Grayham Academy IC Thread (HSHC)

[WhismurWanders]

The gnome stares at the outstretched hand for a few seconds, then sighs and shakes it, "I guess so. The name's Topaz, by the way."

"Antonius. I'm sure the pleasure is all mine." He leans down just enough to kiss the back of Topaz's hand before standing back up, flicking a few strands of hair from the front of his face.

[The TechnoGnome]

”And the talk about stealing from her? Just what was I mistaking for that?”

"I don't know," she admits, "But I need more proof than just you doing an impression to do anything with them."

Let's go. Sister power! Cammy said brightly.

Robin giggles and puts an arm around Camellia, "Sssssh, not so loud! We don't want to get caught before we even get out of the hall."

"Antonius. I'm sure the pleasure is all mine." He leans down just enough to kiss the back of Topaz's hand before standing back up, flicking a few strands of hair from the front of his face.

"Sure it is," Topaz says, before asking, "So is there anything you need, or can I go get my stuff?"

She looks around the disaster area of a classroom, and mutters with a frown, "Wherever it is..."

[DoctorFaust]

"Well, that's good. It'll be nice to see if it has anything to do with the freakout we all had during alchemy class."

[Esprit15]

”Cool. I’ll make sure people know that I told you this was going to happen when this blows up.” With that, Jane leaves.

[Illven]

Right, no that would be bad... Cammy agreed.

[The TechnoGnome]

Episode 1, Scene 7

Classes may done for the day, but your troubles are not. It's not even an hour before Taylor contacts each of you about what she has learned.

"Okay, so that green powder Mercedes found is a mystic lichen called dragonmoss. It's not easy to get a hold of, and definitely not something our lab would have had in it. Thing is, it wouldn't have caused that chemical reaction when mixed with what we did have, at least not on its own, which means one of two things. Either they used another component that we're missing, or the dragonmoss is being used for something else.

"If it's the former, then the books I have with me are not enough to find out what the other component is in case they try something like that again. From what I know of Grayham's library, it should have the references I need to figure it out somewhere, or at least make an educated guess as to what else they got their hands on. If it's the latter though, then it might be more important to figure out what they intend to use the dragonmoss for. It could be used in anything from a beauty cream to an explosive, and getting it wrong could be disastrous if the Royals are intending to target me with whatever it is they're cooking up."

"I know we only just met today, but I need your help, since there's no way I can do both on my own before the party. Hell, I don't even know if we can take both routes without spreading ourselves too thin. If we guess wrong, we'll either be walking into a trap unprepared or missing our chance to prove they were behind what happened in the chem lab before they cover their tracks."

Spoiler: Unopposed Roll

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Skill D6: Go to the school library and research possible alchemical components that can be mixed with dragonmoss.

or

Skill D6: Investigate the school and try to find out the most likely reason the Royals would need dragonmoss.

Taylor will accompany the smaller group to assist them, unless the choice is unanimous or all players insist otherwise.

[Illven]

Spoiler: Text

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Okay Taylor! Private eye Cammy is on the case. Hugs and kisses.

Cammy texts back. But regardless of her confidence in the text. She was actually a bit worried, she wasn't a tribal nymph, she could grow plants sure, and she was immune to most plant based toxins, so her ignorance wouldn't really be harmful to her.

But it left her completely ignorant to what dragonmoss was.

It has dragon in it. Victoria's a sorceress, maybe she snorts it and it increases her magical power?

Within ten minutes, she was outside Nessa's door, in her very new very low cut green shirt, and a surprisingly long, if tight skirt, her long pink hair was in twin tails that flowed from her head, as she put on her flower crown.

Nessa! Cammy started pounding at her door. Nessa, I look amazing, don't you want to come out and see and answer all my questions! She let out cheerfully pounding louder.

To the door opening. To not Nessa. Instead it was a very short witch, in her witching cap!

So cute! Cammy squealed throwing open the door and smothering the girl with her hugs and chest. Oh right. I have some questions. Did Nessa talk about the royals to you?

Spoiler

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Neutral skill, supernaturally attractive, school queen. Total +4

[Esprit15]

Unsurprisingly, Jane slinks off to investigate the royals and their possible motives directly. Rather than copy one person, during her free time she makes herself appear exceedingly generic, vaguely familiar to whoever she speaks to.

Spoiler

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Skill, A Thousand Faces (Auto 6)

[WhismurWanders]

Tony heads towards the library. Dusty old tomes, knowledge hidden to even the faculty that is the key to solving what might slowly be turning into a social murder? It was too perfect. Besides, it had been a while since he had graced the looming bookshelves, perhaps he'd find a suitable book himself while he was there. He could alert Taylor later, when he had found something useful.

Spoiler

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Strong Skill, Some Vampires Sparkle = +2

[DoctorFaust]

Leaving dealing with the Royals to more personable people, Mercedes elects to go to the library with Tony. Sports might be her strongest suit, but with all the studying she's had to do to keep her grades up, she's gotten pretty familiar with the library.

Spoiler

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Strong Skill. +1

[AvatarVecna]

Ingred busied herself collecting whatever books she could find even vaguely relating to the topic. Once she'd amassed quite a sizable pile at her little table, she started tearing her way through the indices one at a time, looking for any mention of possible uses for, or alchemical compounds involving, dragonmoss that could possibly relate to the strange goings-on that day.

Spoiler: OoC

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Skill at the library. Strong roll 1, Competitive Spirit 1, total +2.

[The TechnoGnome]

Spoiler: Text

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Okay Taylor! Private eye Cammy is on the case. Hugs and kisses.

Cammy texts back. But regardless of her confidence in the text. She was actually a bit worried, she wasn't a tribal nymph, she could grow plants sure, and she was immune to most plant based toxins, so her ignorance wouldn't really be harmful to her.

But it left her completely ignorant to what dragonmoss was.

It has dragon in it. Victoria's a sorceress, maybe she snorts it and it increases her magical power?

Within ten minutes, she was outside Nessa's door, in her very new very low cut green shirt, and a surprisingly long, if tight skirt, her long pink hair was in twin tails that flowed from her head, as she put on her flower crown.

Nessa! Cammy started pounding at her door. Nessa, I look amazing, don't you want to come out and see and answer all my questions! She let out cheerfully pounding louder.

To the door opening. To not Nessa. Instead it was a very short witch, in her witching cap!

So cute! Cammy squealed throwing open the door and smothering the girl with her hugs and chest. Oh right. I have some questions. Did Nessa talk about the royals to you?

Spoiler

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Neutral skill, supernaturally attractive, school queen. Total +4

"Are you kidding? It's all she talks about," the girl says, doing her best to struggle out of Cammy's vice grip, "Who are you, anyway? One of her friends?"

"Eh, you could say that," Taylor responds, having followed Cammy here.

"Well, she's taking a shower right now, but you can come in and wait for her if you want," the witch says to the two, "And I can tell you what I know while we wait if you want. Just, uh... let me go first. Please?"

Unsurprisingly, Jane slinks off to investigate the royals and their possible motives directly. Rather than copy one person, during her free time she makes herself appear exceedingly generic, vaguely familiar to whoever she speaks to.

Spoiler

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Skill, A Thousand Faces (Auto 6)

Jane's investigations lead her down to a group of ruffians who answer to Frankie, and by extension the Royals. Their leader wasn't there at the moment, but the three thugs seem to have wasted no time finding a good place to smoke.

"What do you want?" one of them, a fire nymph-blood with the sides of her head shaved, asked. She blew out an amount of smoke far greater than even experienced mortal smokers would have trouble holding in.

"Not sure, but there's something familiar about her," a rather muscular cat-girl replied, flicking hers away with a clawed hand, "You the fresh meat?"

"If she is, she's out of her league with us," a third girl, who Jane couldn't even begin to guess the species of other than 'towering', grumbled, "Too scrawny to be an Ogre."

Tony heads towards the library. Dusty old tomes, knowledge hidden to even the faculty that is the key to solving what might slowly be turning into a social murder? It was too perfect. Besides, it had been a while since he had graced the looming bookshelves, perhaps he'd find a suitable book himself while he was there. He could alert Taylor later, when he had found something useful.

Spoiler

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Strong Skill, Some Vampires Sparkle = +2

The drama-loving vampire studied long and hard underneath the looming display of a dragon skeleton. Eventually, in a book he found in a forgotten corner of the bookshelf he found what he was looking for: a botanical reference to various lichens used in alchemy.

According to it, what made dragonmoss so valuable was as a catalyst, amplifying the effects of a alchemical mixture. As Taylor mentioned, it could be useful in anything from restoratives to poisons. Narrowing it down was tough, but it does seem that with a bit of fairy blood extract, there would have been an effect very similar to what happened in the chemistry class. Of course, there wasn't any fairy blood extract in the classroom at the time.

Ingred busied herself collecting whatever books she could find even vaguely relating to the topic. Once she'd amassed quite a sizable pile at her little table, she started tearing her way through the indices one at a time, looking for any mention of possible uses for, or alchemical compounds involving, dragonmoss that could possibly relate to the strange goings-on that day.

Spoiler: OoC

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Skill at the library. Strong roll 1, Competitive Spirit 1, total +2.

Ingred finds a lot of the information Tony did, although in her case rather than the information on fairy blood extract she discovered where the dragonmoss could have come from. Apparently few places could actually grow it, due to it requiring soil infused with magical energy. Back in the day it most commonly grew in dragon nests or around their decomposing bodies, but with dragons having gone extinct the lichen has become less common and harder to get a hold of. In fact, one of the few places in the world left that it grew naturally was the Isle of Avalon, the place where Princess Victoria's kingdom of Camelot was located.

Leaving dealing with the Royals to more personable people, Mercedes elects to go to the library with Tony. Sports might be her strongest suit, but with all the studying she's had to do to keep her grades up, she's gotten pretty familiar with the library.

Spoiler

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Strong Skill. +1

Mercedes tried to help Tony and Ingred, she really did. But she was having a hard time finding the right books, especially since some blonde-haired bimbo was ignoring the ubiquitous 'be quiet in a library' rule in order to get to second base with her boyfriend.

"Oh man, this is so ****ing hot," she whimpers, "I never want to stop."

"Damn right. You're a cute little puppy, aren't you?" her boyfriend told her, causing her to whimper and wag her tail eagerly. The motion of which knocked several books around and pushed one off the shelf and nearly hit Mercedes on the back of the head. Clearly, their presence was a bane to anyone who wanted to study in the forgotten recesses of the library, at least those of the feline persuasion.

Spoiler: Results

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Everyone but Mercedes gets... oh ****, never actually said there was a reward. Oops.

Let's just go with 1 VP.

[Illven]

Of course I'm her friend! Cammy pouted at Taylor not yet letting go of the new witch.

I haven't asked her out yet. Cammy replied.

Oh right let you go. Cammy said gently settling her down. I just find witches so cute~! She let out with a squeal.

[The TechnoGnome]

Of course I'm her friend! Cammy pouted at Taylor not yet letting go of the new witch.

I haven't asked her out yet. Cammy replied.

Oh right let you go. Cammy said gently settling her down. I just find witches so cute~! She let out with a squeal.

"Oh, um, really?" the girl asks, "That's, um... ahem. What do you like about us?"

[Illven]

"Oh, um, really?" the girl asks, "That's, um... ahem. What do you like about us?"

The way that you're so nerdy and cute, and how the witching cap becomes you, and the science, and th study. Cammy went on.

[The TechnoGnome]

The way that you're so nerdy and cute, and how the witching cap becomes you, and the science, and th study. Cammy went on.

"Um, wow..." she says, pulling the brim of her hat down slightly to hide her blushing face, "That's really flattering. Thanks."

"The gushing is pretty adorable," Taylor says with a slight blush of her own, "But let's not get too distracted, Camellia. We're here for a reason, remember?"

[Illven]

Right, right. We need information on the royals, and I figured since they are so fascinating to Nessa, you two would know all about them. Cammy said brightly, taking her hands and holding them down.

Any idea why they would use dragonmoss. Does Victoria smoke it?

[Esprit15]

"No'ne important, just someone who heard there were more interesting people out back than inside," the now slightly butch looking girl says. As far as race, it could have been a tossup, which was exactly how she liked her disguises. "Though maybe I was mistaken," she adds, sizing up the catgirl. The presumably ogre-blooded student would not be someone to cross, and Jane knew better than to mess around with those who could perform outright magic. Still, it was important to play the part. Be one of them, act like one of them. Maybe she would start a fight (no way), maybe she wouldn't. Having the confidence to look like she might though was important. "I was wondering how dragonmoss finds its way into a high school alchemy class. That stuff ain't exactly cheap."

[The TechnoGnome]

Right, right. We need information on the royals, and I figured since they are so fascinating to Nessa, you two would know all about them. Cammy said brightly, taking her hands and holding them down.

Any idea why they would use dragonmoss. Does Victoria smoke it?

"You don't smoke dragonmoss," the short witch replied, "It's a catalyst. You mix it into a potion to amplify it's effects. Though why the Royals would need something like that is... well, if they needed a very strong concoction, that's the quickest way to do it."

"But what kind of concoction?" Taylor asked.

"That's something you'd have to ask Vanessa about," the girl replied.

And speak of the devil...

"Hey Bailey, who are your..." she starts, tightening the towel wrapped around her hair as she walks into the room. She recognizes Camellia and freezes, muttering, "Oh no, not again..."

"No'ne important, just someone who heard there were more interesting people out back than inside," the now slightly butch looking girl says. As far as race, it could have been a tossup, which was exactly how she liked her disguises. "Though maybe I was mistaken," she adds, sizing up the catgirl. The presumably ogre-blooded student would not be someone to cross, and Jane knew better than to mess around with those who could perform outright magic. Still, it was important to play the part. Be one of them, act like one of them. Maybe she would start a fight (no way), maybe she wouldn't. Having the confidence to look like she might though was important. "I was wondering how dragonmoss finds its way into a high school alchemy class. That stuff ain't exactly cheap."

"Why would you even care about that?" the larger girl asks with a low growl.

"Yeah, you nerding out on us here?" the catgirl asks, "How do you even know what dragonmoss is?"

"How do you?" the nymph-blood says, looking over at her companion suspiciously.

"Not important right now," the catgirl dismisses.

[Illven]

Hey, Nessa, how are you! Cammy greeted brightly, waving her hand erratically.

[Esprit15]

Perfect. "No, I think it’s really more interesting if you tell us why you know about it. I already said that I was thinking about the incident earlier. And you seem to know more, so spill." At this point, Jane stands up a bit straighter, trying to look a little more intimidating to the cat girl.

[The TechnoGnome]

Hey, Nessa, how are you! Cammy greeted brightly, waving her hand erratically.

"Fine, fine.." Nessa replies, "What are you doing here? And who's your friend?"

"They said something about the Royals having dragonmoss, and they think you know some about it," Bailey says, helpfully keeping you from having to repeat yourself.

"Well, that's... I may have heard something about that," Nessa admits hesitantly.

Perfect. "No, I think it’s really more interesting if you tell us why you know about it. I already said that I was thinking about the incident earlier. And you seem to know more, so spill." At this point, Jane stands up a bit straighter, trying to look a little more intimidating to the cat girl.

Between Jane and the two thugs, the catgirl doesn't really have much of an option but to spill the beans, "This morning I sorta... kinda... ate some."

At the dumbfounded looks from her friends, she adds, "I didn't know it was dragonmoss! I thought it was catnip!"

[DoctorFaust]

Mercedes slams the book she had been reading shut, clearly irritated. "Boy, I sure do like reading," she loudly says. "With all of these books. In this quiet library. Where there totally aren't two people going at it behind me."

[Illven]

This is the cutie known as Taylor. Cammy said panning her arm up and down to indicate Taylor.

So what do you know about the royals using dragonmoss!? She asks happily squishing her arms around her chest to emphasize it.

[The TechnoGnome]

Mercedes slams the book she had been reading shut, clearly irritated. "Boy, I sure do like reading," she loudly says. "With all of these books. In this quiet library. Where there totally aren't two people going at it behind me."

"Ohmigod," said the blonde... werewolf? Dog-girl? Is there a difference? Whatever she is, she asks her beau, "Do you think she can hear us?"

"So what if she can?" he answers, "She's probably just jealous."

This is the cutie known as Taylor. Cammy said panning her arm up and down to indicate Taylor.

So what do you know about the royals using dragonmoss!? She asks happily squishing her arms around her chest to emphasize it.

"Hi," Taylor says with a wave, more sheepish now that there are more people around.

"Hey," Nessa responds, before gulping and turning to Camellia, trying her best not to stare too far down, "I don't know where they're getting it, but I heard that they were testing it's effectiveness earlier today."

[Illven]

You can look if you want. Cammy said brightly noting where Nessa's eyes wanted to go.

You just have to call me, Ma'am if you do. What are they testing it's effectiveness for?

[The TechnoGnome]

You can look if you want. Cammy said brightly noting where Nessa's eyes wanted to go.

You just have to call me, Ma'am if you do. What are they testing it's effectiveness for?

"What? Why?" she asks, before shaking her head and saying, "Nevermind. hey're testing it for something big. What exactly, I don't know, but whatever it is they're trying to keep it quiet."

[Illven]

Cammy covers her chest with her arm.

Ask me nicely. "Ma'am please lower your arm and I will." She stated with a smile.

And I'm guessing yes, but do they have more currently?

[Esprit15]

Jane chuckles. ”That so? And where did you find it?”

[DoctorFaust]

Mercedes turns around and stares daggers at the pair. "Yeah, I can hear you," she says, her tail twitching furiously. "And no, I'm not jealous, I'm annoyed I can't find anywhere quiet to read."