Midsummer 3, 6107 RTR (Jul 06, 2006) Amelia goes to the dam to collect Zahn and other things before heading to the castle.
(Amelia) (The Legend of Buffy) (Gunther) (Stonebarrow) (Sylvania) (Zahnrad)
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    Hot Springs
    Surrounded by a high wall of planks and tree-trunks, this natural hot spring has been converted into a bathing area lined with decorative rocks and stone benches. The bathes are segregated into three sections, male, female, and common. A shower area is connected to each bathing section. Next to each are changing cabins with shelves for stowing clothes.

After a short jog from the Gnarly Tree, Amelia finds herself at the hot springs bathing area in the Wingnut territory. The floor is damp, showing recent usage of the springs. In fact, the common one is currently in use; the Eeee Liliana is reclining in it quietly. She seems to be asleep, really. Other than that, not much appears to be going on.

"Hmmm, I'd have expected Gunther to be on armed patrol," the Kadie mutters, and decides to check on Zahn's workshop next, if she doesn't spot him working on the dam itself.

"Who says I'm not?" comes a voice from behind and just above Amelia.

Amy carefully takes a few steps backwards, then looks up.

Hanging from his hind feet a few feet above is Gunther. And armed he certainly is. A club, two crossbows, and his dagger. "He be pretendin' to be a bat," murmurs Liliana from where she's reclining and waves dismissively at the young Kadie.

"Doesn't all the blood rush to your head?" Amy asks first, then a bit more sternly, "Are you peeking at the girls?"

"It helps me think clearer," Gunther asserts. And then with a huff, he notes, "No, I am not. We're in the common bathes, you know. Besides, the otters aren't here right now anyway; so I don't have to make sure they're not up to something."

"Have you seen Zahn?" Amy asks.

"He peeked at me," Liliana says, opening one of her currently non-glowing eyes. "Yeah, but you don't count as a girl," Gunther retorts. The bat merely smiles, commenting, "Me no a girl? Vell, von' Morgan be in for a shock."

Gunther just rolls his eyes. "Zahn? Yeah, he was at his shop earlier. He had to air it out after an explosion," the Kadie notes.

"Is he alright?" Amy asks. "And… uh… you haven't told anyone about the… you know… ?"

"Oh, he's fine. 'Bout lost his tail this time, but the shearing gear missed," the Kadie says as he sways side to side. "Tell people about … oh, that. Was going to this evening. There's usually a Chalk at the inn in the evenings."

"Ummm, could you not tell anyone yet?" Amy asks, smiling brightly and hoping Gunther can't see too far down her shirt.

"What's it it for me?" Gunther asks

With a sigh, Amy asks the hanging boy, "What do you want?"

Gunther rubs his chin, thinking. "A tour of your armory," he says, grinning in his dangerous way.

Amelia blinks, and actually says, "That's it? I think Deirdre's already been there with Roy… err… that is, I can probably get you in – since you've already been there once."

"Yeah, that's all," Gunther says. The Kadie then looks at Amelia funny, right before announcing, "So that's where she's been going all the time. What does Roy have on her that gets her to visit him?"

"He gots a nice body," Liliana announces from behind the two. "Tigh' butt, goo' arms."

"He is interesting to talk to," Amy counters, casting a glance at Lili, then reaches up and tries to tap Gunther's head to set him swinging.

That gets Amelia's finger licked. Liliana smiles innocently to Amelia and notes, "Dat don' mean he don' gots a nice butt."

"I never noticed," Amy says, then looks up at Gunther again. "So, we have a deal? I'll show you the armory and you don't tell anyone about the security breach until I give you the go ahead?"

"Sure," Gunther says, grinning. "Besides, Zahn already told me if I told anyone about the breach he'd shave my tail and sell me to a tourist as a deformed Skeek. So, it's not like I was going to anyway… "

"You lied to me about telling people tonight!?" Amy seethes, narrowing her eyes.

"Only because I wanted to make sure you were the real Amy, not some mutant shape shifting slug. You can never be too sure," Gunther points out. "But, you knew things only Amelia would know, so… "

"Like, I know where you live?" Amy growls.

"No, that I had been in the armory before," Gunther notes.

Amelia harrumphes. "Just for that, I'm not going to tell you where the hole goes," she says, and turns to leave.

"Hey, Amelia?" Gunther calls out after the Kadie.

"What?" Amy says, pausing.

"If you're going to go after it, be careful, okay? I've liked kind of having a sister around," the younger Kadie notes.

"Don't worry, Gunther," Amy says, a little more softly. "I won't try anything I don't think I can handle."

"Want to take my crossbow?" Gunther asks. "Just in case?"

"Hmm," Amy mutters. "Okay, Zahn can use it," she decides, and returns to Gunther.

Gunther unhooks the odd crossbow from his back and hangs it down to Amelia. "Hey, wait, you're taking him with you?" he asks.

"I need him to do certain things, yeah," Amy says.

"Oookay, not sure I want to know," Gunther decides and hands off the crossbow.

"Thanks Gunther," Amy says. "Don't stay on guard too long though, I don't think anything is coming back that way again."

"That's what they want us to think," Gunther says and peers towards the women's bath. "They're after the girls or something, I know it."

"That's silly," Amy says. "There aren't any subterranean monsters after our women," the girl assures Gunther, and then heads off for the workshop, calling back, "But you could always put on a dress to play bait if you want!"

"Ack!" Gunther yells.


After a short walk, Amelia arrives at Zahn's shop. All the windows are open as is the door. The acrid smell of burnt wood and paper hangs in the air. To make matters worse, there's this loud roaring sound coming from inside…

"ZAHN?" Amy shouts into the roar, staying at the door. "ARE YOU IN THERE?"

On the far side of the workshop there's a spinning … blur? The outline sure looks like a Kadie stuck onto something going really, really, fast. And not more than a moment later, there's a large POW! The spinning abruptly stops. The former blur, Zahnrad, goes flying through the air. He slams into a wall and slides down it, landing on his head. "Ow," he mumbles.

"Zahn!" Amy cries and runs over to the fallen Kadie. "What… what are you DOING?"

Zahnrad blinks repeatedly and looks at Amelia. "Hey, twins," he mumbles.

"Don't look at my chest… oh, your vision is blurred," Amy says, and holds up one finger. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Twelve," the Kadie answers, "But that doesn't make much sense. Am I still spinning?"

"No, you're on the ground now," Amy says. "Don't try to get up. Why were you spinning around like that?"

"I feel like I'm still spinning," Zahn says. He looks a bit nauseous too. "I was tweaking part of the prototype engine I've been building from the plans the Titanian left me. Well, while I was reaching around it to adjust something, the drive shaft jammed … then the whole thing started spinning. While I was hugging it. I didn't dare let go. Thankfully, something broke. I hope it wasn't me."

"You mean it actually works? Is that what caused the explosion Gunther mentioned?" Amelia asks.

"It sort of works," Zahn notes. "It's not running right. The explosion was because it isn't always burning the fuel; that comes out the end and then ignites because of the heat. That hit the small fuel barrel, and well… "

"Maybe you should do these tests outdoors," Amelia notes, then shakes her head. "I sorta need your help, Zahn. Are things still spinning for you?"

Zahnrad rolls over and sits up. He winces, then says, "A little but not as bad. What do you meed? You know I can't refuse you."

"I need you to row the boat," Amy says. "And make a map."

"Row what boat? What sort of map?" Zahn asks. He then pats the floor next to him, "Sit with me?"

Amelia sits down and puts an arm around Zahn's shoulders to steady him. "The canal boat. We have to go get some blood from Buffy."

Zahn rests his chin on Amelia's shoulder. He then blinks and asks, "Wait, you want to go after Buffy? How do you know it's Buffy?"

"Uh… well, it might not be 'Buffy' but it's a vampire, it's in the Chalk tunnels, and we know there's a back door," Amelia says.

"Which leads to a pile of corpses," Zahn notes and sighs. "And, what's this about a map? You want to map out the tunnels?"

"I want to be able to find our way back out, yeah," Amelia says. "Can't use the old 'mark your way with chalk arrows' trick when the walls are made of chalk."

"No, you just carve arrows into the wall," Zahn notes with a grin. "All right, I'll go. The things I'll do to spend some time with you."

"Hey!" Amy says, mock indignantly, "Last time we were there I had to practically drag you out."

Zahn grins and noses the side of Amelia's neck. "So, has the ritual whatsit been done to Miranda?" he asks.

"Yeah, for the next day she's… like Liliana the gypsy, with glowing eyes and such," Amy says, relaxing a bit. "Lili's eyes are blue when they aren't glowing. Morgan is bringing Miranda to the Castle to meet us."

"So dat vhat happen to her," comes a familiar Skreek voice from the doorway.

Zahnrad groans and looks towards the door. "What do you want, Djivan?" he asks.

"Djivan, have you been peeping in on Lili at the baths?" Amy asks sternly.

"It no peepin' vhen vou seen her naked before," Djivan notes and saunters in. An ornate staff rests on his shoulder. "As for vhat I vant, vell, how bouts a night wit vour girlfriend," he says and waggles his eyebrows at Amelia.

"Olivia would kill you," Amelia points out.

"Aww, an here I was hopin' to get a rise out of vou," Djivan says with a grin and crouches down near the two. Zahnrad is just glaring at him, when Djivan notes, "Like dat. Vou two really are too easy t' tease."

"What do you want," Zahnrad practically growls.

"Tsk. I jus' be delivin' somet'ing from Natasha. Said Amelia coul' use it," the Skreek notes.

"Oh, what is it?" Amy asks.

Djivan holds out the staff he was carrying and a small pouch. "Dis t'ing," he says.

"It's a staff," Amy notes, taking the stick. "I already have a halberd… what's special about this one?"

"Open de pouch," the Skreek points out.

Amy carefully tugs open the pouch, prepared for a nose full of something foul.

A small, carefully carved crystal slides out from the pouch. "It go in de top of de staff," the Skreek notes.

"Is it safe to do that now?" Amy asks, holding the crystal over the fitting.

"Yah, it is," the Skreek notes, grinning like the cat that's caught the Creen.

Amelia casts a suspicious glance at the Skreek's grin, then places the crystal atop the staff.

The crystal flares to life, bathing the workshop in an eerie blue light. "It be a focus of some sort. Didn' quite understan' vhat it is. But, she sai' undergroun' it shoul last indefinitely wit de high levels of magic in de area. Make a good ligh' an if all else fails vou break it. It shoul' snuff mos' spirit an undead in de area for a few seconds. Long enough t' run," the Skreek tries to explain.

"It's an undead-bomb?" Amelia asks, blinking in surprise.

"Uh, I s'pose so. No as powerful as if she cast de spell 'erself, but it migh' help. Won' kill a vampire, tho, so don' rely on it fer dat," Djivan says.

"I'll keep that in mind… although last time there were undead bunnies," Amy says.

"Dey small, prolly vork on does," Djivan notes and stands. He stretches and yawns widely. "Vell, dat be a lot o' work for me today. I tired."

Zahnrad just rolls his eyes and mutters, "Like you'd know work if it bit your butt."

"Huh, what else have you been doing, it's barely noon yet?" Amy asks the Skreek.

"Oh, tryin' t' beat de otters at gamblin," Djivan says.

"Thank goodness you didn't lose your pants to them," Amy mutters.

"Anyvay, I be goin. Vou two kin get back t' snogging," the rat notes. He winks, then slinks towards the door and disappears outside.

"I'm telling you, he's brain damaged," Zahnrad says as he watches the Skreek leave.

"Well… maybe he'll go bother Lili in the baths," Amy notes, and returns the crystal to its pouch.

"Bother?" Zahn asks as he peers around the room. "Oh, good, it quit spinning," he notes.

"I think she gets bored if nobody is there to talk to her," Amy says. "And she didn't seem to be chatting it up with Gunther. Do you think it's okay for him to be seeing naked Eeee though?"

"Gunther? I doubt he really notices. There's not much to see on a naked Eee, is there?" Zahn asks. "I've never seen one."

Amelia thinks about it. "I suppose not. But he is attracted to otter girls now… "

Zahnrad blinks repeatedly. "He is?" the Kadie asks and glances at Amelia.

"Well, he's interested in either Nene or Bebe… maybe both, not sure," Amy says, scratching at her cheek. "I think we wants to learn the secret Otter Scout arts of stealth and espoo… spying."

"Ah, okay, that would make sense, I guess," Zahnrad admits. Scratching idly at one of his ears, he asks, "When do we have to leave?"

"Well… can you stand up without wobbling?" Amelia asks.

Zahnrad answers that by getting up. He takes a few steps and seems to be pretty stable. "Looks like," he says, then offers a hand up to Amelia.

Amy takes Zahn's hand and stands as well. "Okay, I guess we're ready to go then! Unless you want to bring something special along… Gunther loaned me one of his crossbows for you to use if we need it."

Zahnrad hmms. "Well, let me get some rope and paper, at least. Those are always useful," he notes as he scavanges around his disaster of a workshop. It takes him a bit, but he finally gets together a small pack of stuff, including rope, some measuring tape, a set of picks, and paper for drawing a map. After collecting the crossbow from Amelia, he says, "Well, I guess that's it."

"Okay, you get that, and I'll go scare Gunther with the magic crystal," Amy says, grinning.


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GMed by Jared

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