Rorn Washes Up

Rorn Gets a Bath

Talia Sunsong: wheels Rorn's baby carriage down the sidewalk. As they pass a yellow house, the smells of cooling baked cakes wafts out.

Rorn's head pops out of the baby blanket. He sniffs he air catching the smell of freshly baked chocolate cake. The baby dragon jumps out of the carriage, and flies into an open window of the house.

Talia Sunsong: "Rorn, come back!"

Talia Sunsong dashes after the baby dragon, running past the cat on the porch and throwing open the front door without asking permission of the residents.

Savage and Fiesty Worry About Talia

Fiesty Lotus: “Oh my, Talia has gone into that house.”

Fiesty Lotus: “What shall I do?” (Panics.)

Savage Taurus: “What she do that for?”

Fiesty Lotus: “I don't know- she is Fae, They do stuff like that.”

Savage Taurus: puffs on his pipe, not looking concerned at all.

Fiesty Lotus: “But Savage - there may be people in there that don't want your baby - they may try to harm it!”

Savage Taurus: “Hmm, can’t have these pesky hominids hurtin' the rugrat.”

Savage Taurus: “Well, lets’ go in and see what she's got up to.{

Fiesty Lotus: “I don't want to go in- it’s bad enough they are in there.”

Savage Taurus: "Suit yourself" (shrugs and opens the door and walks in.)

Rorn Likes Chocolate Cake

Talia Sunsong: "Oh no!"

Baby Rorn has dived into the chocolate cake. Covered in icing, he chews on a strawberry.

Talia Sunsong: "You're all dirty now!"

Ignoring, Talia, the baby dragon goes after the pudding pie, getting even more dirty.

Savage Taurus: “Now, junior, don't make yourself sick with all that hooman food. It ain’t wholesome like good raw flesh.”

Talia Sunsong: “Chocolate is always good.”

Savage Taurus looks around, "These digs ain’t bad"

Talia Sunsong: "It's better than where we live now."

Talia Sunsong: "Rorn, get out of the pie!"

Savage Taurus: “No doubt. We should move in.”

Talia Sunsong tries to pull the baby dragon out of the pie. Rorn flaps his small wings, causing pudding and icing to fly off.

Savage Taurus wanders into the living room, looking around

Talia Sunsong: "Rorn, stop struggling!"

Savage Taurus: "Nice furniture," (eyes the grandfather clock.)

Talia Sunsong: carries a struggling icing covered baby dragon. The Fae wanders about the house.

Savage Taurus notices a peculiar set of spectacles on a fancy table, picks them up and tries them on.

Fiesty Lotus bites her already shortened fingernails and waits to see if the constable is called.

Talia Sunsong: "You need a bath young man!" Talia scolds the dragon.

Savage Taurus: "Hmm, these are pretty nifty" puts them in his pocket for later and follows the nanny upstairs.

Talia Sunsong, being Fae, has no concept of not entering someone else's home.

Talia carries the dirty dragon into the bathroom of the strange house.

Talia Sunsong: "This looks just right for a dragon bath."

Talia Sunsong turns the taps on full volume, and fills the claw foot tub with warm water. Rorn licks icing off his wings as the tub fills.

Talia Gives Rorn a Bath

Talia Sunsong: humming off key to herself, she picks up the little dragon and places him in the tub. "There you go baby Rorn."

Savage Taurus notices a man in suspenders, "Hey, chief. How's it going?"

Confused Gentleman wakes to another day and puts on his gaiters;  he blinks back his shock at a stranger in his house, in his bedroom!

Confused Gentleman: “Who are you? What are you doing here?”

Savage Taurus: “You seen a girl run through here with a baby ..errr...nevermind, I think I hear her in the bathroom.”

Looking around the room, Talia spots a bottle. "Oh look bubble bath." Talia pours a large amount of the bubble bath into the tub.

The Homeowner Discovers Talia and Rorn

Confused Gentleman turns red in the face.

Confused Gentleman runs after the man in fury.

Savage Taurus: "Don’t bother to get up, I found her," opens the door to find the fae giving his son a bath.

Talia Sunsong happily washes Rorn with the soap bubbles, while singing a Fae tune.

Confused Gentleman: Who are you? What is THAT IN my BATH!!!

 Confused Gentleman: “I demand you leave this instant!”

Talia Sunsong: "But I need to apply the baby oil, to keep Rorn's scales soft and shiny."

Confused Gentleman runs to the bedroom where his pistols are.

Savage Taurus: "Calm down chief, we ain’t gonna hurt you or nothin'," gives him a grin that indicates it is always one of the options.

Talia Sunsong: Towels off baby Rorn. "There, there, all nice and clean now."

The Gentleman Grabs his Pistol

Confused Gentleman returns waving his pistol and yelling incoherently.

Confused Gentleman: Out, Get out!

Talia Sunsong: blinks. "But it’s nice here."

Confused Gentleman: “I do not care- you must leave with your ..pet and you sir- I challenge you to a duel.”

Savage Taurus: "Ok, chief. I'm not sure what kind of toy you got there, but don’t do anything you will regret," (takes his pipe out of his mouth, stares the man dead in the eyes and shoots two jets of flames out of his nostrils.)

Confused Gentleman jumps. “Ouch!”

Confused Gentleman: What was that?

Confused Gentleman: What are you?

Savage Taurus gets up in the man's face and lets him see his distinctly reptilian eyes.

Talia Sunsong: "Look baby Rorn, daddy is on fire."

Talia Sunsong: Baby Rorn, now clean and oiled, looks up and says "Da da."

 Savage Confronts the Gentleman

Confused Gentleman: “Oh my!”

Confused Gentleman levels the gun at the creature and backs away.

Savage Taurus: “Go on now. You don't wanna get yourself into anything you can’t handle, do ya, chief?”

Talia Sunsong stands behind daddy dragon.

Confused Gentleman looks around at his house and runs to get help.

Savage Taurus: “Don’t go tellin anybody about this now. You don’t think they'd believe ya anyways? Probably lock you up in an asylum.”

The Homeowner Runs to Get Help

Talia Sunsong: "Let's eat more cake, Rorn."

Confused Gentleman runs out of the house and sees the strange short lady on the lawn.

Fiesty Lotus hoofs it out of there.

Savage Taurus grabs the nanny about the waist, "Come on hon. Maybe we ought to scram in case he comes back with reinforcements."

Talia Sunsong: "As long as I get cotton candy later"

Savage Taurus looks at the baby in the fae's arms, "You ok there, kid? Probably gonna have a tummy ache with all that hooman goop inside ya."

Fiesty Runs Away

Fiesty Lotus returns “You two are in so much trouble - That man was so mad.”

Savage Taurus chuckles.

Talia Sunsong: Baby Rorn gives a small belch.

Talia Sunsong: A puff of smoke comes out of his mouth.

Fiesty Lotus: Well, I suggest we retire to our house for a bit

Savage Taurus: "My middle name is trouble," (winks).

Fiesty Lotus: “Then the man will have no one to point out.”

Talia Sunsong: Eyes the boardwalk with cotton candy and reluctantly walks towards the house. Baby Rorn, his stomach full and lulled to sleep by the warm bath, closes his eyes.

Savage Taurus: "Yea, let’s go home. I want to check out these spectacles," (pulls the strange glass contraption out of his pocket and slides them onto his nose.) “I normally see perfectly well in the darkness, being a dragon and all. But what I see through these is something I've never experienced before.”

Fit Gets an Education

Druid Fitheach had been thinking about the portal that brought them to the Victorian town for weeks. She had visited the cave with the portal repeatedly and worn herself to exhaustion trying to reactivate it, with no result. It made no sense to her that it would transport them from their world and then cease to work. Fit poured over all the books in the old house looking for references to portals, but while she found some things that were obviously spells nothing referred to a gateway of any kind. If only they could make the portal work perhaps they could go back and find their friends from the River Lands and be reunited.

The Dead Portal

Determined to learn something, Fitheach set out for the bookstore she had seen the night the dragon got them all into trouble in the grocery. As she approached the shop, one of the sylphs popped suddenly into view and bounced excitedly in the air in front of her. “Oh yes Lady, you must go in, you must meet him,” she babbled almost incoherently. Fit knew sylphs were flighty, but this behavior seemed odd even for one of them. 

Pushing open the heavy door she entered the well-lit shop and looked around at all the books and maps. “How will I ever find what I need,” she wondered. The sylph danced down one aisle and stopped in front of a kindly looking old human male. To Fit’s surprise he smiled up at the sylph that most people could not see and said, “what have you brought me little one?”

The Bookseller

Walking towards the shop owner, Fit was struck by the golden yellow glow around him; she had seen a green glow like that around her friend and fellow druid Fiesty and a multi-colored one surrounding Master Druid Jaekob. She knew immediately what this meant; the man was an air element master, either a druid or a mage. How strange to find one here in this heavily machined place. The old man smiled at her and nodded slightly: “I see you are not from around here my elvish friend; what brings you into my shop, today?”

To her surprise, Fitheach was compelled to tell him the truth. “My friends and I came through a portal into this land some weeks ago; we were fleeing the shadow and took the only desperate choice open.” “We cannot open the portal again; where are we?” The shop owner nodded again and regarded her sympathetically: “You have reached the world called Terminus; the gate you came through ends here. Everyone in this world got here the same way; running from something and using the portal in extremity.” 

“There are many lands in this world representing all ages of time, this particular one is Victorian Steampunk.” “You can sail or fly to visit other lands; many of them contain portals, but none of those will take you back where you came from. Your former home no longer exists.” The old man offered a rolled up map: “ The closest lands are shown here, perhaps you would care to visit them?”

The Sylph and Fitheach Meet the Mage

Fit regarded the bookseller seriously: “We had friends in that old home that we sent off to safety before escaping the Shadow’s advance through the portal, is it possible to reach them?”

“And what kind of elemental master are you? Druid or Mage?” The book seller smiled again: “I am a mage of air, my lady, just as you are of water and other elements I can also feel. I am no druid though, to command the elements as you do; rather I work with the elemental creatures that you can also see, from the flighty sylphs to the great birds of the far airy realms, the giant eagles.” 

“And to answer the other questions, yes you can travel through some of the portals, if you can find the key and have the strength to open them.”

The elf druid grew excited; “Have you any books that would help me learn more about these portals?” The shop owner gestured towards the shelf in the back corner: ”There are books there that only the gifted can see; if you can find them, they will help you learn.” 

The Glowing Books

Fit rushed to the shelf and immediately saw two old leather books off to the right on one shelf that glowed faintly. Opening one carefully she found a page of runes that glowed as she traced her fingers over them. Clutching both books in her arms; she returned to the merchant. “Are these the right books?” The old mage beamed at her benevolently; “Indeed you have found what you need. Take them and learn.” 

Fit dug into her pocket, but the old man put out his hand. “I need no payment for helping a fellow traveler; I hope they lead you where you wish to go.“ The sylph, who had lingered nearby the whole time, giggled and spun in circles happily.

A New Airship!

Savage.Taurus: sings to himself, "Money, money, money...I've got money!"

Savage.Taurus: I wanna go spread it out on my bed and roll in it!

Talia.Sunsong: "I'm a good nanny, pay me by buying cream."

Fiesty Lotus eyes the money and grins

Savage.Taurus: scoffs

Talia.Sunsong: "I am a great nanny. I taught Rorn to hunt."

Savage.Taurus: Fine, I'll buy the kid some cream

Talia.Sunsong: "And for me. Watch!" Points at hot dog. "Rorn, attack!"

Savage.Taurus: laughs

Talia.Sunsong: Rorn blinks, looks at hot dog, and rolls over to get his belly rubbed.

Fiesty and Fit Talk

Fiesty Lotus speaks to Fitheach in low tones

Talia.Sunsong: "No Rorn. Attack!"

Fiesty Lotus: “You know- we might be able to go on the road with that act.”

Talia.Sunsong: Rorn looks at Talia, then up at sky, where a kite had drifted above them

Savage.Taurus: walks up to a vendor and tosses her a coin and takes some iced cream; takes a lick and screws up his face in disgust, then hands it to the nanny.

The Dragon Buys Ice Cream

Talia.Sunsong: Rorn explodes from his carriage chasing the kite.

Talia.Sunsong: "Nooooo, not the kite, Rorn."

Savage.Taurus: sees his kid attacking some flying bit of cloth and says, "Go get it, son!"

Fitheach Eun whispers back to Fiesty: "We could get one of those airships and go search for some land to settle in."

Talia.Sunsong: Rorn breathes a small flame at the paper kite, which quickly catches on fire.

Fiesty Lotus: OH, but they would cost a fortune!

Talia.Sunsong: A boy runs up to the boardwalk. "Hey! What happened to my kite."

Talia.Sunsong: "Rorn hide!" hisses Talia.

Savage.Taurus: laughs at the boy's whining

Fitheach Eun: “Let's all head back to the house.”

Talia.Sunsong: Rorn flies off, towards an airship to hide

Fiesty Lotus nods and walks toward home

Fitheach Eun notices where Rorn is going

Talia.Sunsong: "Rorn, where are you going?"

Fitheach Eun: “Isn't that the airship Dragon attacked? I wonder if it is for sale?”

Talia.Sunsong: "We have to go retrieve baby Rorn."

Fitheach Eun: “Yes, we do”

Slightly Shabby Gentleman: The gentleman sees the people coming

Slightly Shabby Gentleman: He notices a strange blue creature. “What is that?”

Rorn and The Shabby Gentleman

Fitheach Eun interjects: "That is our pet, sir; it belongs to the lady here.”

Savage.Taurus: "Pet!" scoffs

Fitheach Eun mutters: "Shut up Dragon."

Slightly Shabby Gentleman: “It's got fire comin out of its mouth!”

Fitheach Eun: "Oh no, surely not."

Talia.Sunsong: "That's normal."

Savage.Taurus: “That's, um, indigestion!”

Slightly Shabby Gentleman: Sputters and waves the creature away

Talia.Sunsong: "Hey, careful, he's a baby.”

Talia.Sunsong: Talia grabs baby Rorn.

Slightly Shabby Gentleman is relieved to have the small creature out of his face

Talia.Sunsong: She tries to hid him under a blanket

Slightly Shabby Gentleman raises an eyebrow. "Well, you folks look flush. Can I interest you in a second-hand Airship?

The Second Hand Airship

Savage.Taurus: “Second hand?”

Slightly Shabby Gentleman: “She only has, um 3,000 miles on her”

Fitheach Eun raises an eyebrow: " You sell airships?"

Savage.Taurus: “What happened to the first hand?”

Slightly Shabby Gentleman: “I do ma’am.”

Talia.Sunsong: "An airship could be handy; my wings get tired flying long distances."

Fitheach Eun whispers to Dragon: " Second hand means it is used"

Savage.Taurus: "I never got tired when I flew," sighs missing his wings

Talia.Sunsong: "Let's take a look at it."

Fitheach Eun smiles at the others: "We could go exploring."

Talia.Sunsong: "I like to explore and find cream."

Slightly Shabby Gentleman nods:  "Yes ma’am- just don't let that creature near the fuselage.”

Talia.Sunsong: "Why will he eat it?"

Fiesty Lotus stares up at the airship

Talia.Sunsong: "Can you show us the airship?"

Slightly Shabby Gentleman: “Fire is not one of an airships friends.”

Slightly Shabby Gentleman: “Sure - Follow me.”

Talia.Sunsong: follows the man to the docked airship

Savage.Taurus: follows his companions, wondering what they are on about

Talia in the Captain's Chair

Talia.Sunsong: Steps onto the wooden deck. She settles in the plush red velvet airship seat

Talia.Sunsong: pulls on the wheel and makes air whooshing noises. "Look I'm a pilot!"

Savage.Taurus: chuckles at the fae's antics

Fitheach Eun shudders at the idea of Talia flying this thing and walks into the cabin to look around

Talia.Sunsong: Follows her: "Food!"

Talia.Sunsong: stares hungrily at the food cabinet.

Talia.Sunsong: At the mention of food, Rorn pokes his head out.

Savage.Taurus: looks at the bed with the strong urge to roll around on his money

Fitheach Eun looks at the salesperson: "How much is it?"

Talia.Sunsong: jumps up and down on the mattress

Fiesty Lotus: “My, my - this is fine.”

Inside the Cabin

Fitheach Eun: “Room for all of us.”

Fiesty Lotus: “It be a bit dizzying, but  very nice.”

Fitheach Eun looks at the sides of the ship and sees a large hole

Slightly Shabby Gentleman eyes his possible customers

Fitheach Eun: “The woodwork on the edge looks gnawed?”

Slightly Shabby Gentleman sees the lady looking and says: “It has a few dings; but she is airworthy.”

Fitheach Eun looks incredulously at the salesman: "You call those dings?"

Talia.Sunsong: pokes at some levers and buttons she really shouldn't be touching

Fitheach Eun stands by Talia and watches her closely

Slightly Shabby Gentleman looks nervously at the other lady but answers the question

Slightly Shabby Gentleman: “It has been through some hard times- the old lady who owned it was a bit shortsighted.”

Druid Fitheach Sits Down

Fitheach Eun pushes Talia out of the chair and sits down

Talia.Sunsong: wrinkles up her nose at the pushy one.

Talia.Sunsong: curses in Fae

Savage.Taurus: walks around the ship, looking about, thinking it seems vaguely familiar to him

Talia.Sunsong: stands on the railing

Fitheach Eun: “I find it difficult to believe a little old lady owned this.”

Savage.Taurus: “Perhaps she was a big old lady.”

Fitheach Eun looks at the salesman: "So how much are you asking for this damaged airship?"

Slightly Shabby Gentleman watches the daring one and is confused

Slightly Shabby Gentleman: “Oh, Hmm. I was gonna ask 100 pounds, but for you I would go 75.”

Savage.Taurus: “Pounds of what? Bovine flesh? I could get that.”

Fitheach Eun: “75 pounds for a ship with a hole in it? Ridiculous; it is not worth more than 30."

Druid Fit Haggles for the Ship

 Slightly Shabby Gentleman: “Oh now Lady.” “It has a good fuselage and the rigging is brand new.”

Fitheach Eun: "That hole is at least a meter wide. It will need repair"

Slightly Shabby Gentleman: “I couldn't let it go for less than 60.”

Slightly Shabby Gentleman looks despairingly at the hole

Fitheach Eun: “50 and that is our final offer.”

Talia.Sunsong: walks out on the front beam

Fitheach Eun stands as if to go

Slightly Shabby Gentleman is so nervous about the fearless lady and the determined one that he wants out.
Slightly Shabby Gentleman: “Alright then, you have a deal. 50 Pounds.”

Fitheach Eun looks at Dragon; "Please pay the man."

Talia.Sunsong: "Save some money for cream."

Slightly Shabby Gentleman grins at Savage

Savage.Taurus: “What!? Why me?”

Fitheach Eun looks exasperated: "Because you have the money."

Savage.Taurus: sputters with indignation

Savage.Taurus: “That's MY money! I swindled those rubes fair and square!”

Fiesty Lotus: “That weren't a swindle Savage- It was a good act.”

Fitheach Eun: “We need a ship and this one is available.”

Savage.Taurus: “You expect me to finance your little venture? Why should I?”

Talia on the Front Beam

Talia.Sunsong: "Baby Rorn likes the airship."

Fitheach Eun: “And all the rest of us have shared what we acquired.”

Savage.Taurus: grumbles and growls and shoots smoke out of his nostrils

Fitheach Eun looks sternly at him

Savage.Taurus: “This is an outrage! You steal my kid and now you want to steal my hoard, before I even have a chance to roll in it.”

Fitheach Eun: “I would think you can easily make more, particularly if we travel to different places where they have not seen your act.”

Slightly Shabby Gentleman stands by, relieved that the lady has climbed back in to the airship

Savage.Taurus: “Hmmm....”

Fitheach Eun: “You can make lots more if we travel.”

Talia.Sunsong: "You can get lots of shinies traveling with the airship."

Savage.Taurus: “Well, I guess if we travel, we can find more rubes and marks to squeeze for shinies.”

Fiesty Lotus: “And think of all the people you kin entertain.”

Fitheach Eun: “A small investment now will get you a larger hoard later.”

Savage.Taurus: “Hmmmm...what's the rate of return for my investment?”

Fitheach Eun stifles a giggle thinking how Dragon had adapted to this world

Close to a Deal

Savage.Taurus: “Ok, but I'll own the ship, and you’ll all pay me rent to stay on it.”

Fitheach Eun: “You made more than the price of this ship in one show. Think how much you can multiply that.”

Savage.Taurus: “I'll require plenty of fresh meat...and backrubs!”

Fitheach Eun: “And if you charge us rent then we will charge you for the food and the cooking and the nanny service.”

Talia.Sunsong: "I can charge for nanny service?"

Savage.Taurus: “No, that’s part of the deal.”

Fitheach Eun: “If he charges rent, of course you can"

Talia.Sunsong: "So there!" crosses arms over chest.”

Savage.Taurus: “I'm gonna need more services from that nanny.”

Fitheach Eun: “Charge us rent and we will charge you penny for penny for everything we take care of.”

Talia.Sunsong: "I can teach you how to make mischief."

Savage.Taurus: “We'll discuss that later; I can teach you some things too.”

Fiesty Lotus rolls her eyes

Fitheach Eun sighs

Talia.Sunsong: "You can teach me how to make fire?"

Fiesty Lotus: “Well, do we got a deal?”

Savage.Taurus: Smiles: “Ok, fine...How much?”

Fitheach Eun: “50 pounds; pay the man, please.”

Savage.Taurus: rummages through his pockets and pulls out some coins

Slightly Shabby Gentleman perks up and approaches the man

The Dragon Pays for the Airship

Savage.Taurus: “Counts it out meticulously, agonizing over every piece. With a sigh, he plops the jingling coins into the man's hand.”

Slightly Shabby Gentleman smiles and takes the money: “Well now, I will have the boys fix you up with the necessaries.”

Slightly Shabby Gentleman takes his leave

Savage.Taurus: leans against the railing and thinks about all the money he will make in the future with his investment

Fitheach Eun: “Ok, shall we move our stuff and prepare to leave?”

Talia.Sunsong: "Let's make sure to move the food."

Savage.Taurus: “I'll take the big bed! That one's mine, since I'm the master and captain of the ship.”

Talia.Sunsong: "Look baby Rorn, a new big, carriage for you!" Talia pulls out baby dragon and shows him the airship.