Day 293

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

Who: Rob, anyone
When: Day 293
What: Rob's Alchemy skill has increased. Or just grab him to talk if you want.
Where: Anywhere in the Bastion
Format: Will match
Warnings: None

For Colin

Rob's been spending a lot of time in the laboratory area this past week. He told Colin what he was doing - trying to make an invisibility potion from various ingredients that Paarthurnax bought in preparation for learning to make healing potions - but he hasn't been offering updates on how that's been going. If asked he's been having trouble processing the plants into reagents correctly, along with a few minor issues with a brewing process that's beyond what he ever tried to do in science class.

Today though, while Colin's back is towards the stairs, Rob comes down as quietly as he can (and of course because he's trying to be quiet he's louder than he normally is) and approaches Colin from behind with an open bottle in his hand. Assuming Colin doesn't respond to his incredibly obvious approach, he'll cough loudly. Either way, as soon as Colin starts to turn his head during this process, Rob will quaff the contents of the bottle. When Colin's gaze finally passes over where Rob's standing, there won't be anyone visible. For the next 17 seconds. Homemade invisibility potions in Skyrim don't last very long.

For Paarthurnax

When Paarthurnax looks like he isn't busy with anything, Rob crosses the bridge to the Dragonfield and approaches him.

"Hey, uh, Paarthurnax? Can I show you something?"

For Everyone Else

There's a tough-looking long-haired man walking around in mammoth-hide sandals, cargo shorts, a tank top, and a rabbit skull and leg bones strung out on a necklace around his neck, the faint blue glow of a shard coming from each eye socket. He's clinking slightly as he walks, which may be related to the bulges in the cargo pockets of his shorts. Whether you've seen him around before or not, if you want to talk to him now's a perfect opportunity.

Comments

[freedom_engineer]

It's never easy to sneak up on Colin. His perception is above human average, and there's the little matter of his proximity alarm in his eye.

Still, he doesn't hold peoples' efforts to try against them.

Colin turns as Rob quaffs the potion, and he arches his eyebrow. There's a small smile on his lips, and he leans his elbow on the workbench he was working at until just a moment ago.

"Impressive, is this what you've been working on up there?" he asks.

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

"..."

He debates trying to pretend that he isn't here, but Colin has already ID'd him and is looking right at him, so he can't say there's really a point in trying anymore.

"Yeah," Rob's voice says. "Only lasts 17 seconds, but I finally got it to work."

There's the extremely faint sound of glass against fabric, followed by the sound of a stopper being removed from a bottle.

"So how well can you see me, and how far outside of human vision do you have to go? All I can see of myself is a distortion out of the corner of my eye, but I assume it covers near-infrared and ultraviolet, otherwise it wouldn't be any good against animals."

The faint sound of liquid moving and being swallowed emanates from the air as he extends the duration.

[freedom_engineer]

"Thermal," Colin says, smirking slightly. "My race can see heat. Even if I can't see you, you're still a torch to me. Besides that, the common problem with stealth suits also applies here. It makes you invisible, but you still generate sound and don't occlude it. And... you've already triggered my prox sensor."

The problem with properly paranoid people is that they are never the sort to let themselves be properly surprised.

"It's a good effect though," he says, his tone filled with approval. "With proper precautions, you could really cause some trouble and get away free as a bird."

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

"Not sure what I could do with such a short duration, other than making an opening in a fight."

He starts walking, circling around the immediate area while still invisible. Now that he's not trying to be sneaky his movements are significantly quieter, helped by the fact that he's wearing mammoth-hide sandals instead of hard-soled shoes.

"If anything on the Skyway can see heat it won't be as useful. Same as anything with a good sense of smell."

[freedom_engineer]

"Heat vision isn't a very common ability," Colin says, shaking his head. "I'm honestly not sure how my race evolved it. As for scent, don't sell yourself short. Scent is good for tracking, but not so good for fighting. Scent is not sight or hearing, it doesn't give you precision in locating a moving object well enough to attack it. Just to follow it. And scent can be thwarted with just a few common spices."

He continues to smile then. "As for what you can do in fifteen seconds... that's more than enough time to run to concealment," he advises. "If you're not in line of sight when you reappear, it doesn't matter whether you're invisible or not."

A pause, and he continues. "Just make sure you're not leaving tracks when you run," he says. "Invisibility does not erase footprints or fluid trails."

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

"I haven't tested if parts of my body stay invisible when they're separated from me yet," says a deadpan voice. "I think that should wait until after I can make healing potions."

The invisibility ends as Rob is leaning against a workbench.

"Though I'm still not sure how I'm going to check how well said healing potions work."

[freedom_engineer]

Colin laughs quietly, and he shakes his head. "What I mean is... don't run through mud, don't disturb leaves, try to find solid footing or learn to climb a tree quickly," he explains. "Half the art of staying out of sight is making the other guy wonder where you could be, rather than giving him a chance to track you."

[daughterofursa]

Guess who's gotten away from her mom for the first time? If you guessed baby dragon, you are 100% correct.

It was fun at first. The Bastion is still a place of endless fascination for her. But she quickly discovered that it is also a place where everything is huge when she's not riding on Mommy. Giant, strange-smelling animals with hooves, people she hasn't met yet towering over her, it gets to be too much for her, but Mommy isn't where she was when Kizuna left her because she is looking for her lost dragon and she doesn't know what to do.

Rob's scent is a strong and familiar one, and he is Good People, even if he is making funny clinking noises. Hopefully he will notice the baby dragon scurrying at his heels, making distressed noises.

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

Rob does notice, though it takes a moment since he's lost in thought as he walks. When he does, he stops and crouches down to be closer to baby dragon's level, holding out a hand to her.

"Hey, what's wrong? Did you lose your mommy?"

[daughterofursa]

Kizuna can't understand him beyond the tone of his voice but yes, yes she did. She doesn't just sniff his hand and await pettings, she crawls onto it and up his arm. Hope you don't mind tiny claws.

Maybe she can see Mommy from up here??

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

He grunts softly at the tiny claws digging into his bare arm, but he reaches up with his other arm to help her onto his shoulder so she's riding in a way that's reasonably comfortable for both of them before he carefully stands.

"C'mon, let's go look for your mommy. Any ideas where she might be?"

He's not expecting an answer, so he starts heading towards the training building, that being the place he most associates Zuko with. He moves much more slowly than usual, finding it unexpectedly different to move with an extra weight on one shoulder.

[daughterofursa]

Kizuna doesn't exactly sit still on his shoulder at first either. She keeps craning her neck or switching shoulders until she realizes they're headed towards the training building. Then she calms down a bit because that is absolutely a place that Mommy brings her to a lot. Rob seems to understand the problem and maybe she will be there.

...she isn't, but she is in the general vicinity and she spots Rob on the way there.

"Have you seen--?? Oh. Oh, you found her." Zuko looks and sounds so relieved it almost seems uncharacteristic.

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

Rob was just guessing - baby dragon either wanted Zuko or food, and those distressed noises made him go for Zuko because she was probably looking for Kizuna and would have a better idea of what baby dragon wanted - but it seems like the guess was correct. An eyebrow goes up ever so slightly as he smiles, because Zuko breaking character like that was a bit unexpected.

"No, she found me. I take it someone wandered away on their own?"

[oursomalink]

Oh, hey, it's the guy with all the creepy yet cool-looking accessories that he taught how to fish, Shing recalls as he spots him nearby. It doesn't take him that long to approach, a small smile on his face as he waves him down and stops next to him. "Hey, Rob...! It's good to see you again..."

While he was going to ask how his attempts at fishing have been going thus far, the clinking noises in the other man's cargo shorts arrest his attention, and soon he finds his gaze lingering on the bulges in his pockets. Frowning, he tilts his head curiously and gestures vaguely at him. "... do you mind if I ask what's in there?"

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

"Huh? Oh. Sure." He pulls a bottle of transparent red liquid from his pocket and holds it up. "Invisibility potions."

[oursomalink]

"Whoa... that's really cool..." Shing can't help but stare at the red liquid in awe, blinking and nodding excitedly as he looks at the pockets once more before facing Rob. "Is that all you have in there? It looks like a lot."

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

Wow Shing it's like you've never seen an invisibility potion before.

"Yeah. I used up the rest of the ingredients I'd already gathered to make a bunch, since there isn't anything else particularly useful that I can make with them."

Also he was going to use a bunch to see how long he could hide from Colin but that ended fast.

[oursomalink]

To be fair, those things don't really exist in his world. Just potions that heal people.

Either way, Shing looks excited as he glances again at the red potion, trying and failing to hide his excitement. "Do you think I could try one?"

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

Healing potions will eventually exist here too, if Rob has any say in the matter. ...They won't be particularly strong healing potions, but they'll exist.

Rob looks at Shing's expression, then at the potion. Well, he does have extras aka as many as are needed for the convenience of the threads in this post, and it'll give him a chance to see what it's like when he's not the one drinking it. He hands it over.

"It lasts for 17 seconds, or until you try to affect anything other than yourself, whichever comes first. It also makes you invisible to yourself, which can be kinda disorienting."

When Shing drinks it, he will indeed become invisible. It's not perfect though; if he looks at himself out of the corner of his eye he'll see a faint distortion where the parts of his body are, and it won't hide his footprints in the grass, which Rob will be watching for.

...My sense of time is so skewed, I did not feel like it was this old

[wayofvoice]

"Of course." It's not as though the life of the Bastion's resident dragon is particularly busy, although it is steady. He shifts, looking to him curiously.

"Do you require me to travel to elsewhere in the Bastion, or does this fair well enough?"

Old like Grandpadragon

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

"No, here's fine."

There's a clinking sound as he produces a small bottle from his pocket. He removes the stopper, raises the bottle slightly like he's making a toast, and downs the contents.

And then he vanishes.

Rude, empires have not risen and fallen just yet

[wayofvoice]

The small show- or rather lack of one- earns a low rumble of a laugh from deep inside Paarthurnax's throat.

"Well met. It seems that your studies have gone well."

Rob built a little Lego orc village and then it was taken apart. Doesn't that count?

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

"After a bunch of trial and error," Rob's voice says from nowhere. "It was harder to do than it sounded from reading. Are you able to see me at all? Colin can see my body heat, so it doesn't work on him."

Not quite, but A for effort

[wayofvoice]

"Unlike Colin, I see nothing." He could use one of the shouts, of course, but that's a unique situation. Paarthurnax just gives an approving nod. "You have done well, for learning on your own."

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

"Th-thanks?" Rob reappears, looking kind of awkward. Not only did he just get a complement, but he just got a complement from a dragon.