groovygamers.com

There is a buzz of gossip about what happened at Lawson Labs on Friday, and the game that night.

Colin gets to the lunch room a little early, after a World History test that he thinks went quite well,  and looks for Sarah and his older friends, Dave and Greg, since they're usually saving seats for everyone. Not seeing them, he looks for the largest table and waits for his friends to show up.

OOC: Sorry for no posts earlier today.  I've been swamped and in a daze all day.  Guh!  Still Dazed (Duration: Sustained) but I'm going to head upstairs for a Con Boost (soda) so I can make my save and get on with things. 

IC: 
Sarah finally makes it to lunch.  She was stuck asking questions in math because as usual she was utterly clueless.  Rather than stare at her homework for six hours that night she figured it would be easier to find out what she was doing wrong now. 

She finds Colin sitting at a still somewhat empty large table.  "Hey Colin!  And here I thought I was late for lunch... I hope more people are coming." 

Sarah sits down next to her new companion in the mysteries of Oak Park and breaks out her lunch - grilled tomato and cheese.  "Did you find anything useful in that journal I found?"

Donnie wanders around the lunch room, looking a bit lost. When he sees Sarah, a smile breaks out on his face and he wanders over to the table, setting down a decidedly unhealthy lunch of cheap lunch-room pizza and coke. A noticable lack of any greenery is evident.

"Hi Sarah! Lord this lunchroom is big. Totally though I flubbed my Search roll." He then realizes that she was sitting next to someone he had not met yet and blushes. "Hi. Sorry, total gaming dork here."

He sits down and takes a large bite of pepperoni and asks Sarah "So where is your harem of boys? Oh sorry, rude of me. I'm Donnie." He holds out his hand to Colin, after wiping the grease off.

Dave and Greg come into the lunch room and sit down.

DAVE: "She is a hottie."

GREG" "I'm still confused, maybe rob has developed some kind of mind control."

Both boys greet the folks at the table.

DAVE: "Sarah, are you feeling strangely attracted to Dave lately?"

Sylvia wanders in and, not seeing Kel, takes her bag lunch to Colin's table.  "Hi," she says in her usual morose way.  She sorts through what her mother gave her and finds a sandwich of cream cheese, alfalfa, and five-grain bread, an apple for health and yogurt for dessert.  No wonder Sylvia's always so depressed.

 
"Huh?  To Rob?  Um...  nnnnoooo?  No.  I'm good thanks."  Sarah glances at Colin for half a second wondering if yet another person was developing powers..  "What has prompted you to believe that Rob has acquired Mind Control powers?"

She smiles at Donnie the ultragamer.  A boy who actually needed to watch a couple of minutes of Fear of Girls to realize it was satire.  Still he was a good guy and very clever on the ol' GMing thing.  "Hey Donnie, good to see you again."

Sarah also offers a smile to Sylvia and silently offers her a fudge cookie.  One of the perks of having a mom who's out of the house in the morning before she was. 

DAVE: "He's talking to a different girl today.  Some little blonde from his English class."

Sylvia takes the cookie.  "Thanks," she says, genuinely grateful.  She looks at Donnie as she nibbles it and takes comfort in his apparent geekiness.  She can look only more normal by comparison.

Donnie shakes his head, saying "Ruee, you fool! I told you not to mess with the dust of the broken heart!"  When half the table gives him a blank stare (except for Greg the cinephile, of course), Donnie ducks his head, mumbling something like "It's a line from Willow, you know? With Val Kilmer? 1988. Nevermind.."

Trying to change the subject, he looks with fascinated horror at Sylvia's lunch. "You eat grass for lunch?"

Sarah shrugs, "Actually I think he's developing the opposite of a mental power.  Instead of just thinking about girls constantly he's attempting actual communication.  He must have had the ability all along." 

"Oats, too."  She picks one off the chock-full-of-seeds whole-grain bread.  "My mother's training me to run in the Preakness."

"Hi Sarah! Uh... yes... and no. I mean... It was useful indeed, because I think it made me look in the right direction. I googled it for hours, I browsed through my mother's books, and I went to the library too. I think we're on the right track. In the end, it may very well be an explanation. I don't know how or why, but I could have the skills of a shaman, or a medicine man. But usually one would go on a vision quest and the Great Spirit would talk to him. Or he would have dreams, urging him to go somewhere or do something, and with the help of another shaman, he would interpret them and find their meaning and his spirit guide who's sending them. But what's happening to me goes well beyond dreams. And I think the spirits may already be trying to... I don't know talk to me. Do you remember when I went with Kel to look for Kirby? And we found that boy being beaten, well there was this strange blackbird that looked like he was looking at me. And when one of those bullies ran away, it was like the blackbird was telling me to go away as fast as we could. We barely managed to get into the restroom before that jerk came back with the Vice-Principal and the cops, he was trying to frame us! Anyway, here's what I found about blackbirds."

He shows her some book pages he had xeroxed at the library. He circled a part with his red marker.

Blackbird awakens the mind with awareness as changes of perceptions are unfolding. He stirs psychic abilities and brings to consciousness latent healing gifts and creativity. Blackbird shows how to move with determination, focus and tenacity and how to use your power to its fullest potential. At this time there is a magic of the unseen worlds coming forth that is paired with the balance of grounding within the earth as you walk your path. Blackbird will guide in this new awakening. Blackbird teaches use of intuition that will aid in understanding and the connection to all things.

"Crazy, huh? I just wish I could find someone who could teach me. But where should I look for a shaman in downtown Chicago?"

That's when Donnie arrives. Colin puts away his notes and shakes his hand.

"I'm Colin. Nice to meet you. It's probably a cross-class skill for you." he says with a wink.

Then the others arrive too. Colin just shrugs when Sarah looks at him that way.

"Uh, I almost forgot. Did you hear from Kirby?"

Sarah just grins at that...

Kel arrives later than the rest, having gotten caught up in his last class writing an essay.  He lands neatly next to Sylvia and Colin, he tosses Sylvia a sandwich when he notices her grimacing at her lunch, "After so many days in a row of just staring at your food like that, I figured you'd want something you know that was...food."  He nods in greeting to everyone else, shaking hands with Don and introducing himself.

"Thanks," Sylvia says again, with her pained but genuine gratitude.  "It's not so bad, really.  Back home I had a friend whose mother gave her nothing but tofu and organic fruit for lunch.  She had allergies," Sylvia explains.

T.J suddenly runs into the lunch room and over to the table. He pants heavily and holds his hand up in a greeting. He takes one deep breath and starts to talk. "Ohmyodyouwon'tbelievewhathappened!" He takes another breath and rushes on. 
"Kirby'sraygotstolenandweneedtofinditcanyouguyshelp?"

He pauses and realises how quickly he said it. Focusing he repeats himself but a bit slower. He then realises there is someone knew at the table. "Hi, I'm T.J nice to meet you." He then turns back to the others anxious for a reply.

Sylvia stares for a solid second.  "You mean the death ray?"

Sarah sits up.  "Death ray?"

"Uhh Death ray?"

He looks toward Greg. "Do you have some hidden camera filming this or something? Mind control, were-horses (gesturing towards Sylvia), and now missing death rays? This sounds like one of your wierd indi-movie scripts or something."

GREG: "Hey!"  Greg says, sitting his drink down, "Watch what you say about my scripts dude."

"Well, it's not a death ray but.." He winces at the name then sighs and nods. "Yeah the death ray, by the way you guys have to keep this secret until we find it. No one else is supposed to know.” He looks at the others to see how they’d react.

"Wait, you're serious? What ray are you talking about?"

"Remember the hole in the third-floor hall?"  Sylvia points the gun of her thumb and forefinger at the cafeteria table.  "Death ray."

DAVE: "Kirby the brain built the thing that cut the hole in the store room on the thrid floor.  Sylvia calls it a death ray because she craves the bizarre."

GREG: "Oh.  A woman after my own heart."  He says smiling.

Still reeling over his ninja encounter Matt comes walking into the lunch room in a daze, mumbling "heh, ninjas.."

When he he walks by the gang's table, he notices Sylvia and starts his mumbling, "Eh, uh, hi Syl--" then someone mentions death rays. "Whaa? Death rays? Don't tell me you smoked that guy's cigarettes as well? Wait, you seen any ninjas yet?"

Colin gulps down what remains of his sandwich, and stands up.

"Well, it's not really a death ray, it's a ultrasonic.... it's a dangerous ray. We'd better help him find it, before someone starts drilling holes around."

Sylvia throws Matt a funny look.  "Ninjas?"  Has he been hanging around with that kid who smells like pot, when he doesn't smell like matches and incense?

"Except the people who apparently already knew...and stole it?  This thing is dangerous.  Wouldn't it be good to maybe let the principal know that some students are running around with a potentially dangerous device?"   Sarah finishes her cheese and tomato and grabs a fudge cookie.

"I don't think most of us know what it even looks like?  Unless it has Death Ray written across the side of it?"

As he stands up he recognizes Matt.

"Uh, hi, I'm Colin, Colin Crow. I have to ask you a thing."

He sits down again and begins to rummage into his bag.

Matt looks back to Sylvia, his ever present nervousness forgotten. "Yea, ninjas, I swear to Supergirl it's true. Or at least these guys with t-shirts over their heads making them look ninja-y, a bunch of them came in and beat up this guy that was trying to steal my cash in the restroom. Of course I could be hallucinating but the hustler was still there, so since the only alternative is that I beat him up, my bet's on the ninjas."

He looks over to Colin. "Oh, right, it's you, the zappy guy..."

At that moment, Seth walks up. "What are you guys talking about? Did i miss the latest sci-fi channel movie or something?"

Seth looked pleased with himself, the weekend had treated him well, he had a few hundred dollars in his drawer at home. The tips had been good. His rendition of American Pie had brought the house down. And then there was the other thing. He had been practicing with his powers. They were wicked cool....And the shiteater grin on his face just spoke of being pleased with himself.

T.J shakes his head. "I doubt the principal would believe us if we told him that one of the children here had designed an ultrasonic ray that could destroy walls and possibly people." He shakes his head. "We need to find it so we can explain to the headmaster about the hole and so it can be kept somewhere safe."

T.J looks at Seth and shrugs. "Nothing much, just someone stole an ultrasonic ray that may possibly be able to kill."

Sylvia mutters to the table in general.  "Maybe the ninjas stole the death ray."

"Zappy guy? Oh. Zappy. Yeah, it's me. And you are? I promise I won't shake your hand or touch you... not that I'd like to touch you... oh God and Great Spirit. Well, last week I took a photo of you, and It's only fair that I ask for your permission to keep it or use it. Here it is."

Colin shows Matt a print of his photo. He edited it slightly with his computer at home, cleaned it and added some light effects. It added to its magic, now it looks really like Matt was living in a dark and boring world and it was suddenly filled with magic in the form of a comic book.

"You can keep this one, if you like it."

Matt throws up his arms and looks annoyed and starts turning away. "Fine, so you don't believe me, there's no reason to make fun of--"

[[OOC: Knowledge (Paranormal Physiology) (1d20+10=29) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=607069)]]

Then he turns back. "OOH! The Somnu... thingy! The sound-to-energy thingy I, erhm, kinda overheard you talking about on the Tasty Dog the other day? You actually did that? The hole in the wall, of course! That's so frikkin' awesome! Wait, it got stole? By the ninjas?"

Almost as an aside he turns to Colin when he offers the picture. "Huh, you did what? You took a picture of me? Why the heck would you-- hey, that's kinda nice. Actually that's pretty cool, thanks..."

"T.J. is right, we should at least try to find it ourselves before we tell the Principal. Maybe the janitors just moved it."

"What's this thing about the ninjas? Did you really see them? Where?"

Colin has lately found he's a lot more willing to believe in a lot of things.

"Between us, we could probably search the school pretty well if we split the halls up systematically.  But, TJ, what does the thing look like?"

"You're welcome. You were just there, and it actually inspired me. It happens to me. As I said, you can keep it, what about telling me your name, in exchange?" he smiles.

OOC: Kirby showed you the schematics for it which gives a general idea of what it looks like.

"Huh?" He looks up from the picture, having been captivated by it for a moment. "Oh, Matt, Mattew actually, but Matt." On reflex he reaches out his hand to shake Colin's as is traditional during exchange of names, but he seems to remember the 'zappy' suddenly and withdraws it. "Heh, sorry, no offense, just like to be, y'know, un-zapped. So do you wear a lot of wool clothing or the like and build up static electricity like a battery, or do you got some sort of superpower based on zapping?" he asks with a half grin.

"Look, today I shaked his hand" he points at Donnie "and I didn't zap him. In fact I only zapped him" he points at Seth "but it's not like I hurt him or something, he's still alive and well, isn't he? I'm not wearing anything wool, and no I don't have that kind of superpower. I think. Only one way to find out."

He keeps his hand outstretched in offer.

"What are you guys talking about? Ninjas? Death Rays? What is going on?  

Sylvia performs her duty as a journalist.  "Someone stole Kirby's death ray.  Matt saw ninjas.  I leave you to draw your own conclusions."

"I swear this school gets weirder and weirder by the day."

Sylvia takes a strange, almost pathological comfort in that.  "So we need to find this ray, right?"  She looks to TJ, hoping he'll rally the troops somehow.

[OOC:  Wasn't sure, TJ, if you still wanted us to go talk to Kirby, given that secretoracle says you've already seen schematics for the sonoluminescence ray.]

Colin looks at Matt. "And you don't know half of it!"

"Kirby showed me the schematics for it a bit ago. I know what it pretty much looks like." He looks at his watch and grimaces. "I don't think the ray has left the school. And if it has then we've lost it." He claps his hands loudly, to attract everyone‘s attention. "Come on, guys! Let's go! We‘ll split up into pairs and search the school! Ready?"

OCC: Sorry I missed your post secretoracle

Meanwhile, at a table set up near the entrance to the cafeteria, Samantha and some other kids in the band are selling oversized candy bars as part of the never-ending quest to raise money for band equipment and uniforms.

So far, no ninjas, pirates, or aliens with death-rays have been customers.

"Wait, T.J. I'd rather check for a moment where Kirby kept it, if you don't mind."

Sylvia sweeps the remainder of her lunch into her bag and gets to her feet.  She pushes back the lacy sleeve of the bohemian blouse her mother made and gives TJ a salute.  "Ready, sir."

T.J nods at Colin. "That's fine. I'll come with you to visit Kirby while the rest search. Then everyone has something to do!" He beams at the others and slings his small bag over his shoulders.

I'm in too. I have no idea what the hell is going on, but i have more than a feeling that i don't want to miss it."

"Woo! My first week and highschool has stolen Death Rays, Ninjas, & massive amounts of static electricity. Oh, and werehorses!"

Donnie downs the last of his coke and picks up his tray. "Gonna dump this. Don't fight any ninjas or anything while I'm gone."

OOC: Those working the search can continue to post in the missing tunneling ray thread.  I have a face-to-face game tonight so I'll have to bail soon, sorry to be the one that breaks the rythum.

"Okay if everyone's coming then I suggest these as the pairs. Colin and I, Matt and whatever your name is (Donnie), Seth and Sarah, Kel and Sylvia and Greg and Dave ." He smiles warmly. "Is everyone okay with that? If not just say."

OCC: Don't worry I have to leave soon as well.

"Sounds fine to me."  Sylvia has grafted herself to Kel over the past few months.  If she's a nuisance, she's oblivious to it.

OOC: Need to know if Matt actually shook Colin's hand or not.  If he did, colin make a Will Save DC 14 and Matt make a Will Save DC 14.  If you both fail it'll be fun, if you both fail having rolled the same number it'll be more fun.

"Fine with me." Donnie steps over to Matt. "Hi, Donnie D. Pleased to meetcha."  He reaches his hand out but  hesitates. "Is it ok to shake your hand?"

Kel sits in stunned silence throughout most of the conversation, the look of surprise that someone has stolen the Death Ray was just a tad disconcerting, but then at the mention of searching he smirks and says to Sylvia, "Off on another whirlwind adventure."

Sarah grins as she gets up from the table.  "It wouldn't be a normal week in highschool if we didn't have a couple of hairbrained adventures to run off on."

[OOC: Sorry, went off to watch a few Firefly eps and suddenly I'm a page behind, heh. Insane posting rates as said, in other words totally awesome.

EDIT: A page? Sorta missed the other two threads! That comes up to like 4-5 pages behind! Sugar high is nothing, this game's on amfetamine at least!]


"Err, well..." Matt say, then shrugs. "Eh, what the hell, it can't be worse than smoking."

[OOC: Will save from shaking hands (1d20-1=15) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=607684) . Dangit! First time I actually wanted to fail a Will save just to find out what would happen, and I make it at those odds... Guess it's not meant to be, at least not yet.  ;)]

Then [supposing he survives] he turns to Donnie. "Yea, I don't think I've started zapping people... I may have the ability to conjure ninjas with my mind in case someone messes with me though, so watch out." He smiles and [presuming Colin didn't die or something from the first shake] takes Donnie's hand. "So what level would Summon Ninja be do you think? Sorry, been hanging out with Rory too much..."

Colin's copper skinned hand grasps Matt's pale one.

Uhm... cold...


OOC: This is the first one I fail. Will save: Handshake of Doom with Matt (1d20+3=7) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=607700)

When Matt and Colin shake hands, nothing happens.

Colin shrugs.

"Told you. Maybe today it's not working. You can try again tomorrow."

He grins.

"Now why don't you come with us look for the...death ray? I'd like to hear about those ninjas."

"Ah, bummer, was hoping it was a radioactive handshake. Or wait, that'd just give me the powers of a hand right? Hey, the Hand, maybe they're the ninjas! Or, uhm, maybe their version of the little league concidering their poor outfits..."

Matt starts walking after the others, a bit lost in thought and back to being all quiet again, mostly just following behind Colin.