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No

1 (3.6%)

It was fun for a long time but towards the end it just started to drag

6 (21.4%)

I wish I could have joined in.

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Total Members Voted: 28

[WillowLuman]

[Sorry, been throwing one hell of a party. Now, it's over. I'll do a short post now and another tomorrow.]

The fireball neatly skimmed the rim of the beaker, before fizzling and sparking in the small amount of fluid. There was a flash, and a small jet of flame came out the top of the glass container. "Well, we know it's flammable now."

"Yeah, but this seems like it would be like spraying napalm, not the big burst of iron-melting fire that dragons seem to have." HugoLuman stared at the empty beaker. "You have any way of analyzing the toxicity?"

"Do you have anymore spit?"

"Um," said the dragon, as it was a fairly awkward question. "I guess."

[Gizogin]

Hugo filled another beaker with the dark brown liquid.  X poured it into several test tubes, which he stoppered and labeled.  "Unfortunately, I'm no chemist," he said.  "I'll get these to weird and see what he can tell us.  Until then, there are a few tests we need to run on you."

'A few tests' started with a complete physical.  The Gizogins subjected Hugo to the full range of standard medical tests, ranging from checking his sight and hearing to testing his reflexes.  They poked and prodded him, gave him an increasingly complicated series of physical maneuvers to perform, and generally made him very uncomfortable.

"Have you been exercising your wings at all?" Gizogin asked, while examining the leathery membrane on one of said wings.

"No, I haven't.  Not since I tried to fly, anyway."

"You should be.  There are clear signs of atrophy here, and they'll start cramping up, if they haven't already.  Just stretch them out and give them a few flaps everyday."

"I'll do that," he promised.  There was a pause, then, "What does all this have to do with my breathing fire?"

"Well, everything.  I need to be sure it's not some kind of illness preventing you from breathing fire, or if it's just a matter of not knowing how.  Also, by studying you in more detail, I might be able to figure out what part of you is actually responsible for creating the fire."

[WillowLuman]

[I thought my wings were still recovering. It's only been 2 weeks after all, and they're fairly thin bones.]
"There is one other thing. I've noticed that I'm being very sensitive to magic, as in I can tell when it's nearby. I was wondering whether there was an organ for detecting it, or just some intangible magical property. I suppose there's no way to find out without, well, a vivisection, though."

[Gizogin]

[Darn, I can't keep track of the time in this thing.  It's really becoming an issue.  Obviously, what I meant was that Hugo hasn't been keeping up with the physical therapy regimen that Dr. Gizogin gave him.  Yeah, that's totally what I meant, and isn't at all a clumsy retcon.  There probably still would be atrophy, since Hugo's only used his wings once the whole time he's been a dragon.]

"A vivisection would definitely make things easier," X mused.  "I don't suppose...?"

"No," Hugo responded emphatically.

"Relax, it was a joke."  Hugo didn't look convinced.  "Dragons, from what I've seen, are creatures deeply rooted in magic.  It makes sense that you'd be sensitive to it.  I suppose I could cast a few spells and see what you can pick up.  You have to understand, this isn't a typical part of a medical exam."

[Zanzetkuken The Great]

[Darn, I can't keep track of the time in this thing.  It's really becoming an issue.  Obviously, what I meant was that Hugo hasn't been keeping up with the physical therapy regimen that Dr. Gizogin gave him.  Yeah, that's totally what I meant, and isn't at all a clumsy retcon.  There probably still would be atrophy, since Hugo's only used his wings once the whole time he's been a dragon.]

"A vivisection would definitely make things easier," X mused.  "I don't suppose...?"

"No," Hugo responded emphatically.

"Relax, it was a joke."  Hugo didn't look convinced.  "Dragons, from what I've seen, are creatures deeply rooted in magic.  It makes sense that you'd be sensitive to it.  I suppose I could cast a few spells and see what you can pick up.  You have to understand, this isn't a typical part of a medical exam."

When is anything in a dwarf fortress universe typical?

[Eric Blank]

when your dwarves are doing exactly what you told them NOT to do.

[Gizogin]

As X went through a series of simple spells with Hugo, Gizogin stepped out to get his medical scanner from outside.  This was the perfect opportunity to test it out, and he was slightly annoyed with himself for not thinking of it earlier.  He returned to find Hugo and X in the middle of a discussion on the finer points of magical senses.

"-should be any easier to detect," X was saying.  "The fireball and the frost had the same level of energy put into them."

"Yes, but I definitely picked up a stronger sensation from the fireball," Hugo argued.

"That would imply that it's not controlled by a specific organ," X reasoned.  "It must be mental, or something else entirely."

"If I might interject," Gizogin said, "this may be of some use.  It's a multi-purpose scanner I built this morning.  It should shed some light on what's going on inside you."  He brandished the device, which looked like a cross between an old-timey camera, a lamp, and a trombone, with some complicated-looking dials and displays on the back.

[WillowLuman]

[I've noticed something. Almost everyone but me seems to be having trouble keeping track of in-story time. To be honest, I thought I would be the one forgetting. Maybe we need to figure out a way to keep track? Maybe a short timeline every once and a while.]

[Zanzetkuken The Great]

[I've noticed something. Almost everyone but me seems to be having trouble keeping track of in-story time. To be honest, I thought I would be the one forgetting. Maybe we need to figure out a way to keep track? Maybe a short timeline every once and a while.]

What about putting up a text document for downloading?  I assume that is how you are keeping track.

[WillowLuman]

Nope, I've just been reading like the rest of us. When in doubt, you can always re-read, too.

[Zanzetkuken The Great]

Nope, I've just been reading like the rest of us. When in doubt, you can always re-read, too.

Closing in on 500 pages between the two threads.  I don't have the time to read that amount.  Especially when restricted to one hour intervals online.

[Gizogin]

[My siblings are back in school now, and I've just been lazing around the house all day with nothing to do.  Yay.]

Gizogin fiddled with the controls of the scanner, before bringing it to bear on the dragon before him.  He ran it down Hugo's body several times, gathering information about his anatomy with each pass.  Eventually, satisfied with the results, he set the device down.

"Okay, I think I have what I need," he said.  "This information will take some time to process, but when it's done I should have a pretty good model of your internal structure.  There's not much more I can think of to try right now, though doubtless X will want to run some more magic by you."  The android nodded in agreement.  "Well then, I'll leave you to do that.  I'm going to get some dinner."

[Am I correct in thinking that it's getting later in the day by now?  That meeting would have been in the early afternoon, and the medical stuff would have taken a few hours, by my reckoning.]

[WillowLuman]

[Meeting would be about noon, so I'd say around 5'30 ish by the end of this examination. To be honest, the pace has gotten really snail-crawling lately. I'm thinking about skipping ahead a week and a half or so to when we've got the underground fort basically up and running again. This is not to say launching into another disaster right away, just getting the pace from tortise-over-molasses to breathably-slow for a while. Unless, of course, someone has something that needs to be done first. Looking at you, ORESOME ]

[@Zanzetkuken: When I say re-read, I mean just look back 2-3 pages and skim to refresh your memory.]

[I'll probably be able to write what I'm thinking right now when the results come in. I don't know if Gizogin will be able to tell, but in story I've been having some unhealthy habits such as not sleeping. Haven't had the body for long, so don't know how much it would be noticeable.]

[Gizogin]

[I don't expect the results to be ready for a days or two, in-story.  I mostly just wanted to move on past the fire breathing-related stuff for now.  Also, I don't know what the results will actually say; I was hoping Hugo'd have more of an idea as to where this is going to go.]

[wierd]

[How's that story post coming, Hugo? ]

[Reading through some older posts, I noticed someone suggesting the possibility of a romantic relationship between Lana and wierd.  It's an interesting idea, but I have the sneaking suspicion that Lana is asexual.  I haven't solidified anything yet, but if they do start interacting more through this 'sparring' thing, it might crop up.  I'm not sure how wierd would feel about all this.]

[That is perfect. Weird is asexual as well. They would get along great! LOL! The problem would be everyone else suggesting that they hook up, while they both insist they are just friends.]

[As for in story time passing, it has been about 4.5 days since the cave in, 3 days since the horrible plague was loosed, and about 3 weeks since the "dragon siege".  We have been at the new site a little over a month and a half all together. I propose a nice long time skip, say a month. That will give ample time for things to have settled into a semblence of normalcy, for Lana to be getting really hungry, (same with archie maybe), and for our "kung-fuu master" to send another spy, which actually returns alive, and sets off the next plot arc.]