[NEXUS] Nexus Scouts!

[OrchestraHc]

Timmy is actually incredibly impressed by Druid Princess Mikani, but doesn't get much chance to say, not that he'd have the guts to, so before the scoutmaster makes his debut.

Scoutmaster Harris... Honestly, aside from the armor, he's exactly what Timmy would expect someone who would run an "Adventurers Camp."

Of course, introvert rule one, say absolutely nothing when not asked directly. He does step into the camp but quickly moves to the side to allow others to walk through.

He also notices that, with the possible exception of Spiky Armor and Mysterious Hooded Figure, there are only two boys.

[Reinholdt]

With the possible exception of Spiky Armor and Mysterious Hooded Figure, there are only three girls.

Treasure? Someone said Treasure?
ALL OF A SUDDEN there's an adorable blue cat at the Scoutmaster's feet, looking up at him adorably. He's totally going to participate and steal all the kid's treasures.
Well he would if he could hear that.

Anyways MHF sorta stays where it is, which is just the absolute rear of any potential participation circle. Hmm... there are rules. Rules which contradict its purpose for being here. What'll it do?
Well... it supposes it could wait until after the camp to fulfill its purpose for being here. Maybe. Hopefully Master won't mind the delay.

MHF likewise doesn't give a response to poor scoutmaster Harris. Two strikes already. Poor guy. I like him too.

[Morcleon]

Cerise smiles admiringly at the Magical Girl. "W- Wow... That's... amazing..." She finishes with a whisper.

The scoutmaster's introduction leaves the young ghost rather stunned, and she tilts her head to the side, making a small "Hawaa...?" sound as she does so.

It's not quite an answer, but hey, at least it's a response.

[Earl of Purple]

Natalie will accept Jamie's hug, whilst Oddball remains napping in Jamie's rucksack. Also, whilst Jamie is Mikani, something happens to Oddball that may or may not be immediately apparent whilst he sleeps.

Fortunately, after a short period, Scoutmaster Harris appears and barks his question. Oddball jumps up and peeks from Jamie's rucksack, declaiming "Oddish!" If at that point, Jamie is still Mikani, Oddball is mysteriously green. If not, however, Oddball is his usual bluey purple.

Natalie actually responds to Scoutmaster Harris. "Yes, Sir!" Natalie also straightened, but more because she's startled than anything else. But not startled enough to become a bird and fly away, or anything like that.

[The Alexandrian]

...

SQUEEEEEEEE!!!

Oh her gods, this scoutmaster man is so cool and epic and amazing!

This little girl/monster costumed in daedric armor thought this camp would be exactly like every run of the mill summer camp for wittle kids. She thought the scouts and counselors would really be digging hiking and canoe paddling lessons and blah, blah, blah, blah, BLAH! boring stuff, but she thought wrong! This guy is wearing dead things as armor! He's a hunter just like she is! And free treasure! Wow! She would definitely tackleglomp the scoutmaster if he wasn't so far away. Definitely. And if he wasn't pointing his sword skyward and being so fantastically cool...

She's astonishingly getting the feeling that she's going to absolutely adore this camp! Save for the rules bit. Yuck!

All of the kiddies (with the notable exception of Natalie) so far have done nothing but look askance at their scoutmaster after he delivered his motivational introduction-welcome speech thing! That's not the enthusiasm that the scoutmaster this little girl/monster can already identify with deserves if you ask Spiky Armor!

Without a single discouraging thought as to what everyone else might think of her for doing this, she swiftly lifts her her right arm and a clenched fist into the air and roars,

"Adventure time! Huzzah!"

at her inspiring scoutmaster! He won her respect and excitement fair and square! Because treasure plus dead things equals cooooool!!!

[Morcleon]

Glancing over at the fangirling Spiky Armor, Cerise begins gigglin uncontrollably. She doubles up in the air, and manages to squeak out through her mirth a few barely comprehensible words. Prominent among them include "Oh god", Kodomo, "no", and "Jikon".

After a few seconds, she calms down somewhat and wipes a ghostly tear off of her twinkling eyes. "I'm- I'm sorry... I'm not laughing at you... I swear..."

[FireFox]

Hadrian nods while looking the scoutmaster over, but continues not saying anything.

[Gullara]

Oh look, a latecomer arrives. Mostly because her player has finally got around to posting. The girl in question looks to be around twelve or maybe just about thirteen. Her hair is crimson red and pulled back in a rough ponytail. Her skin is somewhat tanned from being outdoors and her eyes are green. She wears a grey tshirt and brown cargo pants. On her feet are a pair of sturdy looking hiking books with hot pink socks poking out the top. On her head she wears a red hat with a white brim and a grey spots where the brim meets the rest of the hat. Slung over her shoulder is a brown bag, and there's a band going over her torso that holds what some there might recognize as pokeballs.

She looks at those present as she half pays attention to the Scoutmaster talk (which she clearly showed up just in time to hear). When she spots Jamie and Natalie, she waves and hurries over to them. "Hey, never thought I'd see you guys here."

[The Bushranger]

Jamie is indeed still Druid Princess Mikani, and she listens intently to the Scoutmaster. Her eyes brightening at the prospect of TREASURE.

"Yes, sir! I'm ready!" she declares with a grin.

Before turning to Cerise, and offering her hand for shaking with a smile. The ghostly scout should find herself able to make contact!

...and as the Pokeball-toter arrives, the Magical Girl grins broadly. "Becca! Long time no see!"

[ThirdEmperor]

Ouch. Tough crowd. Like, two people put any amount of enthusiasm into that. After he bribed them with treasure, even!

Allllll-RIGHT then, Junior Adventurers! He claps his hands together, a twisting thread of sorcerery weaving it's way between them then down into the earth. From that same patch of earth a flag sprouts, it's bright green banner unfurling to display the camp crest; A stylized dragon being struck down by thunder.

Your first quest is thusly; Around the camp you will find flags like this one. EXACTLY like this one! Search high and low, leave no rock unturned and keep your wits about you, for each flag returned to me in the next thirty minutes is worth ONE POINT! Ready! Set! Making the shape of a gun with his thumb and pointer fingers, Scoutmaster Harris aims towards the heavens. And, like magic, because magic is precisely what it is, a gunshot sounds and a nearby cloud rains confetti down. GO!


Considering the nature of this quest, I suppose it's only fair to reiterate and clarify the layout of the camp. There are of course the ten outer cabins and the counselors cabin at the center, in addition to the docks at the lake's edge. Besides that, however, the grounds are currently occupied by two other buildings.

The first is little more than a metal tent- A squat, triangular structure of corrugated tin moored in place to keep it from toppling at the first breeze, it's walls covered in a bright mural of eclectic symbols.

The second is a stable, antiquated and fairly standard. Three rows of three pens each beneath a thatched roof, with a carpet of old straw over the ground. What's contained within the pens is a little less normal... But I can't give everything away, can I?

[Morcleon]

Cerise grabs Jamie's hand and shakes it enthusiastically. She keeps her hold onto it for a bit longer, relishing the feeling of being able to feel something physical, before letting go with a slight giggle.

As the scoutmaster announces their first quest, she listens in and inwardly smirks. Giving out an individual competition almost immediately after a speech about teamwork? It's like he expected them to just go off and- Oh wait. That is what most people would do.

Addressing rest of the group, she begins speaking hesitantly. "Ah, everyone here has their own strengths and weaknesses... Perhaps we would find more flags if we teamed up...?"

[Reinholdt]

Very tough crowd.

MHF stares at the Scoutmaster, unbudging from her position. Points? Why would anyone want points?

At the very least Cerise draws the unnerving constant stare away from Scoutmaster Harris and to her.
Staaaaaaaaaaaare.

[Morcleon]

Her eyes flicking over to MHF a few times, Cerise sighs. Why does everyone have stare and make her feel self-conscious? Finally turning around, she addresses her starer. "Umm... Is there anything you need...?"

[Reinholdt]

"No."
Staaaaaaaaaaaaare.

[OrchestraHc]

Right. Timmy would like to team-up with cerise, but that wasn't directed at him. Introvert rule one and all.

She wouldn't want him on her team anyway.

"High and low?" he mutters to himself to himself. Would the scoutmaster had been prepared for flying campers? Could be a goose chase, but what's the harm in checking.

Loosening the grip on his powers, Timmy steps into an invisible cube of psychic force. The cube lifts off the ground gently at his will. The first choice is to hover slightly above the cabin roofs, inspecting them like a glass bottom boat tour.

[Morcleon]

Blinking at MHF, Cerise shrugs and turns away. "Okay, suit yourself."

To the rest of the group, she continues, a bit more confidently this time. "Jamie- er, Mikali. If you have any way to send out animals as scouts, that would be very helpful. Hadrian, Natalie, Becca, MHF, Spiky Armor, I have no idea what you guys can do. If you have a magical way to find stuff, use it. If not, split up into teams, and spread out. Timmy can fly, so I'll be up there helping him out."

She floats up into the air, circling over to Timmy. She had seen that brief flicker of pessimism. After all, one does not learn to assassinate effectively without learning how to read body language. Dipping her head into various buildings, she smiles over to the flying psychic. "So, do you have any clairsentience detection abilities?"

[Gullara]

Flag, right. Becca watches the two flying people move away for a moment before looking back at those there. "Come on, let's go look over there." She points at the stables. There would be time for catching up later. *nod*

[Earl of Purple]

Entrance- Flag Hunt

"I can't see in colour as a bird, but I could otherwise fly. There's no lake that I can see, but if anybody finds one let me know. I'll probably be monkeying around." With that last word, Natalie slowly grows short black fur over her entire body as her clothes are absorbed into her clothes, a long tail grows from the base of her spine and her thumbs are absorbed as well. When the process is over, Natalie's a black-furred spider monkey and will go bounding off to search any nearby trees. She's keeping her rucksack for the time being, though it has not been absorbed by her transformation.

[The Bushranger]

"Mikani," the Magical Girl gently corrects. And frowns a little. "I'm...not that powerful yet. I can talk to animals, a little, and soothe them, but I can't summon or anything. My powers are more, ah, offensive in nature," she explains.

She then turns to Becca, and peers in the direction pointed in. "I guess that'd be a good start? Let's go!"

[The Alexandrian]

Cerise's bizarre manga reference and over-the-top giggle fit give Spiky Armor pause. She hasn't taken offense to anything that Cerise has done (or if she has, she's not showing it) but... What?

She holds up an index finger as she draws her awesome cell from one of her magical murder bags and searches for the string of words...

Okay! Casper has expressed an interest in Spiky Armor's love life! That's weird, yo! And blush-worthy! Not that anyone would notice with her scary helmet and all!

"Oh, don't think like that, Casper! I assure you that there's more than enough of me for you two to share."

She retorts because Casper and...and weird! Spiky armor must take her revenge by embarrassing Cerise! Revenge!

And then monkey-girl and flag-seeking and...

Hold up! Nobody sniffed at the scoutmaster's flag to acquire its scent and the scoutmaster's scent! Someone has to do it! And Spiky Armor is up to bat, so she'll try to do just that! And then she'll attempt to return the flag to the scoutmaster. Possible one point for wit?

Now it is time for tracking! Spiky Armor smells the air in an attempt to retrace the scoutmaster's steps around camp with her amazing olfactory senses!

[Morcleon]

In the instant before she had taken flight, Cerise hears Spiky Armor's reply, and freezes, her translucent face turning bright red. "I- I- I don't... but that... and you... the... ah... nevermindI'mgoingnow."

And then she flies off.

[Gullara]

Becca runs toward the stables, only looking back a couple times to make sure Jamie is following. She'll run inside without any hesitation what so ever assuming the entrance is obvious.

[OrchestraHc]

Blinking at MHF, Cerise shrugs and turns away. "Okay, suit yourself."

To the rest of the group, she continues, a bit more confidently this time. "Jamie- er, Mikali. If you have any way to send out animals as scouts, that would be very helpful. Hadrian, Natalie, Becca, MHF, Spiky Armor, I have no idea what you guys can do. If you have a magical way to find stuff, use it. If not, split up into teams, and spread out. Timmy can fly, so I'll be up there helping him out."

She floats up into the air, circling over to Timmy. She had seen that brief flicker of pessimism. After all, one does not learn to assassinate effectively without learning how to read body language. Dipping her head into various buildings, she smiles over to the flying psychic. "So, do you have any clairsentience detection abilities?"

She... She wants him on her team? This makes him quite happy, before she asks him for an ability he doesn't have. Failed before he even began. "No," he says nervously. "I just make shapes. Invisible shapes."

[Reinholdt]

MHF sinks into the ground, disappearing into a darkness.

Before proceeding to search through the shadows to try and find the flags. Shadows and staring are what MHF's best at. This should be right up its tree. So to speak.

[Morcleon]

Cerise sighs and runs a hand through her hair before giving him an encouraging smile. Come on, you gotta keep your allies happy, otherwise they'll be all mopey and what not. "It's okay. Your shapes can help you fly. ...you are flying with your shapes, aren't you?"

[FireFox]

Hadrian considers reading the Scoutmaster's mind to find the location of the flags... but when his parents found out he could see other people's thoughts they told him to never do it without permission. So, after looking at Mikani, he quickly walks off on his own towards the metal tent.


Cat saunters on over to the Scoutmaster to talk to him after the kiddies run off. Want me to stay here with you or follow and make sure they don't stab each other in the back over collecting the flags?

[ThirdEmperor]

Right. Timmy would like to team-up with cerise, but that wasn't directed at him. Introvert rule one and all.

She wouldn't want him on her team anyway.

"High and low?" he mutters to himself to himself. Would the scoutmaster had been prepared for flying campers? Could be a goose chase, but what's the harm in checking.

Loosening the grip on his powers, Timmy steps into an invisible cube of psychic force. The cube lifts off the ground gently at his will. The first choice is to hover slightly above the cabin roofs, inspecting them like a glass bottom boat tour.

The cabins have been built in the style of hunting lodges- Blocky, rectangular buildings with sloping thatched roofs, their walls made of stacked timber, held up about a foot above the ground by supporting posts set at each corner. Windows look out from the upper floors, while each building is suspended about a foot off the ground by supporting pillars at each corner.

From his bird's eye view of the camp, Timmy has the advantage upon his flightless peers, many of the flags having been hidden with a lower perspective in mind. Right away he should be able to spot a flag perched atop the third cabin's chimney stack, then another, more cleverly concealed inside the gutterpipe running along cabin no. eight's roof, partway hidden under the leaves.

Blinking at MHF, Cerise shrugs and turns away. "Okay, suit yourself."

To the rest of the group, she continues, a bit more confidently this time. "Jamie- er, Mikali. If you have any way to send out animals as scouts, that would be very helpful. Hadrian, Natalie, Becca, MHF, Spiky Armor, I have no idea what you guys can do. If you have a magical way to find stuff, use it. If not, split up into teams, and spread out. Timmy can fly, so I'll be up there helping him out."

She floats up into the air, circling over to Timmy. She had seen that brief flicker of pessimism. After all, one does not learn to assassinate effectively without learning how to read body language. Dipping her head into various buildings, she smiles over to the flying psychic. "So, do you have any clairsentience detection abilities?"

Peeking into the lodges should give Cerise a better impression of how the campers will be housed during the stay, if little else. All the cabins have the same structure, the top floor divided into a hallway, two bathrooms and six individual rooms, the lower primarily taken up by a single rec room with a kitchen area to the side.

But as for flags... there's none in sight! Not in plain sight at least. Searching more carefully might turn up better results, but to do that, she'd have to pick a cabin in particular- Besides the basic layout they're quite different.

"Mikani," the Magical Girl gently corrects. And frowns a little. "I'm...not that powerful yet. I can talk to animals, a little, and soothe them, but I can't summon or anything. My powers are more, ah, offensive in nature," she explains.

She then turns to Becca, and peers in the direction pointed in. "I guess that'd be a good start? Let's go!"

The creatures in the pens seem to sense the presence of visitors, starting to stir and move around in their cages as Becca and Mikani approach. The whole place smells of unwashed fur and old straw, with a rather disturbing undertone of raw meat from the last two pens, marked #5 and #6.

Where will the two be searching, precisely?

Entrance- Flag Hunt

"I can't see in colour as a bird, but I could otherwise fly. There's no lake that I can see, but if anybody finds one let me know. I'll probably be monkeying around." With that last word, Natalie slowly grows short black fur over her entire body as her clothes are absorbed into her clothes, a long tail grows from the base of her spine and her thumbs are absorbed as well. When the process is over, Natalie's a black-furred spider monkey and will go bounding off to search any nearby trees. She's keeping her rucksack for the time being, though it has not been absorbed by her transformation.

There are a couple of trees within the camp boundaries, mainly oak and sycamore. Can't imagine Natalie will have much trouble climbing them in monkey-form, but extracting the flag she finds hidden in the fourth one she checks might be a bit more of a problem-

A bird has appropriated it as nesting material you see, a fat old pigeon that even now stares warily at Natalie, as if daring her to try and disrupt it's nest.

MHF sinks into the ground, disappearing into a darkness.

Before proceeding to search through the shadows to try and find the flags. Shadows and staring are what MHF's best at. This should be right up its tree. So to speak.

Hmm... Tricky. Can't really say what the Mysterious Hooded Figure discovers without knowing which shadows it'll be searching. There's enough that looking through all of them in the alloted time would be impossible.

But so that this post isn't entirely wasted on questions, let's say it finds the flag hidden in the nearest patch of shadows. That would be the one tucked into a roll of hay, in turn hidden under the counselor's cabin.

Hadrian considers reading the Scoutmaster's mind to find the location of the flags... but when his parents found out he could see other people's thoughts they told him to never do it without permission. So, after looking at Mikani, he quickly walks off on his own towards the metal tent.

If Hadrian has any knowledge in alchemical symbols he might recognize the scrawlings on the tent walls as such, but they're still just that, scrawlings. There's nothing of note outside the tent, so let's skip to the interior-

Which is likely the last place you'd want to be searching for something in. The smell of burning rubber hangs in the air like a choking cloud, the grass underfoot charred and brittle. Opposite the door and thus likely the first thing Hadrian will spot, the far wall is taken up entirely by bulky coal-burning boilers, rusting copper pipes suspended from the ceiling stretching between cauldrons, hydraulic pumps and all manner of apparatus.

Folding tables occupy the space between these instruments, laden heavy with bottles of the usual suspects- Red and blue and yellow solutions, opalescent liquid metals, some hold nothing more than smoke, twisting and writhing against the glass like it's trying to escape. There's even a ship in a bottle, baring it's colors proudly.

Cerise's bizarre manga reference and over-the-top giggle fit give Spiky Armor pause. She hasn't taken offense to anything that Cerise has done (or if she has, she's not showing it) but... What?

She holds up an index finger as she draws her awesome cell from one of her magical murder bags and searches for the string of words...

Okay! Casper has expressed an interest in Spiky Armor's love life! That's weird, yo! And blush-worthy! Not that anyone would notice with her scary helmet and all!

"Oh, don't think like that, Casper! I assure you that there's more than enough of me for you two to share."

She retorts because Casper and...and weird! Spiky armor must take her revenge by embarrassing Cerise! Revenge!

And then monkey-girl and flag-seeking and...

Hold up! Nobody sniffed at the scoutmaster's flag to acquire its scent and the scoutmaster's scent! Someone has to do it! And Spiky Armor is up to bat, so she'll try to do just that! And then she'll attempt to return the flag to the scoutmaster. Possible one point for wit?

Now it is time for tracking! Spiky Armor smells the air in an attempt to retrace the scoutmaster's steps around camp with her amazing olfactory senses!

And it seems you've claimed the first point of camp, little lady! Now run along and see if you can't find more! Scoutmaster Harris declares, loud enough for the whole camp to hear, taking the flag without arguing it's validity. Treasure is treasure, after all.

Following his scent will be tricky though. To a nose sensitive enough track footsteps the whole camp smells like the Scoutmaster, his trail weaving here, there, back here again then everywhere else. Busy man.

The most recent trail is maybe half a day old, maybe from around dawn. Leaving the counselor's cabin, it moves to cabin number one, then the next, then the next, going full circle and back to the counselor cabin, then wanders around the grounds before heading down towards the docks.

Cat saunters on over to the Scoutmaster to talk to him after the kiddies run off. Want me to stay here with you or follow and make sure they don't stab each other in the back over collecting the flags?

Waiting for Spiky Armor to scamper off with the rest of the campers, Scoutmaster Harris coughs into his fist, hacking up little motes of bright green light as the voice amplification spell is released. Oh, I don't think we need to worry about that. Doesn't look like we've got any real treasure-bugs this year.

But I'd appreciate if you could hold down the fort for a few minutes. I need to go get outta this armor before it crushes me.

[OrchestraHc]

Cerise sighs and runs a hand through her hair before giving him an encouraging smile. Come on, you gotta keep your allies happy, otherwise they'll be all mopey and what not. "It's okay. Your shapes can help you fly. ...you are flying with your shapes, aren't you?"

"Umm, yeah. I'm standing in a box right now." Spotting the two flags, he reaches out with his mind and attempts to wrap the two flags in bubbles and pull them to him, taking them in hand. "And those were spheres. I don't think there's anymore up here. How do the cabins look?"

[Morcleon]

Peeking into the lodges should give Cerise a better impression of how the campers will be housed during the stay, if little else. All the cabins have the same structure, the top floor divided into a hallway, two bathrooms and six individual rooms, the lower primarily taken up by a single rec room with a kitchen area to the side.

But as for flags... there's none in sight! Not in plain sight at least. Searching more carefully might turn up better results, but to do that, she'd have to pick a cabin in particular- Besides the basic layout they're quite different.

"Umm, yeah. I'm standing in a box right now." Spotting the two flags, he reaches out with his mind and attempts to wrap the two flags in bubbles and pull them to him, taking them in hand. "And those were spheres. I don't think there's anymore up here. How do the cabins look?"

Cerise watches curiously. "Cool... I can do basic telekinesis, but I can't make shapes like that."

She turns to the cabins, and mutters, "From a preliminary scan, I can't see anything, but I haven't searched the place very thoroughly. Could you help me with that?" Which one to start with though? Shrugging, she flies towards the first cabin and enters from the roof, scanning through the individual rooms, the bathrooms and the hall, before floating to the lower floor.

[Gullara]

[Stables]

Becca pauses inside and takes in the inside of the stables. She grabs one of her pokeballs and tosses it. A Phanpy appears. "Okay, Phanish. Go look for a flag in one of the stables. Me and Jamie* will look in the other ones." The pokemon immediately goes to look in the first stable. "I've got this one." Becca goes to peek into the second one."

* Because there's no way she remembers to use a different name.