Narratives

      Those who follow the man who had an argument on the stage see him enter the College of Autgarius. About the same time they also notice the crowd settle down and somebody starts to speak...

- Pierre:
      [pierre racks his brains trying to think of anything that he knows about the device]

- Judge:       Pierre has heard word of this off and on. Apparently Professor Vedissallian has been at work on this project for some time. Quiet some time (over 20 years). Some people at the university have often referred to it as the unending project, but she has constantly managed to renew funding, and keep things going. This presentation is a big deal mainly because so many people are surprised to see it actually completed...
      As for what it does, speculation is widely varied in that regard. Most people agree that it has to do with dimensions and the planes, somehow.

      The professor turns towards Uttara, steps back a little and rubs at his nose nervously, "Certainally.. er, not that is. Autgarius is reft with politics." He blinks, looks around while shifting feet and glares at Uttara, "Uhh, student you say? Admissions hall, over that way," and then walks into the crowd.
      About the same time everybody begins to quiet down as they notice somebody standing at the front of the stage. Unconciously they press closer to the front. The person on the stage is a half elf female, attired in a formal outfit of decent make.
      After a moment of waiting for everybody to gather in close, she smiles broadly, "Welcome friends and scholars. I am Professor Nina Vedissallian of the College of Autgarius. Me and my colleagues at the School of Metaphysical studies are overjoyed that you all could make it. You are about to see one of the greatest acheivements in academic history througout the Flanaess. As many of you may know, I have been working for quite some time towards developing a device which can scientifically manipulate the magical energies."
      Her gaze scans the crowd, stopping on a group of wizards from Wadroll, "Some of you have mocked this goal, calling it silliness and a waste of time. But you will find that my life's work is not wasted, these decades of research have come to fruition in a most wonderous device!"
      Somebody from the crowd yells out, "So show it already!"
      She pauses a moment, gathers her breath while wiping her hands in nervous excitement, "Very well...I bring you, the Trans Dimensional Relative Gazing Apparatus, or as we call it, the T.D.R.G.A.!"
      With this declaration various students grab tassled corners and with a little tugging and pulling finally reveal the device. It is approximately 20 feet square, mostly composed of metal and wood. Its largest part is a set of circular steel rings which are all slightly smaller than the other, the largest is probably 15 feet across. The rings are offset in a spherical shape. Other protruberances exist on each side, and over the back is a metal armature that arcs to the top of the sphere.
      Standing in front of her apparatus, she beams widely, "Now, for those sceptical about this being a scientific device, we have documented every step of its creation, available upon request."
      She walks towards one side of the device, which has a wooden box with a few levers. "Don't get me wrong," she says while twisting a nob, "The T.D.R.G.A. definitely uses magic, it just does so scientifically, and was created through scientific process!"
      Her hand pauses dramatically on a lever, at which point the students on the stage step down.
      She pulls on the lever with all her weight, it clicks noisilly and ends with a solid clunk. A low ominous hum begins followed by a heavy mechanical grinding, and the apparatus begins to move. Each of the rings starts turning, spinning on their axis within each other. The stage begins to vibrate and shake, but the apparatus appears to take this in stride.
      As the spinning rings gain speed a shimmering light sparkles to life in its center. The light slowly expands and ebbs, each time gaining a little in size until it blossoms open to the size of the edge of the rings, which are now spinning fast enough they can barely be seen. Inside the light something can be seen, as if looking through a window.
      Nina beams, and yells over the noise of the Apparatus, "What you see is from another dimension! We are not certain which one, but have been spending some time trying to figure it out."
      The scene through the apparatus becomes more vivid, showing a flat plain with bits of rock shifted about in massive sheets. Here and there are tufts of purple .. plants, and the sky is a verdant green. Just off to one side of the scene you see something that might be movement.
      A few of the more observant people in the crowd notice a black spot arcing towards the device from the direction of the crowd, spinning as if it were flat and flung.

- Eriador:
      Coming out from the drilling grounds near Hawkwood College, Eriador notices the hustle and bustle where the exhibition is being held.
      "I seem to recall some kind of handbills put up around the barracks about some kind of Magical Demonstration, but I din't realize it was today. Perhaps I ought to go take a look?" Unhitching faithful Islamach from her post, Eriador swings himself casually into his saddle, setting Islamach into a trot towards the gathering.
      "At least I'll have a good view and a comfortable seat!" Eriador cheerfully exclaims as he nudges a satisfactory spot in the crowd for himself and Islamach. From his vantage point above the heads of the crowd, he scans the ongoings with no small amount of curiousity. However, his eyes are caught by the sight of his lady Aria Skydancer, and his heart beats suddenly louder. He whispers softly.
      "My lady... would that I could shelter you and lift you high above the common ground, so that all could look on you with awe and despair from you overshadowing perfection!"
      Unconciously, he spurs Islamach closer to where Aria is, hoping to breath in her perfumed essence.

- Lahrneh:
      Lahrneh the elf finds his post satisfactory. From under this tree, he is not far from the stage, but far enough if some of the unfortunate incidents he has witnessed should repeat themselves. One hardly expects another incident, not here in the heart of the city, but...
      While waiting, he scans the crowd for the more interesting. He himself likely attracts little notice. He is a common enough young male elf. No doubt he would be noticed by the discerning as a decent bowman, but this too is common enough among elves.
      Ah, there is Qucalion. We have been together in a couple of scrapes, one of which nearly cost my life. If my caution is well placed, there will be at least one useful companion.
      That silly lad, making a fool of himself over that lass..that could have been me. [Now am I grateful? or envious? or both?]
      That human joining them is certainly old. He must be more than half my age...
      As Lahrneh muses, he misses much of what is going on onstage..[ooc-rolled 3 on spot]

- Serenia:
      As the evenings entertainment... er... display? begins, Serenia's eyes flicker to the stage, and again that eyebrow archs upwards. "Funny, she looks like a half-elf, but that contraption is certainly the work of gnomes!" is the mutterance to herself.
      Keeping her voice down, so as not to be unduely rude to the Professer on the stage, Serenia turns and flashes Rudyard a smile as she holds her hand out in greeting. She certainly doesn't seem amiss that he is unaffected by her. First of all, he's human. Secondly, he's an OLD human. Lastly, and most importantly, he's a Paladin! They're unaffected by everything! (Right?)
      "It is a pleasure to meet you, Paladin Rudyard. It is a beautiful thing to see one so dedicated to their patron deity. And to see the deity smile upon that person, as well." No, Serenia doesn't live in her own little world, honest.
      The elf's mouth opens to say something else, but, her attention is caught elsewhere. Looking up as some object flies over head, Serenia gives an innocent blink, and then comments to the two men she is standing with, "Oh, dear. That cannot be good at all...."

- Aria:
      Seeing the angry gentleman (who she's never heard of, so he's probably not super important) disappear into the College, and reticent to miss the unveiling, Aria returns to the crowd around the stage just as Nina begins the unveiling.
      Once Nina mentions that the device uses magic, Aria decides out of curiousity to see what kind of magic it is, and casts detect magic. A few standing nearby look at her a bit oddly as she sings a few notes under her breath and a few quick dance steps, but she turns her focus to the stage and the device, so doesn't notice any possible disapproval (or the arrival of Eriador).
      Once she's ascertained the type and power of magic it is, she continues to focus on Nina and the device (how neat! I've never seen something as exciting as all that... another dimension? Wow! That's a whole other possibility for new experiences!), until her attention is caught by something hurtling toward the device from the crowd ([ooc] is it magical? BTW, Aria's spot is +0 [/ooc]).

- Judge: Aria still has her detect magic up, turning to look at the black disk she realizes it is magical, also sharing magical schools similar to the big device on the stage. It is flat, and spinning as if flung much like a frisbee

However, since there is little that she can think to do in the short period of time that it arcs above the crowd until it reaches its final destination, she stands there and watches to see what happens (maybe it's part of the show?), excited that something different is going to transpire.

- Barok:
      "WHAT!!"
      "Lord Rudyard was here, and I missed him! Where was he going did he leave any word?"
      "Ummm... he was looking at that flyer shortly before leaving."
      Barok grabs the piece of paper and quickly reads it. "Drat, it's already time" Barok races out of the door faster than any dwarf wearing heavy armor should be able to, and runs tirelessly for many minutes. He arrives at the University just as everyone is pressing forward towards the device.
      Breathing only slightly heavily Barok notices Storm in the crowd and goes over to him, but can find Lord Rudyard no where in evidence (but that isn't unusual considering Barok's height and the press of the crowd). So he decides to stay near Storm as Lord Rudyard is bound to return at some point. Besides Storm will be better protection against the press of the crowd than even his spiked armor.

- Rudyard (via Horse):
      Storm lowers his great head down to the squat knight and breathes in deeply. Obviously pleased at his new company, he gives him an affectionate shove with his muzzle, narrowly missing a shoulder spike, and then a harder and more purposeful shove. When the Barok hardly moves at the force that would have sent most grown men stumbling, Storm whinnies and gestures twice with his head. He then remembers Rudyard's last command and scans the crowd in an attempt to reacquire the Norker.

- Barok:
      "Hi Storm, good to see you too" Barok affectionately rubs the great Stalion's Nose, then pulls an apple from his pack for him. "Whoa, easy boy, I said I'm glad to see you too..." A sudden look of realization crossing Barok's face "Oh, Lord Rudyard is over that way. Thanks Storm, take care the last time I saw something like this a whole section of town turned into gooey stuff" Barok begins pushing his way through the crowd in the direction that Storm indicated.

- Rudyard:

[responding to Serenia]

      "And there canst be no doubt that thine own deity smiles upon thee as well, as evidenced by our speechless mutual friend."
      Rudyard also looks up at the object and nods, "Indeed, it cannot be good, but is it evil?" He peers intently back in the direction the black disk appears to have come from...

- Judge
      Rudyard detects a few people who are evil in the crowd, but nothing out of the ordinary for such a large city of varied interests.

- Serenia:
      Serenia's blue eyes keep on the black disk, but, then a thought occurs to her. "Hmmm... what -IS- that dimension they've opened up into, anyway? Verdent green sky... have I heard of that before..."

[OOC: Please roll my Knowledge (the planes) if you would be so kind, Mr. I've got a random number generator!(Heh. I love making him work!)]

- Judge: Serenia has no idea, it is completely alien to any plane she has ever heard of (unless she is an alienist).

      After all, Serenia is not one to leap into action. No, she just points things out to those who do that sort of thing. After all, she could break a nail doing something ... daring!

- Uttara:
      Uttara gazes like the rest of the crowd watching the contraption spin around and round. She was amazed at the image that was in the center of the TDRGA when the words of the female Professor "woke" something deep within her. "We don't know what dimension it is..."
      Wait a minute, they've opened a dimensional portal to a unknown plane? The "Tailors" mind begins to spin like the TDRGA. Don't devices such as these work in both directions? Was that movement through the portal? I can't believe this would be allowed in such a public setting. A worried look crosses her brow as she looks at all the people gathered and moving closer to the stage. This isn't good. Could become dangerous if it gets out of hand.
      And then it did. Everything moved in slow motion as her eye caught glimpse of a small object flying towards the stage. This can't be part of the presentation, if it hits the moving device...Oh no.
      Thump, thump. Beat her heart.
      Knowing where the object was going she tried to back track the arc to find the general direction it came from and look for the one person in the crowd that was probably leaving the commons at this moment. ((Spot check?))
      Thump, thump. Beat her heart.
      Not good, quick where did it come from. Her hand unconsciously moves to unsnap the small leather strap attached to the hilt of her Rapier, enabling her to draw her weapon freely if needed. Eyes searching the back of the crowd frantically looking for anyone leaving or unusual. ((Another Spot)) She yells as loud as she can to any who would hear.
      "Look out, incoming!!!" Knowing it was probably too late her body relaxes sensing the danger to come and she prepares to tumble if the contraption blows.
      As the projectile reaches it's mark...
      Thump,thump! Pounds her heart.

- Bandric:

[ooc: while working his way through the crowd to follow the angry man, he notices the crowd tense up]

      Bandric says to his norker friend, "Hmm, seems to be trouble." Both men sink into their combat stances ready to tumble into flanking position around whatever thing appears. "I hope this thing doesn't rend. I hate fighting things that rend." Bandric mutters to himself.

- Qucalion:
      Qucalion, turns for a moment towards the crowd, then returns to following the quarry. "If there are anything like the presentations at the College in Enstad," the elf thinks to himself, "they will mearly drone on with little or no significance." Qucalion enters the College of Augarius, and he wonders why the name. And continues to follow.

- Eriador:
      Hearing the cries of fear and panic start through the crowd, Eriador looks over his shoulder at the the strange black disc heading for the marvelous engine.
      Fascinated by the sight, he stops nudging Islamach through the crowd, and stares at the strange sight. Something about tugs at the back of his memory, and he scratches under his beret as he tries to remember what it might be.
      As the object nears closer, the spark of memory flashes and his mouth gapes open as he hurriedly yells for everyone in the object's path to "Get out of the way!" and he spurs Islamach to help shepard the crowd to the side. "Horizon's sights and wonders! In seminary twas mentioned that Boccob himself used such devices to smite his foes with! What in the planes is *THAT* doing here?!"

- Bandric:
      Hearing the shouts of his friend Eriador, Bandric moves out of the way. "I sure hope the explosion is smaller than the one in that Verbobonc house." he thinks. (maybe he can get another spot check)
      "Narthos, get outa there. It's going to blow!"
      The norker looks around then moves towards his boss. "Yeah boss. I sees it. Big and black."
      Bandric turns to the norker. "You'll not be much help in combat. Use your best manners and help Eriador shepard the crowd away from danger. Remember, you're one of the good guys now."
      Narthos gives an awkward salute and moves towards the crowd. Bandric hunkers down to keep out of the blast, but still close enought to react to any bad stuff.

- Pierre:
      Pierre looks at the flying thing, and prepares to duck and cover if it explodes or something like that, but he isn't really worried. Someone would have to be very foolish to pick a fight here. In a normal city perhaps only a few people in the whole city would be armed, and perhaps one or two people would be capable of casting a magical spell, but here with the Tavern of the Arcane Wanderer, and those in charge of magical effects for the Oerth Theater, and all of the temples in town, and the largest (and only) wizard's guild in the region based right here, and since this was advertised as a magical arcane and divine event which should probably be a good draw for everyone . . .
      Probably at least half, if not more, of the people in the crowd are at least capable of casting some sort of offensive spell, and were drawn by the flyers and word of mouth just like Pierre was, so Pierre isn't going to try to surreptitiously loosen the peace bonding on his rapier, or pull out one of his crossbows.
      Especially since he's still concentrating on seeing what can be seen with his "detect magic" spell, just like so many other people in the crowd.

[OOC] He will try to figure out what the flying thing is, making use of his Knowledge skills. :) And, of course, I could be dead wrong about my guesses as to the magical background of the crowd here. ;D [/OOC]

- Judge:
d20=>17+Knowledge Arcana+9=> 26

Pierre things maybe it could be a portable hole.

By all the Gods, and Goddesses, above, below, and beyond!
      If that black thing is a portable hole, then . . . Pierre knows that when one extradimensional thing comes into contact with another extradimensional thing, a rift to the Astral Plane is usually created, and this rift usually sucks in everything in the near vicinity . . . He doesn't know if this large spinning thing qualifies as an extradimensional thing, but he's betting that it does.
      "Eye Poor-table hoe-awl!" ["A portable hole!"] Pierre yells. ((Damnation, he thinks, how useful would a raven familiar be now? But, the necessary material components to summon a familiar would pay for 2 introductory classes at the University, and when the choice came between more classes and a familiar, the classes won out.))
      Pierre begins fighting his way to the front of the crowd, continuing to point out the object and cry out things like, "Hanna-strawl tear cooed O-pain win E-teats!" ["An astral tear could open when it hits!"]

      Qucalion heads after the angry human who left the stage. The human is moving briskly, but Qucalion is doing his best to catch up. As Qucalion is passing through the entrance he is momentarilly distracted when the presentation starts, but decides it isn't worth staying around for the droning academic speach that is sure to ensue. He steps through the heavy oaken door just as a student is leaving, and walks into the large marble acceptance hall. Several other passages lead off to the sides, and a great staircase heads upwards to the right and left. Statues and pictures line the walls.

- Judge:
[d20(2) + Spot(6) => 8; failure]

      Standing just inside the doors Qucalion waits for his eyes to adjust to the darker room. Unfortunately, there are several other people walking around, and he cannot find his original target. A young female human scholar approaches from a side chamber, pauses for a moment while looking him over and then cautiously asks, "May I be of service, kind Elf?"

- Qucalion:
      Qucalion equally polite and snooty....he is quite versed in that sort of discussion, being a Prince of Celene. But that's another lifetime.
      "Yes, girl. You may," he answers not giving eye contact, but looking over her, despite her height. "A gentleman entered here, just before me. Which way did he go?"

      She considers Qucalion carefully, "I'm sorry, but there have been many people who have come and gone from this area recently, is there somebody you are looking for imparticular? A professor perhaps?"

- Qucalion:
      A single eyebrow raises. "Yes, the gentleman who is working on the project outside."

      She appears confused, "You mean professor Nina? She should be out there. Infact everybody who is working on that project is out there now."

- Qucalion:
      "Thank you for your assistance," Qucalion turns and surveys the area. "Can you tell me where the department head for Professor Nina's department maybe found?"