its best! The stairs had been magically reinforced to cover the long distance, the 2 space travellers wore enchanted suits to cope with the lack of oxygen. At first, it seemed the Americans had the advantage, but then the Russians revealed their secret weapon€¦ their candidate was a vampire. During the long way up the ladder, night fell over Moscow, and Yuri Vampirin managed to cover the last few miles of the journey flying. The Americans never stood a chance€¦ but what a great day it was for space magic. The Americans would get their revenge though, when they managed to travel to the Moon in 1969. They had come to realize that space ladders wouldn€™t be suited for this job, and they came up with the greatest pi¨ce de rsistance in space magic known to date€¦ Neil Wolfstrong. What little people knew those days, was that not only did the full Moon affect werewolves, werewolves also affected the full Moon. During the full Moon of July 1969, America assembled all their werewolves on the roof of Florida State Prison. They had chosen this place because it was the primary correctional institute for criminal werewolves. Needless to say the number of werewolves on site was off the charts€¦ and the Moon slowly moved closer and closer to them. This in turn, attracted the ocean waves nearby. Neil Wolfstrong, the best werewolf surfer of all times, rode the resulting tsunami (needless to say, the state€™s elementalists kept the tsunami within limits), and in one giant leap for mankind he made the jump to the Moon€™s surface. Sadly, America had not thought of how to get him back on Earth. It took America 2 years, using the intel they had acquired of the Moon thanks to this mission, as well as the help of the Greek God Apollo, to build a concrete contraption that could actually travel to the Moon to get Neil Wolfstrong back.€
G¼nter€™s eyes turn melancholic.
€œAnyway,€
G¼nter continued
€œso little people actually know what happened since those glory days! We have build more space contraptions! Satellites! We have done research! And we are on the brink of so many classified breakthroughs!€
G¼nter considers that just maybe he should not have said that
€œAnd, maybe more importantly, we unified nations! Look at this island, Houst€™a, an extraterritorial island in the Atlantic Ocean that houses our fully international space center! Russians, Chinese, Americans and Germans like me work alongside each other for the world€™s space needs! Why do so little people actually know us?!€
€œOn our way here, I told Mortimer about the satellites€¦€ Acrifer said, in an attempt to make G¼nter feel better.
€œListen, did we really come here just to hear you give an advertising pitch for some oversized hobby?€ Dave said, undoing Acrifer€™s attempts immediately.
€œNo, most certainly not€
G¼nter replied as calmly as he could
€œyou have come here because we have certain problems€¦ problems other than our lack of publicity, I mean. We are met with€¦ sabotage.€
G¼nter remained silent for a second, hoping to evoke a shocked reaction, no such luck
€œWe have reasons to believe our progress is held back by sabotage from the inside by dangerous people. Sadly no international or even national organisation can be arsed to help us investigate this, even though we do such magnificent work, but we hope you can. What I have got with me is a rough map of the island. Highlights show those spots where we fear sabotage of varying degrees. Other places of interest include the concierge, whose job is it to welcome all visitors, and the storage hall where you might find stuff to help you.€
G¼nter took the A0-sized map out of his gnome-sized pocket. He struggled to unfold it, dropping his rod in the process, and gave it to the team.
€œSo, what€™s it gonna be?€

Mortimer *is looking at map* I find these places interesting, kupo...

(MASSIVELY OOC BIT: having briefly discussed it with Marti it has been sort of agreed that Mortimer will use his super geography skills to determine and make visible more information about all the places on this map that we have the option to go to, hehe XD)

Anjushree has some questions for the gnome:

1) Out of all the people in the world, why were we selected?
2) Can you give us any more details of what type of sabotage has been going on?
3) Does your program have any enemies that might be obvious suspects?

Natsume will stand there and look cute I guess. And ignore Ragington because he was being mean. :P

On a more serious note, she will second Anjushree's first two questions. She will also ask what will be provided for this task.

(also, not to be an arse or anything, Marti, but Natsume doesn't realize she actually HAS that edgemaniac personality; it just bursts out of her at such times.)

As I said Kody, the main purpose of the prologue was to get the hang of your personalities, so its fine that you comment on it...

... BUT, Im under the impression that I wrote Natsume much like what you just described, getting all worked up over the idea of an edge item the one moment, and acting like Alarmed? Me? I don't know what you are talking about the next, but by all means correct me if Im overlooking something :)

Expect the answers of your questions to be posted soon!

G¼nter listened to the questions asked by those in front of him, while Mortimer grabbed the map.

€œYou ask me fair questions, Anjushree and Natsume. As to why the 6 of you have been selected to complete this task€¦ it is because my superiors decided to. I am but a mere corporal of Houst€™a€™s Guard, entitled with the task of welcoming you, it were my superiors who actually selected you for this job. However, my superiors are highly capable men and women, and I am sure they had good reasons to pick you.

On the topic of what we can provide you, we will provide you 6 beds in the Houst€™a Space Hotel, as well as daily rations of food and water in hotel€™s restaurant.€
G¼nter points at the map using his rod.
€œFurthermore we will provide each of you with 50 Money€™s each day to spend as you wish at the Center€™s facilities. Even those people that do know of us, don€™t seem to realise that we really are a sovereign city-state, with all the buildings and facilities one might expect there. Heavily geared towards space, granted. And last but not least, I already mentioned the Center€™s massive storage hall. I have permission to grant you access to one of its backrooms and have each of you pick something from there. It is a fabulous collection of artefacts that Houst€™a Space Center acquired over the 10 years we have been active. It consists of such things as failed or unfinished experiments, outdated models, some archaic space equipment from the glory days of space travel, and some stuff that we simply found during our fabulous space work. I couldn€™t possibly tell you about the whole collection from the top of my head, you would have to see it with your own eyes, but I can say I€™m particularly proud of our enchanted piece of moonstone and the swimming trunks Neil Wolfstrong wore on the Moon.

About the potential enemies of Houst€™a€¦ I am reasonably sure that nearly everyone who gives a damn about our work, negatively or positively, resides within the perimeter of the island. First of all, I should mention the organisation €œOwn Planet First€. They are an organisation whose believe is that all creatures that originate on Earth, should at all times stay on Earth, and that all aliens should stay on their home planet for that matter.€
Dave Grohl looked annoyed.
€œDespite their passionate believes, they are normally a peaceful organisation, which caused my superiors to decide to offer this organisation their very own office on this island, to act as a moral backbone for the Houst€™a Space Center, and to show that we are open to criticism. Myself, I don€™t for one second understand what point €œOwn Planet First€ is trying to make, and I naturally distrust anyone who opposes to the great idea of space travel. Next, there€™s the Swiss consul. When I said that we unified nations, I really should have added that the Swiss have always been more of a hindrance than an ally. Even when most nations as a whole are careless about our work, their representatives that ended up here have always been helpful people. Not the Swiss. The Space Center as such has no Swiss employees whatsoever, and the Swiss consul is a most grumpy and negative man€¦ I can€™t put my finger on why this might be, but it makes me distrust the Swiss with a passion. I€™d also wish to point at the crime in Houst€™a. I am puzzled about why Houst€™a even has ordinary crime, we are a Space Center for crying out loud and everyone who came here 10 years ago came for just that purpose. I can see why we ended up having butchers and hairdressers, astronauts have to eat and get their hair cut after all, but criminals? Our mathematicians have worked out that when a certain place looks like a city, the odds of crime appearing within its border approaches 100%. We are pretty sure that our most significant criminals currently reside in the Houst€™a Prison, but one can never know how far their influence might reach. There€™s the Houst€™a Mafia€¦ their known members are imprisoned, all 4 of them. Then there€™s Chris, he was an excellent engineer for us, but then it turned out he had been stealing stuff during work time to build himself an enchanted power armour. We managed to apprehend him only just before he managed to finish it, but even then he did put up a good fight in his unfinished suit. Then there is Marc Mars. He is a wizard who threatened to summon a Mars invasion on Earth in the name of the Earth-based Mars Cult. At this point we have found no evidence that Martians, or the Mars Cult Marc refered to for that matter, even exist, but with a wizard as powerful as he is you take no second chances. Pity, his powers could have been useful for our purpose€¦ Beyond those, our other prisoners are really just insignificant petty criminals.

About the details of the sabotage€¦ allow me to point out some hotspots on the map, although I€™m sure Mortimer already figured out what I€™m gonna say now.€
Mortimer looks somewhat proud.
€œIn advance I wish to say I€™m really not much of an expert on the exact workings of space magic or space technology myself, so for further details I wish to point you to our concierge, situated here, who can help you contact our many different experts.€
G¼nter points to the concierge€™s location.
€œBut what I can say, is that someone has been trying to mess with the Large Lemon Collider. A great apparatus. We can learn so much from colliding lemons, like the nature of the universe around is, or how to harness quintessential energy for our own purposes. Recently though, the Large Lemon Collider seems to have stopped working. Our experts are currently running calculations to find the cause of all of this, but due to their sheer complexity these calculations will take months. Guardsmen, however, with their trained eyes, saw within mere seconds that the door to the Collider had been opened with excessive force. Foul play I say! Then there€™s the second highlighted spot on the map. That big area there called €œclassified€. I am not allowed to tell you exactly what is going on there, but it€™s a top-notch science and magic facility. It€™s a mess in there, and so much has gone to waste. Our best guess is that someone had forced his way inside and wrecked havoc. Shortly afterwards, our Mobility Center, where a large portion of our space vehicles are stored. Flat tires, bolts screwed loose, clearly someone badly wanted to sabotage our fleet. And strangely, these crooks left but one vehicle untouched, the Lightnar 2000. Luckily, our mechanics have since managed to repair most vehicles€¦€
G¼nter sighed
€œ€¦ but the sabotage did not stop at that. Those 3 situations were merely the most striking and important examples, but I could just as easily tell you of at least 10 other examples. Broken levers, jammed doors, the lot. Over the last few weeks, someone clearly wanted to hinder us in our great job€¦ the Houst€™a Guard hasn€™t made any progress on the matter, and now the higher-ups want to put this mission in your hands€¦€

(danke Martijn)

Natsume: Um... *still adjusting to having her character as a real living body...as opposed to a character within a game while she herself is behind an M2D (some virtual reality helmet thing). She flexes her fingers nervously* These...these Swiss guys...um, do you think they might have a reason for what they're doing...? *twiddles fingers nervously*

I don't suppose that the Lemon Collider could have run out of lemons or something like that. Does it produce lemonade as a result of the lemons colliding? Ragington asks, looking more curious then angry, at least for the moment. And about those space vehicles, the one that was left, was it not worth taking apart, or too difficult? Or perhaps someone behind this buisness has an.... attatchment to that one vehicle. A mystery, this is...

He taps his chin thoughtfully with the handle of his cane. However, before we investigate too much of this and possibly crack some skulls as it were, I have to confess that I believe we should head for the storage hall first, or perhaps second. A place as well guarded as, say, that Collider got broken into, so it wouldn't be a stretch for someone to break in and go after the wolfman's swimming trunks, or other things of worth to this Space Center. Wouldn't want to miss out on some quality things.

Hardly an expert on the Swiss, but to me they are a grumpy and selfish bunch!

For the exact workings of the Large Lemon Collider, there are others that understand that thing better than I do... and as far as that 1 undamaged space vehicle is concerned, I understand that the Lightnar 2000 is an excellent vehicle for 1-person space flight, praised for its high top speed. I wouldn't know why just that 1 vehicle was undamaged.

The storage hall... if you lot decide to go there, I can lead the way if you wish.

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!

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

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

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

€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.

€œWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEE!!!!!€ 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€¦€

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.

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.

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

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!

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!