[IC] The New Mythos: Trials and Tribulations

[Arkrite]

Felix Ian Xavier - Mr. FIX I.T.
Status: Normal
HP: 1

Felix came in full gear again.
Paranoid? Maybe, but at least nobody could call him unprepared.

That being said he made a mental note to fix his coat with a cooling system. And maybe a heating system.
There was so much work to be done but at the moment he had been distracted. The book, though he'd barely managed to translate any of it, had offered a few insights that had distracted him.

The next thing he'd known he'd been building a couple of devices. Some mundane, some anything but.

"Alright, let's not harass, uh, the... giant... tree," Felix called out, then pulled a gold collar with a Green, Orange, Purple, Blue, Yellow, and Red gemstone on it. At first glance, and even a closer inspection, it looked like it was an item of extreme value.
The truth was a little less impressive. As Felix wasn't rolling in money he'd built the frame out of copper, carved in the runes, then simply gold plated it. The gemstones were harder, but with a little finagling, a kludge-work device he'd put together to build gemstones based off the one he'd taken from the orb, and a lot of magic rituals...

It was a gold plated collar with synthetic diamonds, but it looked impressive.

But the real trick was the magic set into it. It would allow a being with enough intelligence to communicate in English. To be honest he suspected the tiny dragon thing would only be able to give them affirmatives, negatives, or just general feelings.

"Hey, look what I got for you," He said dangling the collar in the air to let it catch the light, "Want the nice shiny new collar?"

[Bladewind]

"Copper"
Cond: Normal
HP: 1

The dragonling harumphed. But didn't back away. The collar was so... sparkly and shiny !

He let Felix replace the one he was wearing and then began to bleat and bark about he wanted the mage to put his name tag on the new collar. Instead...

"Hey ! My people gave me that!" He was also making gestures with his front claws, that might have been ASL... "At least leave me the name tag!"

He looked around at what was likely stunned silence, not understanding why as his "voice" still sounded normal to Copper....

[Doctor Malsyn]

The spirit cocked it's head to the side. "Something about that collar feels familiar."

[Arkrite]

Felix Ian Xavier - Mr. FIX I.T.
Status: Normal
HP: 1

Felix looks at Copper with his jaw hanging open for a long couple of seconds.

Not only was it able to use the collar to communicate, but it already figured out how to use it, and spoke English. Felix closed his mouth, suddenly glad he hadn't made any negative comments about the dragon's intelligence, it was obviously much smarter than he'd been expecting.

"Huh... well, that works," Felix says as he considers the mundane collar in his hands for a moment. Two robotic hands appear from behind his coat and removes the tags, and starts working the collar's leather into a means of hanging the tag from the new golden collar.

"Yeah, well, I had that hunk of the orb left over from the last time we were together. It was inert, never going to work, can't put humpty dumpty back together again. Buuuut I started reading that book and saw something about altering magical items... long story short, the orb could talk, so I took the leftover hunk, made it into those gems and patched it together so it can let who ever wears it talk," Felix says, bending down so he can add the tags onto the new collar, "How's that-"

Felix looks down at the tag then back at the Dragon, "Copper?"

[Bladewind]

"Copper"
Cond: Normal
HP: 1

"Sure beats trying to mime things." he says, "But, I'm not talking any differently than I was before..."

A mystery on the how and why it worked, but Copper was ecstatic that he could suddenly be understood.

"Always liked that name. Especially after I became this..." he indicates his draconic form, "So... you actually understand me now?"

Copper had no experience to draw on recordings or audio-visual equipment, and so couldn't wonder how that might work, so he did something that was a little more expected of him... as Felix affixed his tags to the new collar, Copper stood on his hind legs and put his foreclaws on the mage's shoulders. He stopped just short of licking the man's face... instead letting out what would have been a couple of barks a few moments ago...

"Thank you."

[Doctor Malsyn]

"I could always understand you. It's why I knew you were a perfect fit for this gathering." Echo explains. He turns his gaze briefly to Velari and Cheyenne, who have so far taking the introductions in quiet. He says nothing, prompting them momentarily with merely a look.

[EpicEclipse]

Velari Larosa
1 :HP ο COND: -1 Damage resist, Dazed
Array: Enhanced Attack(Multiattack) 3, Multiple Limbs 5

The day was saved, ice cream was had, and the group all went their own ways. It almost seemed like the end of some kind of movie, but not really the end of the story. Velari knew there would be future instances where Echo would call and her and the others to bring more justice and right more wrongs, or stop bad people from doing bad things, and so it happened.

Velari had been spending her downtime in study and practice, trying new things with her malleable form, thinking it might be useful during a mission someday when Echo contacted her via text message to meet up at the same abandoned warehouse as before.

Dropping everything, Velari made her way to the meeting place to be on time, stalling at the sight of the oversized tree person and a teenager among four of the others that had been on the previous mission. She was sad to hear the others had not worked out, but curiously looks at the newcomers, trying not to look too weird, hard as that is for a pseudo-solid goo-lady to do.

"Hi newcomers. I'm Velari Larosa. Nice to meet you, and you too Copper, now that we can talk to you and understand!"

[Arkrite]

Felix Ian Xavier - Mr. FIX I.T.
Status: Normal
HP: 1

Felix was glad for the high collar on his jacket and the big boxy shades, it helped hide his surprise at suddenly having a dragon's face right in his.

"Hey, no problem. I just kind of realized I could do it while reading that book and," He shrugs, "It just kind of worked."

"It'll translate over to English when you're talking, but I didn't have time for anything more fancy than that," Felix said, "And it doesn't really have a power source so if you take it off it might work for somebody else for a couple minutes or an hour or something. But after that it'll just be a collar until somebody with some magic in them puts it on."

[catsi563]

Cheyenne
HP: 1; Condition: hunter

Cheys morning began as it always did, with a 20 mile run around the lake basin. Followed up by a run at a local gym where she did the best she could with the max weight available. Then followed it up by pounding the crap out of an improvised heavy bag made out of an Iron tank filled with sand and concrete suspended by anchor chains from an A frame made of I beams.

Once that was done she downed a breakfast of about a dozen eggs scrambled, and enough bacon and hash browns to feed a football team. Fortunately for her budget she knew a guy who knew a gal who gave her a serious discount at an all you can eat buffet.

After a shower she made her way to the meeting spot where she plopped herself down on an impromptu couch made of some heaped blocks of concrete. Not the most comfortable, but it worked in a pinch for a nap as she waited for the others who arrived soon enough.

She nodded at the newcomers in greeting though she remained quiet mostly observing the proceedings. She did give a bit of a grunt of surprise and a chuckle of approval as Copper was given the ability to speak. She always figured he was more intelligent then his dog like tendencies would warrant but this was something else all together.

[Doctor Malsyn]

Echo turned his head up as a cloud passed far overheard, snuffing the beams of light which had been poking through holes in the ceiling. "Time to move to business then."

His form flickered, to where he was now standing in roughly the center of your group. "As I said before, you did good work. But even good work can be incomplete. That building was the only solid location I had in my mind for you to start, but I hope your trail hasn't gone cold yet. What you need now is information. Tell me, do you have anything that hints where to go next from here?"

[pathfinderq1]

His form flickered, to where he was now standing in roughly the center of your group. "As I said before, you did good work. But even good work can be incomplete. That building was the only solid location I had in my mind for you to start, but I hope your trail hasn't gone cold yet. What you need now is information. Tell me, do you have anything that hints where to go next from here?"

Jenny Ember
HP: 1; LP: 1; Condition: on the case

The young girl paused for just a moment, taking a cautious look around the group- they were new faces, and for the most part rather formidable in aspect. But work was work, after all...

"Information can be had, I think. I know a few... people I might be able to ask," she said, still quiet but confidently. "I didn't want to pry around the edges on my own, but if we're working together..." Her voice trailed off, and she cocked her head as if listening, turning towards an empty spot outside the group's circle.

"Was it you lot, then?," she asked after a moment. "Were you all the group that busted up the place down Daedalous way a week or so back? I heard about from a friend or two, but well, something like second- or third-hand... There was woman about nine feet tall, and some kind of bird or bat or something..." She looked at Cheyenne and Copper in turn. "But somebody said there was some kind of glowing ghost and a giant spider too."

"If it was you, that was well-done, a real favor to the neighborhood. I mean, I still can't go in there, but I've got other spots, and it is getting better in there instead of getting worse. And hey, if it was you, do you have anything from there, anything the Mazerunners might have left behind? If you do, I might be able to do more than just ask around..."

[Camus]

Everything moved so quickly lately. He had just raised his hand to greet each of the people present, but before he could even address any of them in particular, the dragon had come by trying to mark him as his territory, then 70s Gandalf had miraculously made the dragon able to speak, and the others had introduced themselves, and Echo had ask for information. The little girl was already spilling beans. Even recapitulating all this was probably going to take him enough time for the others to chime in and say their piece.
He was a living tree now, and it was to expect that animal life would seem to rushed. The faster he accepts this, the sooner he could start contributing to this endeavour, and start earning some money.
"I..." he began to say, not wishing to interrupt too much what was already being said. A thing impossible, given the sheer volume and impact of his voice. "I could ask the plants..." he added. His branch-like arm started to descend from his greeting wave, but he lifted the other one. Leaves rustled and bark creaked. A single one of his 3 fingers lifted pointing to the sky. "If I could examine the drug I could potentially discover their source ingredients and we could trace their origin." he explained. "If I had a lab..."

[Bladewind]

"Copper"
Cond: Normal
HP: 1

"Great. I get to speak, and then get upstaged by a talking tree." he says, displaying an impressive vocabulary.

[Doctor Malsyn]

"That's life, kid." Echo consoles, in utter deadpan.

[Arkrite]

Felix Ian Xavier - Mr. FIX I.T.
Status: Normal
HP: 1

Felix shrugs, "All I found out was that there was a Minotaur involved, who may or may not have some illusion powers. But there was a whole bunch of papers..."

He looks over at Cheyenne, as he vaguely remembered her taking some of the papers.