<blockquote><div><cite>ambrose-euanthe wrote:</cite>OOC: Since lockpicking will be general, it's the kind of mechanical skills Thumper ought to have - with your permission Xali, I'll pull a point out of 'taunt' and 'repair' to give her d6 lockpicking(?)<br/><br/>PS: Was Thumper able to repair Yasha's rifle?</div></blockquote><br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Ah, sorry, meant to get around to PMing you about this but I suppose I'll just address it in the post here. Yes, Thumper successfully repairs the rifle! Repair times will generally be treated as somewhat fungible. If you're pressed such as in combat, you could even repair a complex device in a single round (possibly with a penalty). We can assume that she's able to fix it in the time she spends talking. In this setting it is expected that technology will break and need repairs frequently, and repairing is one of the few technical skills that Clockmakers share with those outside their guild.<br/><br/>As to Yasha's question - Thumper </span><br/><div style="padding: 3px; background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 1px solid #d8d8d8; font-size: 1em;"><div style="text-transform: uppercase; border-bottom: 1px solid #CCCCCC; margin-bottom: 3px; font-size: 0.8em; font-weight: bold; display: block;"><span onclick="if (this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display != '') {  this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = ''; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;hide&lt;/a&gt;'; } else { this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = 'none'; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;show&lt;/a&gt;'; }"><b>Spoiler: </b><a href="#" onclick="return false;">show</a></span></div><div class="quotecontent"><div style="display: none;">does have a slim idea who this stranger is. He is called Kugerrand, and he's a wandering duelist and assassin. Though he doesn't typically engage in random robbery or mayhem, either - he's never attacked anyone in the station shantytown before, and only used it as a stopover point. Hence the administrator tolerates his presence. She met him once, and knows that despite his reserved and polite demeanor, he makes a practice of seeking out skilled soldiers and rogues for the sheer thrill of dueling with them, even when not being paid. The only other thing she knows about him is that he frequently goes up into Catspaw and makes vague threats against some of the settlers, though he never extorts them for money himself..</div></div></div><br/><br/>After the rush of peddlers and traders after getting off the train, the section of the station where Yasha has run into Thumper has gotten surprisingly still and quiet - which allows Yasha's sensitive ears and hard-earned intuition to pick up a tiny shuffling noise behind a tall pile of scrap metal that might otherwise have been missed, and heard a lone ball-bearing jarred loose from the scrapheap drop.<br/><br/>Another piece of information which Thumper is privy to but the new arrivals or not is the extent of all the salvage which can be brought in from around this area. All of it is rusty and in very poor condition, so prices aren't good, but it's something for locals to do when there's nothing around to hunt, no fruit on the vine, and nobody around to rob. Most of it is quite old, and Yasha, Sevana and Celrie are quickly noticing that there is much more scrap metal and old artifacts sitting around than could possibly have come from one military expedition 30 years ago. Some of it is much older than that, and in different, much older styles, including ancient Bucovinan and Skadi types. Even Thumper isn't sure why exactly all of this discarded junk is in such abundance around this mountain, since there aren't any prominent ruins or city sites to go along with it. But it's a nice secondary resource to have, and means that spare parts and rare materials are easier to come by out here than in most frontier shadetowns.<br/><br/>Trinara gasped and giggled a little in response to seeing just how fresh Arcea's meal was. "Oh! Oooh... that's her name you say? I think her name is 'Arcea's gut' now. What a cutie." Though Arcea had thought that Julie-Ann had long since stopped listening and resisting, her proposed itinerary for the 'tour' was enough to make the sexy digesting raccooness give a muffled little "oh goodness noo~" and twitch just enough to give Arcea's words emphasis.<br/><br/>"Oooh, really? You'd give me a show?" Trinara clasped her hands together and purred against Arcea. "Have I ever mentioned you're the sweetest member of your family, Arcea? Uhh, don't let any of the others know I said that. Ahem, anyway..." She looked back at the screen and blushed again. "Uhhh... speak for yourself. It became a bit of a habit for me, as my bat friend just, uhh, showed everybody in the room. After watching you that one night... I couldn't get it off my mind." A little shiver of pleasant memory ran through her.<br/><br/>She was purring so much instinctively that she almost tripped over her words when she was introduced to Celrie. "Mrrrrrice to meet you. So you met this stacke- er, I mean, statuesque prize on the train didja? Maybe I need to stop wandering around the frontier so much and start meeting some gorgeous elves of my own." She stepped away from Arcea and let the two of those partaking in the Duai get back closer together. "Heh heh heh - oh Arcea, I always told Viella that we needed to be careful what we got you involved in, since you had a sharp mind and loved to tell stories. That's why we always made a plan to seduce you into whatever risky thing we were planning so that you'd have to tell a devilish story about yourself as well." She looked back to the bat girl behind her who was speaking with Celrie. "Well, actually, she's been paying me to act as her bodyguard for the past few days. Or at least, that's what I thought until a few minutes ago - now I'm starting to think she just wanted to probe my tummy - err, soul, whatever - for lewd stories. In fairness, she does it to herself, too, so I can't complain. You gotta be sure to tell me about your plans for the village up there, soon, too! My idea? Public bath house, as soon as we find a hot spring~"<br/><br/>Yvonne, unlike the exuberant catgirls, seemed quite perceptive to Sevana's subtle gestures of welcoming, and the other bat responded in kind. "Ahhh, mmm. I could not agree more. But then, it would not have crossed my mind to suggest that someone who ended up here had led a particularly legitimate and conventional life." She seemed most intrigued by Sevana, and nodded along with her every word and motion. The perceptive Sevana thought that despite her reserve, this bat was immensely grateful to meet Sevana and hoping that she could be of use to her. "Ahh - a great pleasure to meet the both of you, Lady Deneir, Arcealandria, and Lady Dawnstrider. I shall try to relax myself from the strictures of the environment I come from. As I'm sure you know, the universities of our homelands can be quite... stringent in their etiquette."<br/><br/>"In fact," she says, "It is dear Celrie who I think this may be of most concern to. Forgive me for my presumption, but for one who can hear auras such as myself, it is obvious that you have the psion's gift... Forgive me once again for cutting so crudely to the point, but are you familiar with the concept of a 'Mystic triad'? I, ah, merely ask for the purpose of the context of my next film showing..." she hastily adds, flicking her tongue.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">TN 6 smarts roll (arcane):</span><br/><div style="padding: 3px; background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 1px solid #d8d8d8; font-size: 1em;"><div style="text-transform: uppercase; border-bottom: 1px solid #CCCCCC; margin-bottom: 3px; font-size: 0.8em; font-weight: bold; display: block;"><span onclick="if (this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display != '') {  this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = ''; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;hide&lt;/a&gt;'; } else { this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = 'none'; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;show&lt;/a&gt;'; }"><b>Spoiler: </b><a href="#" onclick="return false;">show</a></span></div><div class="quotecontent"><div style="display: none;">A mystic triad is a dangerous, forbidden art which allows three magic or psionics users to combine themselves into a permanent mental connection, granting them additional power and the ability to temporarily possess the bodies of anyone within a certain range. This often results in a slow descent into insanity for various magical and psychological reasons. They are often associated with elves, who are masters of ritual and circle magic. Celrie may also add additional context or anecdotes about the matter if she wishes - the gameworld is as always collaborative</div></div></div><br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">That's all for the moment, will try to make a slight shift towards shorter, more frequent posts now that we've gotten back to a social rather than combat pace and conversations going at different lengths doesn't have fatal consequences</span>