Session notes: 06-11-10

Present:
• Ted - Jason
• Tyler - Matt
• Wu Fang - Scott
• Megumi - Amy
• Ohanzee - Jeannette

Megumi has completed her cleansing of the ship and is working on wards to help notify if untoward things arrive. She has noticed that the ship itself is alive, and responsive to certain expectations. She begins working with the ship, showing it what it is that she wants.

There is some communication between the ship and the Captain, so it is possible that the ship itself can communicate an invasions or such. Megumi is used to communicating to spirits though, so that means she can communicate better with the ship than the Captain can.

Ted and Tyler return via Trump. Tyler informs Wu Fang about the capture of the creatures for possible future study.

Ohanzee demonstrates her other forms to Ted and manages to think her thoughts into her head. This is somewhat surprising. Tyler finds it disturbing, especially when Megumi attempts to communicate with him. Tyler has decent shields for the first time, probably due to resisting the creatures. He's about on equal strength to Megumi. Ohanzee and Ted experiment a bit. She can nearly deafen him, while he has some difficulty getting used to this sort of communication.

A bit of experimentation reveals that Ohanzee is stronger than Tyler and Megumi, and all of them are stronger than Ted. Wu Fang does not participate in this experiment. He's too busy shifting shadow. A continuing training montage ensues while Megumi teaches us about psychic shielding and practice. Tyler pays great attention, as this could prove useful in training his own future minions...

There is some discussion of ships - who had ships in their shadows, what they were, and what functions they served. Ohanzee isn't familiar with them from her home shadow. Tyler blithely states that all ships are female, which surprises Megumi. A quick comparison of different cultures and experiences are exchanged, including the definition of what is, or isn't, an elephant.

Another vessel begins to intercept our course. It's a small craft flying a makeshift Amber flag. Wu Fang allows it to approach and keeps an eye on it as it gets within range. As it starts to come aside, someone calls out, "Ahoy the ship!"

Rather than head below decks, Ohanzee shifts to hound form. Maydee's suggestion that she not wear clothes is met with a bit of a glare. Tyler falls in with Megumi's guards ("Of course they're you're guards. We can't say they're Ohanzee's now, can we?"). Ted kind of fades into the background.

Wu Fang and Megumi recognize Dierdre's son Cearan, although they don't know him well. He says we're leaving an unusual trail through shadow and asks to come aboard. They pull alongside and we see that there are two people there, Cearan and Random's daughter Helice. We assist them aboard and Wu Fang's crew puts the ship in tow.

Helice tells Wu Fang that she has seen some very odd things in Shadow. Wu Fang offers to discuss things over lunch. Tyler continues his masquerade as her guard and Ohanzee pads along as a favorite hound. Ted makes himself scarce.

Helice has seen several shadows of Wu Fang. They have been almost following her. Images on billboards. Postage stamps. Televisions. Cloud formations. Something about him is leaving an odd wake in shadow. Wu Fang had been thinking it was his ship, not himself. Cearan compliments him on the vessel, but that wasn't what they meant. Cearan is quite a sailor, and proud of his little racing vessel.

Ohanzee manages to think a potential question into Megumi's mind, "Have these images simply been in places he's been? Or everywhere?" The answer is that they've been in dozens of shadows, all over the place. Once they realized what was going on, they decided to investigate the distracting puzzle, and it took them just a bit of effort to narrow their course and intercept.

Helice had discovered the images first, Cearan only saw them after they met up. It could be someone with pattern, directing her here. It's not likely to be Martin sending Helice as a potential tutor. Helice seems a bit perturbed by the whole thing. It seems like a lot of effort to go through.

There hasn't been an explosion or anything since their arrival, so it's unlikely that this is a trap that she's intended to trigger. Helice wonders aloud if Wu Fang has any enemies who may be doing this. Wu Fang says, "Obviously not, since they have sent me you."

Cearan makes a subtle thumbs up gesture behind Helice's back. Megumi jokingly sends a psychic pout to Ohanzee, "He's so unfaithful!" Ohanzee is confused until Megumi explains that the rumor is that Megumi is Wu Fang's mistress, since she spends so much time with him. This is untrue for two reasons, firstly they're related, secondly she prefers girls.

Wu Fang extends his hospitality for the duration of the voyage, and Helice accepts. She wants to get to the bottom of this mystery. Cearan accepts as well, claiming that he has no place else he'd rather be right now.

Helice excuses herself and Megumi guides her to a washroom. On the way, they discuss some of the things that are bothering her. It's probably just as well that she was the one who found the images of Wu Fang, since they wouldn't make either of them popular back home.

Megumi has the crew find some quarters for Helice. Her main goal is somewhere to rest and clean up - Cearan's ship is fast but not too long on the amenities.

Cearan is quite relieved to have additional company. He likes Helice, and likes traveling with her, but the pressure is something he doesn't really like to have to deal with. If anything bad happens, he knows precisely where the blame would fall.

While the guests are being taken care of, Tyler and Wu Fang discuss the situation. It could be a tactic taken by the creatures which attacked recently as well as the ones back at Floramel's estate. Perhaps it's a tactic to slow us down, or a way of signaling Wu Fang's presence to any assassins out in Shadow.

Ohanzee returns to the stateroom and discusses her options with Wu Fang. Should she stay in this form, or reveal herself? Wu Fang leaves the decision up to her. Ohanzee is considering revealing herself to her Highness the princess Helice.

When Cearan returns to the ship with his luggage he encounters Ted. "Are you passenger or crew?" A discussion ensues about what role Ted serves on board. He presents himself as a person in limbo right now, neither a hireling nor a passenger. His worldview was significantly changed recently, so he's still a bit unsettled. Cearan advises him to concentrate on the fundamentals. The rest will fall into place.

Cearan confides that he built his ship himself. This impresses Ted, since he knows that Cearan could have just found a ship if he wanted to. "Ah, but if I'd just found it, I wouldn't really know it." He's been sailing it for about fifteen years now.

Megumi has arranged for Helice and goes to check on Ted. She has Cearan's quarters taken care of and has the crew show him there. Ted confides that he's made himself scarce to avoid accidentally embarrassing himself. Megumi recommends that he does introduce himself - these two are less terrifying than many others, and he could do worse.

Ted's noncommittal non-answers do leave him room to make that sort of introductions. He hasn't been seen in Amber, so he has some options that Tyler doesn't. Tyler was there, and was seen there, and was known to have vanished rather abruptly along with the Princess Ohanzee.

She does ask that Ted take care to not reveal that she isn't Wu Fang's mistress. Discussion of her actual powers should be avoided. The actual tale of Ted's retrieval from Shadow can be told, for the most part, with the simple substitution of Wu Fang for Megumi.

Ohanzee has headed back to Helice's rooms, looking for Megumi. Sarenah is there though, helping with some clothing for the Helice. Ohanzee tries to be very quiet, psychically, but there's the feeling that she could snuff out Sarenah's mind quickly if she wasn't careful. She goes out looking for Megumi. She gets a few looks from the crew but she gives them toothy tail-wags.

Megumi and Ohanzee find each other fairly quickly. The ear scratches are a bonus. She tries communicating with both Megumi and Ted, but has some trouble, so she concentrates on Megumi. She has decided to reveal herself, if that won't cause too much trouble. These ones may be more sympathetic to her trying to hide herself, especially given who she is. In for a penny, in for a pound. Megumi also thinks it wouldn't be a bad idea if Tyler revealed himself as well.

Introductions and dinner conversation are planned. Ohanzee checks in with Tyler and Wu Fang before heading off to change and get clothed. There's a bit of concern about how best to open doors and such in transition.

Wu Fang handles the re-introductions of Ted and Tyler to Cearan. Cearan offers his sympathies when he hears that Lady Florimel was one of the first family members we met. When Helice joins us, the introductions are repeated.

Ohanzee joins us later, and is introduced as the Princess Ohanzee. This gets a raised eyebrow from Helice, who momentarily wonders if she has a sister. Wu Fang clarifies that she's in line for the Rebman throne. Helice is a bit startled by this as well, and Ohanzee's ancestry is clarified. Martin hadn't told her she had a niece.

Very few people actually know. Martin, of course. Florimel, whichever uncle it was who brought her back (Bleys? We don't recall exactly). And Merlin knows. That's about it, apart from them now.

This does explain the presence of all of the guild members on board. Martin is likely to be quite concerned about the safety of his own children, given his poor experiences when he was young. Ohanzee reassures her that she'll be allowed to get rid of her bodyguards when she can defeat them in combat.

The discussion turns to the state of the images of Wu Fang that were cropping up in shadow. Helice is a bit embarrassed by them, as it seems many of them involve her and Wu Fang in various romantic entanglements. She has taken care of all of the ones she has found.

Wu Fang tells them about the other odd occurrences - the attack at Florimel's estate, the falling wall. The dead creature in the stateroom is not mentioned.

Helice has been partaking of the wine rather liberally, and excuses herself to get some rest. Megumi escorts her.

It is starting to look like someone is herding us. We've been going places where Wu Fang doesn't have an equivalent, so we'll have not gone anywhere these billboards are. Someone introduced the images of Helice as well, which were either meant to drive her into our company or to keep us separated.

For now, the plan is to head to port and see if we can find more information there.