Michael ran up to the ring of spheres, confirming which one was the correct one.
"This could be bad," he said. "If this thing goes up, it'll take this whole hillside with it. And I doubt we could get far enough away in time."
Michael crouched down beside it, trying to examine it from as many angles as he felt comfortable doing. No telling how much time it had left. "Need to hook up a power supply strong enough to keep these armatures powered." He looked around him at the surrounding countryside. "But where do we get something that has any amount of..." That's when he spotted his own watch out of the corner of his eye. "Of course! The only thing with a battery! Wait, would it be strong enough to power this?" He ran a hand over his face. "Doubtful, unless..." He looked back at the main sphere. "Unless I could get ahold of an amplifier. Hook that into a regulator, and it should jump the output to just enough to stabilize the containment field! Or maybe the other way around..." Michael jumped to his feet, and ran past Britney back toward the main sphere. "Damn, I'm brilliant!" Just as he got to the entrance, he paused. "God, I'm beginning to sound like HIM now!" He shot a bewildered look to Britney before jumping back up into the main sphere. With the level of technology that's already present, he thought, I should be able to build something...

"Maybe this is the one" Kevin thought, "He seems to care enough." There were so many spells he could cast now that would speed things along. But all of them would negate any chance of ending the curse. It had to happen naturally. But with Vesta taken care of he would concentrate on her young suitor. At least calm his fears.

"Don't worry to much. I saw a glimmer of a smile behind those tears. I don't think she was too upset. Please have some dessert and talk while the lady of the house is away. How did you meet my daughter? You said something about her helping you get your chair out of the mud, I assume you mean this one?" With that Kevin's eyes wandered across the chair like a connoisseur looking at a great work of art, listening to a beautiful musical piece or drinking a fine wine. The craftsmanship on this thing was amazing. He had seen things vaguely similar, usually used by street beggars but nothing like this! The craftsmanship, the materials used, everything fascinated him. He would have to try to drag more information out of Falco on the subject of this Chair.
"And what happened to Gilhart?" He asked his eyes once more on Falco. "Wasn't she supposed to be going out with him?"

====================================
Petunia watched from a distance. And as she watched she began to feel sympathy for this poor soul. She had taken an instant disliking to Cara the instant she arrived. Too haughty, too interested in men, way too interested for a married woman. She decided there and then that she would try and rescue this poor lad.

Cara looked at her latest conquest. He was cute and would be worth what ever it took to bed him. Plus as always it would make her man jealous which would also amuse her. She smiled at the memories of other times. Yes, this one would be very interesting. She looked forward to washing him clean.

"Milady" said Petunia striding over "There is a small problem. Our baths are much too small for two people. We could only fit one at a time. But it is ready if Milady would be interested in beginning her bath." Petunia smiled to herself. She had Barbara move the smaller tub into the wash room before filling it and hiding the larger copper tub which would have assuredly fit two.

Cara pouted. "Well it looks like we won't be able to bath together. How about you go first? And once you are ready I can come in and scrub that handsome back of yours." She smiled at him. And afterwards maybe a trip out back to my carriage for a little roll she thought to herself.

=====================================
"Then a few feets length you shall be" Said Conan emphatically. He drew out his large sword, tossing the bow to the side. The sword would be best served up close as he would need to be. "Bruce, Doc make sure no one gets in our way and Charlotte's lads stay out of harms reach."
"Don't call me Doc!" the Dwarf shouted back before unleashing two arrows in rapid succession pinning one of the priest to the ground by arm and leg.
Bruce said nothing but smirked at the dwarf's irritation. Then he ran in the opposite direction heading straight for the nearest column. Once there he kept running, right up it like gravity no longer applied. Half way up the column he leapt straight threw the air like he was superman flying through the room. He landed between the Priest Charlotte had sprayed and the boys and with one smooth move struck the priest with his staff, knocking him hard to the ground.
Conan locked eyes with Charlotte. "Now Lassie, as that thing seems to hurt eyes and our enemy is one big eye I think that it could be our best weapon. Stay behind me no matter how much damage I take until we are right on top of him. Then once we are there spray him and with any luck this should be over like that. Can ye do that?"

======================================
In front of Mike, two of the spheres in his path luckily contained many of the components he needed. He just needed a variance capacitor. And he was pretty sure he'd seen one in the main room.

Hilbert was able to arrive in time to hear Michael Lister rattle off words that sounded unusual to him. But a lot of things about his new neighbor (Could he call him a renter? I mean his house was on Hilbert's property. He'd have to get into that with Michael later when things were less hectic.) Michael sounded busy so Hilbert followed him slighty then spoke up.

"Michael Lister." He said tentatively "I don't mean to be a nosey neighbor but I saw you looked to be in need of help and with Gnomes coming I figured any help I could offer to speed your clean up before they arrive."

He pointed skywards with his cane towards what looked like a clockwork dragon, flying backward, its fire providing propulsion and its tail tucked underneath itself. It was minutes away.

*Charlotte stood gaping as Bruce flung himself through the air like something out of one of those chinese artsy films people always raved about. She'd gotten to the point of just not caring because the whole game was way too much for her. There was definately going to be a lot of shopping with her Daddy's credit card when she finally got out of here. A new pair of Gabana shoes and a Gucci handbang would make everything better.

She looked at Conan with a rather flat expression, showing her distaste rather blatantly as she listened to him. There was a nagging feeling in the back of her mind of spraying everyone in the room with her blood mase, including the 'good guys' and putting her foot down to make the game stop right there and then but she didn't know how to in the first place. With a loud sigh, she nodded to Conan and unenthusiastically gave her little spray a shake to show she was ready.*

'Doc' dashed forward, grumbling under his breath. As much as they proved themselves incompetent someone needed to remove these boys out of harms way. Or at least make sure they didn't go from Statues to hostages or shields. He grabbed Paul and Bryce by their belts and within a grunt as they landed n his shoulders dragged them back out of the way. 'Stupid humans couldn't fight to save their lives." he thought. It was no wonder he was needed here.

On the other side Bruce leapt backwards to Terrence's side. He watched his foes warily but also saw what Thoridoc was doing, pulling the other two boys off the field of battle. A wise move but he would expect no less then that from one of the fabled Seven Dwarves of Murdor. He grabbed Terrance under the arms and keeping his staff between him an his enemies pulled Terrance out of harms way.

It was a sad thing Conan thought. Charlotte had all the skills to be a great warrior, possibly as good as Rosalyn, but she lacked any desire to back up those skills. IT was almost as if she was but a spoiled princess who was just here on a lark. What ever her reasons it didn't matter now. She appeared ready and certainly wasn't afraid in the face of an evil that would have made greater men quake with fear. And that bravery he could use. That and her little weapon. "Now stay behind me till we are right on top of him" he said and turned toward the High Priest with his sword raised "Prepare to die evil cur!"

The HIgh Priest licked his lips. This would be his moment. He would destroy these interlopers and the infernal Charlotte. She needed to be the first to die. As she and her defender charged him he could see the cold demeanor she carried with her that surely hid the blood lust that hid only below the surface. But she would not kill him, not here in his temple, and not now when he was so close to true power. He would blast her from existence. His eyes shifted to the dagger and he began to chant as with his other hand he drew a ball of fire from the blade. "DIE HELL SPAWNED WENCH" he shouted as he hurled the fire at her. But the One-Eyed Defender was too quick and batted the fire ball away with his sword, where it exploded against a wall setting fire to a tapestry showing the blessed birth of Chumal Kanh. "Ye'll have to do better then that old man if you intend to kill us" the one-eyed defender shouted back and continued to charge. And try again and again he did but he could not even get the fireballs close enough warm the face of the Foul Charlotte before they were batted away into other valuable idols and tapestries of Chumal Kanh. Just when The One-Eyed one and Charlotte were nearly on top of him he changed his tactic. He targeted the ball at the One-Eyed one. This time when the fire ball struck the sword it exploded instnatly staggering the One-Eyed one down to the ground. And then it was just him and Charlotte, so close he could reach out and touch her...OR END HER LIFE WITH HIS BLADE "DIE FOUL COW!" she shouted and raised his blade to strike her down.

"Well...she was." Falco explained. "Which actually has to do with how we met..." He didn't look certain about Vesta's reported faint smile. "Only apparently he hired these...Orcs..." He sought for the word they'd used to describe themselves. "Skull Mountain whatever. They had a business card." He rolled his eyes slightly. "And she was apparently on to that routine so she gave him a dressing down which he didn't appreciate one bit, and had them help me get un-stuck, since...well...this thing isn't really build for mud..." He picked at the arm rest self consciously. "And she invited me back here...." He offered, shrugging faintly.
==
Nestor offered Cara his best grin, which was more of a grimace at this point, fingers drumming nervously on the counter top. "Well really I'd hate to deprive a lady....why don't you go first and I'll...finish my tea."
And then run like hell... He added inwardly, trying not to let that plan show in his anxiety. He really didn't like the way this situation was going, and drunk or sober, Cuccolding a man was a good way to get yourself a nice bounty on your head. "And then we can worry about who's scrubbing who."

As Conan started his charge with a bit of a roar that caused Charlotte to startle, she almost completely was left behind when he set an impressive pace across the sacrificial room. It had been unexpectant to her as she had to snap out of her state and gave chase. A momentary lapse of adrenline made her run a bit faster, getting caught up in the moment.

Then there was the fire, she squeeled loudly, thinking her 200 dollar hair cut would most likely get singed until she saw her barbarian friend merely swat it away. She laughed internally, finding fire flinging and sword batting to be absolutely ridculous. However, her humor was short lived when she practically tripped over the fallen Conan.

"Eeeeeeee!" she did her best to keep her footing as she ran a few paces up his back before jumping very unlady-like off of him. Charlotte stood there, splay legged and looking slightly bewildered as she looked up at the maddened priest. Her blank stare was quickly replaced as she wrinkled her nose and looked quite defiant as she merely raised her arm at length and sprayed her little bottle as fast as her nimble index finger could pump.

"SHUT UP AND JUST DIE ALREADY!" She said loudly as she kept stepping forward with each pump.

Kevin listened closely to Falco's description to the events of the day. He was sure Falco was leaving some details out, though wasn't entirely sure what. Did something more occur between Vesta and this man? If so it would be a mixed blessing. He would have to wait and see. But he did want to answer a few questions about Falco.

"I'm sorry to hear one of your first experience in this land had to be with the Skull Mountain Corporation. Did the one they call The Man make an appearance? Just curious. I've heard a lot about him but never met him. Oh and by the way, where are you from? I've seen your style of dress before but have never been able to ascertain where it is from."

=========================
Cara smiled back, she knew she could win this one. As she stood she bent low to whisper in Nestor's ear making sure to give him an excellent view of her cleavage. "Don't take too long. I'd hate for the water to get too cold. Then we would have to find a way to warm it up together."
She smiled and swayed her way out of the room.
Once she was out of the room and out of ear shot Petunia approached the table with a hot pot of tea. She smiled at Nestor. "You owe me."

=========================
Chumal Kanh, in his netherworld prison screamed in agony as the place where his right eye had been burned and bleed. He recognized hr now.

In the Temple, The Right Eye of Chumal Kanh dropped his knife and staggered backwards. He clutched at his chest in incredible agony. The eye swelled shut and wept blood as he toppled back against the Altar where the angel laid. Another arrow from the Dwarf's bow whistle through the air and stuck in the corner of the High Priest's giant eye. He looked back a the featureless form of his god and cried out. "Chumal Kanh, Rescue me so that your unworthy servant might fight again"
For a brief instant it seemed like the prayer would go unanswered, then suddenly he an his servants burst into flames. As he burned into nothingness he locked eyes with Charlotte. Then the Priest and the flames vanished.

Bruce was the first to speak, "Now the question is did Chumal Kanh answer the High priest's prayers or punish him for his failings? How is everyone else"

Conan rose from the floor his hair scorched but otherwise not entirely unwell. "How are you Charlotte?" He asked. The Dwarf grunted as he stood next to Bryce and Paul as they slowly came out from under the effects of the spell. Same for the third boy standing next to Bruce.

And from the table came a sweet and quiet voice saying, "If you are not going sacrifice me could somebody please untie me? If it's no trouble?"

Michael met Hilbert at the door after rooting around for the last component necessary to complete his amplifier, as well as gutting out a computer hard drive to encase the whole assembly. His eyes followed to where the little man's cane was pointing. What he saw in the sky was something he didn't expect. What it like to him was something more like an archaic jet, complete with afterburner. Something like this shouldn't exist this far in the past... if it was the past of the world he knew. Where did it come from? If this was Earth's past, which he was starting to doubt, then whatever damage had already been done was, as far as Michael was concerned, irreversable. He still wasn't sure he wanted to contribute any more to the damage.
He dropped to the ground beside Hilbert. "Well, the first thing I'd advise doing is helping me gather all these spheres back as close to this big one as you can. Maybe Britney can help you with that. And if she hesitates, tell her I told her to help as much as she can." As he started to pluck bits and peices out of the smaller spheres, he added, "You might also tell me why you're so worried about gnomes."
The only thing Michael could picture were the little garden gnomes you bought at dollar stores back home. How dangerous could those be?

"Well..." That was an awkward question to explain, and interesting that Kevin had run into other players? "I guess it's kind of...standard sort of clothing for the area I live..." He gave him the name of the city, pretty sure it wouldn't mean much.
((Copping out because I have no idea where Falco lives)) "And no I didn't meet anyone called 'The Man', though the term got waved around a lot." He considered this, thinking of the horrible suit and the briefcase and business cards. "Does he have a name other than 'The Man'?" Wasn't that the nickname of one of those millionaire types? There was some guy who had been on TV a ridiculous amount, and he would have sworn the nickname was the same. Surely he wasn't playing though, was he? That seemed silly.
"Hey do you know what time it is?" This had begun to nag him, he hadn't been thinking about it, but surely it had been more than half an hour....
==
"Only my life..." Nestor joked, sagging with relief. "I don't know how much that's worth. Although I'm sure at least a few people like her husband have taken a stab at putting a coin value on it... Not that I think I can blame them..." he added, ruefully. "I should really go before she figures out I'm not coming, but I do seem to owe you a favor. What can I do?"
He did want to repay her, much as he wanted to escape, so he kept his fingers crossed that it was something simple, like money or getting her pet cat out of a tree. As long as it wasn't getting her pet hell hound out of a swimming pool, though that seemed a bit extreeme. Well..
No it didn't seem quite as extreme or ridiculous as he wished it did. Not anymore.

He didn't know about Gnomes? A lucky man. Those crazy contraption creators with their cantankerous and cataclysmic creations. And worse was their desire to buy, barter, or steal anything they needs to create these things.
"Well Michael Lester," he started to say as he rolled the nearest sphere towards towards the the big one and waving Britany to follow suit. "Do you have pack rats where you come from? Collectors? Tinkerers? Well combine all those things. The Gnomes create all sorts of fantastic items like the one you see flying towards us. And like the one you see flying towards us they sometimes work. Kind of."
He stopped his talking to rush over and hurry Britany along before grabbing his next sphere.
"But more often then not their items blow up or otherwise create all kinds of Havoc. Once they created out of magnetic rocks a device that would spin around all by its self. That was until lightning started to arc between the copper plates they had scrounged and started to strike everyone around. It took the local wizard to shut it down before it killed any one. They are trouble Michael Lister and your parts to your house will only draw them like flies to honey in hopes of getting some of them."

=============================
((Thats okay.)) "Fascinating, though I can't say I have heard of that city, and I thought I had traveled far and wide. How long a trip is it to your city?" said Kevin a bit confused. He would have to check his maps later.
"I had seen The Man from a distance. I heard him refer to himself as 'The Ronald'. Which was odd. In my travels only those excessively narcissistic or power hungry refer to themselves in the third person."
Kevin stood and said "Ah a fellow follower of the chronological sciences." He walked over towards a wooden cabinet. Inside it was packed with things that Faclo could only assume were time pieces.
"Do need it via the hydromatic convolution method, The Gravitic Fluctuation method, the Astromonlithic method, the Solar Method, The Lunar method, Integrated degree method, Caspation Fallacy method or the 24 hour method?"

===========================
Petunia smiled, "Well good gentleman I'm not sure I'd know what to do with you life."
She found him a bit charming if understated. And certainly not deserving of the attentions of the woman who had just left.
"There is a Bath House down the street. Go there and get washed up. When you return she should be gone. and upon your return you can help me clean up from the mess last night. Deal?" She locked eyes with him and decided to sweeten the deal.
"I'll even feed you lunch. Free."

"Well...that's where it gets a little complicated." Falco admitted, not quite sure how to best explain this again. "OK it didn't really take that long to get here, I was supposed to be trying out some stupid game and I don't really know how it's supposed to work..." He explained, trying to make it clear that he was increasingly aware he really should have gotten more information. "So I agreed because my caretaker Hannah kept bugging me about it, she's twice my age by the way, so no, we're definitely not involved..." He ran his fingers through his hair after preemptively answering the question. For some reason, it must have been her name, no one associated Hannah with the grandmotherly figure she was. "And...I don't know, He said it was only supposed to be about half an hour and I think it's been longer and I'm not sure what the heck I'm supposed to do." He admitted, anxiously, eying the bizarre time pieces without any sort of answer as to which one he should ask about.
"The Ronald?" He added after a moments nervous contemplation, trying not to feel vaguely ruffled, or wonder if he was having some kind of sci-fi movie trapped-in-a-game experience. "Sounds like Ronald Cump...older guy, balding, wears a really bad hair piece to cover it up that makes it look like he's got a dead squirrel for a hat?" He described him as best he could from seeing him on the news.
=====
"Really?" Nestor blinked in surprise at the offer, than shook his head, disbelieving. "I'll definitely help with the mess, but I'd rather not cause any more trouble..." He pointed out, rubbing the back of his neck. "But I'll definitely go get that bath..." he sighed, feeling still sore, but much relieved. He wasn't quite sure how Petunia was planning on getting rid of Cara, but he wasn't sure he cared. As far as he was concerned she could dump her down the privy and have done with, as long as the woman stopped chasing him.

Kevin arched his eyebrows. He seemed awfully defensive about his caretaker. More so then necessary but he wouldn't go there just yet. He had mentioned something interesting. First he had said it didn't take him very long to get here, what ever he meant by that. He certainly wasn't from nearby so it might not hurt to find out what he meant by it not taking really long to get here. Second he mentioned he was here to try out some kind of game. That would require more inquiry. And finally he was familiar with the 24 hour method of measuring time. He could tell this by his use of the term hour, but a Half hour... did he mean by that a thirty minute sweep? As he stood there by his clocks, lost in thought, he realized that Falco had stopped speaking and was waiting for a response. Uncertain how long he had been standing there he quickly moved to respond.

Well, from the sounds of it I would say you met The Man, right down to the hair. Some of us decide to go bald gracefully." And with that he removed his hat to scratch his head, revealing his bald head.
"A sad state of affairs. I assume he has lost touch with his senses?"
Kevin glanced back at his cabinet before shutting it but not locking it. He turned back towards Falco.
As far as the time, well, using when I believed the outing that Vesta planned to attend today was supposed to begin, and travel time to and from the areas that the Skull Mountain Corporation call their territory, I would say you have been with my Daughter at least 30 minutes of an hour. Would this pose a problem to your returning and this game you mentioned?"
He waited intently for the answer. So much about this man puzzled him. So many answers he needed.

========================
As Nestor moved through the streets of this small settlement towards the bath house, a one story stone building belching smoke and steam out of many pipes and windows, the town around him was just coming alive. Vendors and shop owners where setting up for business while early risers looked to make deals as they set up. Along, what must have been the main drag of this bustling town there were a great deal of merchants, each with a variety of wares. As he walked down the street he saw a sight that made him take a second look. And attractive red headed woman walked past him. Her figure was striking but that wasn't what nearly stopped him in his tracks. It was the chain mail under garments she wore. Tiny chain mail panties and a chain mail support for her breasts. She looked uncomfortable and honestly the only part of the outfit that looked comfortable were the fur and leather boots. She continued past him and toward the inn Nestor had just left. Nestor, upon turning back towards the direction he was heading found himself in front of the Bath house. Sitting in front was a large, hairy man with thick heavy mustache. Behind him was a wooden placard that read:
Manchester Bath House
Bath 1
Bath (Clean & hot water) 5
Soap 1
Towels 2
Steam Room 5
Massage 5

The man looked at Nestor and in a thick accent said "Are you here for bath?"

((SORRY, been a bit of a crazy week))

*Charlotte watched as the eye practically burst and weeped with blood from her projectile weapon and squeeled in fright of it getting on her boots. She jumped back put her hands up as a make shift shield as the body burst into flames unexpectantly, putting her hands up to guard her pretty face and hair from the blaze. However, no ash or anything was left as it finally burnt itself out.

When she couldn't feel the fire any longer, she opened one eye slowly and looked around cautiously. There were no more priests or anything. A feeling of victory swelled in her breast, causing her to start bouncing around with her hands in the air*

"YES! YES! THAT'S WHAT YOU GET CREEPY FREAK MAN! MAHAHA! HEE HEE!"

Her exuberance was short lived when she realized the boys had come right, causing her to stop abruptly and cough into her hand. The toe of her boot kicked something across the room. It was her lip gloss she'd thrown earlier.

"Oh sweet! That's mega expensive...don't want to loose that." She fixed her hair quickly as she bent down to retrieve it, making sure every lock was perfectly in place. As she stood, she heard the angel and looked over her shoulder. "Oh...um...do one of you wanna get that? I don't wanna break my nails getting those knots loose..."

Switching up and doing Nestor first:
He paused for a moment, walking without paying attention which almost made him walk into a few things, but then he figured he had sufficient distraction for an excuse. What the devil was she wearing that kind of an outfit for? It didn't make sense even for, especially for, a barbarian tribe. It left her pretty much entirely unprotected, and insomuch as it was distracting, he didn't think any but the most captivated by exposed female flesh would find it distracting in comparison to, say, a weapon swinging at their head. Damned odd really. Not bad to look at by any stretch, but damned odd...
He checked his coins again as he entered the bath house, trying to gauge by memory how much he could afford, now that he was shaking his attention off the underdressed but attractive red-head.
"Thats the idea." He answered the man, wondering if he had enough for the clean and hot bath.
====
Falco looked uncertain how to answer this latest question, he was distracted by the amount of time he'd been here, running it over in his head and trying to compare it to the sparse information he'd been given about the game at all, and not coming up with any answers. Surely he wasn't stuck? He couldn't be stuck. It wouldn't make sense to be stuck, but neither did boffer weapons in a VR game. He'd been told he 'couldn't get hurt', but that was a really stupid way to go about it.
"I, uh. I...don't know..." He offered, his confidence shaken again and badly.

((That's okay. :-) ))

Thoridoc looked from Bruce, then to Conan who were all looking at Charlotte. He saw the same look in their eyes. This girl who only just a moment before fought braver then any warrior they had seen in the face of such evil and now....

Terrence looked around the room, "Damn-it we missed All the fighting. That seriously sucks. Man, What a gip." "Dude we were frozen during the entire fight. Bryce you should get your money back" Said Paul But Bryce's attention was drawn to the voice of the angel on the platform.
"I'll take care of her for you Charlotte." Bryce replied "By the way, great job on the fight. I didn't know you had it in you." He smiled in Charlotte's direction then made his way over to the tied up angel. His comrades rushed over right behind him to get in on a piece of the action.
"Hi, I'm Bryce and I will be rescuing you today." Bryce said putting on his best cool attitude. He started to untie the ropes on her wrists as Paul and Terrance started on her legs.
"Thank you kind sir" replied the angel "But why do they rub my legs while they are untying me?"
Bryce looked down and saw Terrance and Paul rubbing the angels legs. "Dude, these feel totally real" replied Paul. Bryce rolled his eyes and snapped at them. "Quit feeling her up and get her untied." he turned back to the angel, "Sorry about my brain dead friends. What is your name?"
"Celeste" she said smiling up at him and then taking his hand as he helped her off the table.
Celeste turned to Charlotte and said "Thank you fair maiden for saving me. What be your name?"

Conan Looked again at Charlotte. Could he have been wrong in his measure of her fighting prowess? He had never been wrong before. She had raw talent. But where had it gone now?

=========================
Nestor's wallet showed he had enough money for a clean, hot bath with soap and Towels. And a massage if he wanted to splurge but that might leave him a bit short. The man by the door stood. "So vat vill it be Bath, steam room, or massage." he said cracking his knuckles. "Put yourself in Igor's strong hands and I will work out all cricks in you." And with that he smiled at Nestor.

((Sorry, I'm spacing it here on what to write next. Sorry. Once he is in the Bath I know what I want to do.))

=========================
Kevin frowned. Vesta's guest appeared to be confused and a bit shaken. But why and about what. Was he late for returning home? And what was the deal with this game? He needed more information but did not want to push.
"If you are worried about getting home on time Falco I can offer you my services. I am a powerful wizard and quit capable of getting you where ever you need to go. So if you miss your return trip you have nothing to worry about. Just stay the night with my daughter and I and in the morning I will transport you home myself."
Kevin smiled at Falco and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. He hoped that put him at ease. Hopefully relax this obviously worried young man.
"I'm sure my Daughter wouldn't mind preparing breakfast for you in the morning and it has been a long time since we have had guests."

Charlotte was oblivious to everyone's stares as she pulled her lipstick cap off and put a decent coating on her lips. She hadn't realized that all the exertion had made her hair slightly frazzled and she was sweating slightly. While in the process of finding a reflective surface to check her hair and make up, the teenage girl glared over her shoulder at the attention the boys were giving the angel. She groaned in disgust and rolled her eyes. Even Bryce was fawning over her. She hated it! Here she was, having just had to fight off some video game creep and he didn't even care how she felt. Ugh...boy's were so stupid! Her musings even made her ignore when the celestial being addressed her for her name.

Celeste looked around her current environment. The last thing she had remembered was flying around the clouds have a lovely day soaking up the sun and then she was snatched from it all and found herself bound to this cold hard stone. Not that is was too bad. Being tied in that position had helped her stiff back a bit. Maybe when the men who had brought her here came back she would thank them for that. They had kidnapped her and were going to sacrifice her but it still wasn't a good thing to be impolite. Just like these handsome young men who were untying her. True she couldn't understand why they needed to rub her legs like that when they untied her. Maybe they thought her legs were cramped and needed massaging. If so they weren't very good at it. She contemplated pointing this out to them but did not want to embarrass them when they were making such an honest effort. And this Bryce was very handsome. She liked the way he smiled at her. She extended her hands and let the boys help her off the table. Once on the ground she watched as Bryce turned towards Charlotte and said "Hey Charl, the angel want's to know your name."
"Her name is Charl" she thought. She must get to know her better.
Celeste skipped over to where Charlotte stood fixing her hair. As she moved her golden blonde hair flowed gracefully and when she came to a rest beside Charlotte her hair fell back into it's perfect position. So did her white gown that flowed around her showing every perfect curve. Even her face looked perfect with out a single bit of make up. She skidded to a stop beside her new best friend Charl.
"Hello Charl, my name is Celeste. How are you? I wanted to thank you for saving me. You are a beautiful woman. What is that stuff you just put on your lips?" she bent slightly to get a better look at Charlotte's face. This resulted in her putting her face between Charlotte and the reflective stone surface she was looking at.

Given the alarming, potential relative to a giant manning the desk and his request for Nestor to 'leave himself in the mans hands', which made Nestor cringe internally, thinking of what he remembered from the night before, and this morning. "Er. Just a bath...with hot water, soap and a towel..." He requested, fishing out the coins from his purse. "Gotta have some money left over..." He joked, though that wasn't really the only reason.
--
Will edit in the rest tonight

"Ve can do that little man." Said Igor rising to his full height that stood him a full head over Nestor. "But should you need massage, Igor is your man." With that he patted Nestor on the back with enough force to dislodge food from a chocking man. He took the money, depositing it in a box which echoed with the noise of the coins rattling off somewhere down below and led Nestor inside. Inside it was warm and sultry. The hall echoed with the sounds of people, men talking women laughing. Off to one side through an open door Nestor thought he spied the curvaceous form of a woman getting into a tub, any real details hidden behind a beautifully painted paper screen. Finally he led Nestor into a room with two oaken cask like tubs. There were tables on either side of the tubs holding towels and soaps. For it's rough look outside is seemed rather fancy on the inside. An attractive young maiden was finishing filling the tub fro a larger vat sitting over a large fire at the far end of the room. Igor pointed to the tub "Here is your bath. Lisa will take care of any needs you may have" and with that Igor left. Lisa positioned a paper screen between her and the tub to provide Nestor some privacy.

((I hope you don't mind if I press on? I wanted to get to your tub mate))

The hot water felt incredible on Nestor. But he had not but gotten himself completely in the tub when a Bell rang over the girls head and she began to fill the other tub. Moments later Igor came in with another man. From the dirt and Mud covering him it looked like he needed the tub worse then Nestor. But there was something different about him, from his coat, and shirt to his pants to his odd looking hat his clothing looked greatly different then anything Nestor had seen. After he peeled out of it all, rinsed most of the larger dirt off of him over a drain, he stepped into his own tub. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a box and pushed on a stub on it. A part of the face lite up and it made a phone musical sound. He sighed after examining it. "Still no service." he said to anyone listening. He turned to face Nestor. "Do you know where around here you can get service?" He asked Nestor pointing the box at him.

]Personally, Nestor was pretty convinced that if he wanted his spine snapped in several places, Igor was his man, but especially after the rib bending pat on the back, he wasn't terribly interested in a massage from the man, but it was still a welcome relief to be able to relax into a nice hot bath and start washing away aches, pain, dirt, straw and what have you.
It wasn't so much the invasion of privacy, however brief, that bothered him about the other man's arrival, his sense of modesty was good at hiding it's head in the sand, having seen people in far worse states, it was what they did while undressed that bothered him. Especially if it related to him, and shoving a small, metal and stone like box with a glowing patch and random numbered spots ranked fairly high on bizarre things for undressed people to do.
"Heh, You're already in the bath...what service are you looking for?" He laughed, a little nervously, wondering if the man was some kind of wizard gone very mad and very filthy, and refusing to so much as reach for the little glowing musical box. Who knew what it would do to him.

===

Falco didn't say anything for a moment, letting Kevin pat his shoulder as though he barely noticed it, since his thoughts were turning over in his head at far too high a pace to be bothered with anything beyond them for a beat or two.
He'd arrived without any weapons, even though he'd been promised one, it was now way later than he'd been told, what the hell was going on? It was almost worse than being trapped in the chair, because he could move, but where the hell did he -go-? What was he supposed to do?
"I...guess..." he answered uncertainly, not sure what else to do, or where he would go if he refused the offer. Besides if that got him back home that would be something. "If thats not a problem...."

Conrad looked at the man in the other bath tub. What service was he looking for? Wasn't it obvious? He was holding a Cell Phone in his hand. He wanted Cell service. Then he noticed the relatively attractive, if a bit on the pudgy side, young lady refilling the other tub with hot water and then heading back towards the vat. Then it dawned on him what his fellow bather must have thought he meant.
"Oh, I am looking for cell service. I haven't been bale to get any signal since I started this game." He said as he put his cell phone back in his coat pocket.
He looked over at the girl and then in a low confidential voice to his fellow bather said "Why can you get that kind of service here?" in a wink wink nudge nudge manner.
"It has been a while since i've gotten funky. If you get my meaning."
He relaxed for a minute staring at the bath girl then turned back to his fellow bather.
"By the way, the name is Conrad Birdie. What's yours?"

============================
"Of course you're welcome to stay here. My Vesta would kill me if I didn't let you stay. especially if she is as smitten with you as I think she is. She brought you home for dessert." And with that Kevin popped a small piece of cake in his mouth and followed it with some hot coffee.
"Besides, it will give me time to interrogate you about your wonderful conveyance. You must be a very rich and powerful man to own something as fantastic as this, if you don't mind me saying. The materials alone are like nothing I have ever seen. Even the wheels. The substance they ride on looks so incredible. You will have to tell me everything!"
Kevin looked at his new guest. More time with him was just what he needed. And he was a very nice young man. If a little stuck on his injury. Maybe if things worked out with Vesta, as a wedding present he would fix the legs, or if beyond him pay a cleric to do so. But that should wait.
"first things first we should see you to the guest bedroom. Did you bring ay baggage with you? A pack?"

"That I can answer, Nestor chuckled ruefully. "Try a brothel. Or the woman down at the inn named Cara, if you're not worried about her mountain sized husband." He shook his head in puzzlement though, eyeing the phone as the man put it back in a pocket 'cell' service? I don't follow you." He assumed that if you were in a cell, service would be damned poor. Unless you liked hot and cold running Jailers. And he really couldn't see what the little box had to do with cells, unless it was holding something very small and flat.
He offered a somewhat lopsided smile at the introduction, however, and offered his own name in exchange. "Nestor Armstrong."
===
"Well I wouldn't put it that way." Falco noted, embarassed. "It's pretty basic as wheelchairs go." He patted the arm rest vaguely, unaccustomed to looking at it as 'amazing' instead of a reminder of his inconvenience. "The wheels are just rubber, like most tires." He offered, shaking his head slightly at the mans ignorance, feigned or otherwise. "No big.... and um. No. Just what I've got with me. I...wasn't really planning to be anywhere overnight."

"It's a pleasure to meet you Nestor Armstrong" replied Conrad as he sunk deeper into the tub. He had not figured out yet wether the people he met were actors or a very well designed computer simulation. People like Nestor made him lean towards Actors. He'd seen some realistic automatons and computer simulations but nothing that could rival the level of interactions here. But the way they stayed in character, no matter what was what bothered him. I mean when he asked about service and was holding a cell phone He figured everyone would think cell service wouldn't they. Unless they were Amish.
"I'll make a point of staying away from this Cara. Maybe take my business to a good, reputable, brothel."
He reached for a towel to begin scrubbing himself. Heck even the women he had met felt real enough. The farmer's daughter he spent the night with the night before sure felt real enough. As did her father's club he had used upon him. He still smarted from the bumps and bruises.
"You know, cell service. As in cellphone. As in 'can you here me now'" and with that Conrad held his finger and his thumb to his ear and mouth in a mime of his cell phone.
"I'm trying to get in touch with the people running this place to tell them I am ready to get out."

==============
"Basic you say?" Said Kevin very amazed. He could not imagine it being any more advanced. He reached down and squeezed the wheel. The substance he had called rubber had properties like leather but was in some ways very different. "Your society must be very technologically advanced. Or has gnomes who are not insane." He said that last with a wry grin as if sharing an inside joke.
"But we can talk more on this later. First let's show you your room." He started to walk out the door he had come in. "It's on the third floor and gives the most astounding view of the countryside around here including the nearby town of Manchester. Follow me."
And he continued to walk out of the room leading the way.

"There's such thing as a reputable brothel?" Nestor chuckled, sighing and letting himself soak in the hot water. "...Must be the most boring place around. Conrads continued attempts to explain this 'cell' business only confused him more, and he frowned, puzzled, trying to sort out what the man was talking about. What did that gesture even -mean-?.
"With the people running what place? The city? Why? Are they keeping you from leaving?"
he couldn't figure out why it would take the funny little box to talk to the rulers of the city, or why not being able to contact them with it, however that worked, would keep the man from getting out. "Seems odd."
======

"...Gnomes?" Falco blinked, raising an eyebrow and wondering if Kevin was having him on. "Heh, No gnomes. Or none that I've ever heard of. I mean I guess we are compared to...uh...this. But yeah it's not that fancy, but I don't really need to spend extra money on an fancier one. He was glad, at this point, that he hadn't gone with a motorized wheelchair, much as the temptation had been once in a peak fit of sulk, he'd have been completely up a creek if it had run out of battery, and somehow he couldn't picture Kevin the Wizard summoning up a wall socket. He started after Kevin and then added, as the words registered. "...The third floor?" These in particular were the words that stuck most in his mind rather than 'astounding view', wondering if he'd even have sufficient vantage to see out the window anyway. But three floors? He doubted they had ramps or an elevator even more than he doubted they had an electrical socket. This was going to be a nightmare!

Conrad looked at Nestor. I mean if this was an actor he didn't break character for anything. Which was a pain cause he needed some customer support. I mean he was paying big bucks to be in here and now he wanted out. At first he didn't mind getting more time then he had paid for but now it was getting annoying.
"Are you always on?" He asked, "Yeah, I want to talk the to the people in charge of the city. I want to leave. I have a business to run, Marketing meeting to over see and a merger to work out the particulars on."
He leaned back into the water. And as the water wished over again he sighed.
"Though this does feel nice. It's just I have other things I need to be doing then playing a game."
===================

Kevin led Falco out into a large circular room extending three stories up. At each floor was a balcony ringing the room. Off of each floor were hallways and doors. Wrapping around the room was a spiral staircase that even extended down under the floor Falco stood on. And directly over was a beautiful crystal and glass dome.

Kevin stopped at a large cabinet near the front door. "Where did I put the fairy powder" He murmured. "Yes, third floor, and don't worry I have this fascinating new invention in place up there, Elevated Pumped Water. The water pumps all the way up there into the basin for washing and the chamber pot can be washed out through a similar set up that takes it outside."
"Fairy Powder" He murmured again as he poked some more in the closet.