A couple days later, Jake and Eli manage to undo the spell that was used on Timothius, discovering the "turn into child" spell in the process (or at least, their own way of casting it).

Timothius gives Jake and Eli a big hug once he is restored, thanking them. Raichel joins in on that one.

Velocity has been acting none the worse for ware, and the children are recuperating pretty well. Clair, Mara-Kai, Serenity, Tam and T'shock all wind up seeing their families!

Clair's mom and dad both seem a tough, but very friendly pair. No siblings.

Mara-Kai's parents seem eccentric and wild. She also has a brother who seems a little shy and vanishes whenever people get too close. Seems fine with his parents and Mara, of course.

Serenity's mom and dad are basically like Judy Hopp's mom and dad. Very standard, farmer style parents. She has about 20 brothers and sisters. Nobody but momma seems to really keep count. Her siblings are varied in how they act, but mostly are cuddly bunnies.

Tam just has her human dad and no siblings. Her dad may as well be Mr Kent.

T'shock has a human mom and she is one of those mommas who is super sweet and yet gives this underlying feeling of someone you don't wanna mess with.

Jake is rather proud of himself for being useful to a celestial being.  Doesn't stop him from blushing when hugged by daddy and daughter.  Not to mention Lucky's over-the-top, "super-duper geniuses!" praise for him and Eli.

"When I was trying to find a way to escape, I happened to notice that Raichel practically burns with divine energy.  Wrashk indicated that he is trying to attain godhood.  And clues point at him targeting people with ties to the divine.  Might be worthwhile for me and Eli to look into the nature of her power to get more clues on how to stop Wrashk."

Lucky is oh so happy to cuddle the bunnies and does his best to get to know all the families.  "We should cast that youth spell on the parents and all play together!"

He is especially cuddle-fluff "play with me!" with his own family.

Reactions and thoughts on the families:

Timothius glances at Jake, seemingly nervous for half a second, but goes back to being calm and says, "I'm... not so sure studying Raichel would give any clues on stopping Wrashk. Suppose she is divine in nature? I mean, I am an angel. But what of it? What about her divine nature, or mine, would point to how to stop Wrashk?"

Eli says, "For one, the ability to unlock the full potential of someone's inner energy."

Timothius says, "I suppose..."

Raichel grins and says, "Already working on that! Some day, I'll be like those amazing martial artists and unlock my inner energy!"

The parents all are a bit cautious of the brand-new, un-tested youth spell and opt not to try it out until it is a sure thing.

Jake is confused by Timo's reaction.  What on earth could an angel possibly have to nervous about from a mere mortal?!  Unless...  Rai's adopted and Timo's afraid of Jake finding out and blurting it out?  Or something like that?

"I was thinking more along the lines of searching out what she's weak to.  Suppose Wrashk learns that she's paralyzed in the presence of Narshadan crystals.  We could set up an ambush for him at the crystal cave.  Though unlocking her power would be incredibly useful too.  If we can manage to figure out how."

Lucky smiles at Rai and says, "That's awesome!  Can I see your moves?"

Jake and Eli are unable to really figure out much about Raichel, except that her power is clearly divine in nature.

That night, Lucky gets to be in heaven; everyone decides to have a communal reunion party that includes everyone spending the night together in one big communal sleeping room! Which means...

The puppy family cuddles each other, parents curled up around Clair.

Mara cuddling Hoal and kissing the top of his head as he drifts off to sleep, the two of them surrounded by their parents.

A huge pile of bunnies asleep on each other. Serenity is somewhere in there. XD

Tam's father holding and petting her to sleep.

T'shock's face buried in her mother's chest, falling asleep.

Timothius folds his wings around Raichel like a blanket and they nuzzle as they fall asleep.

The noble parents (such as Jake, Eli, Miranda, or Mav's parents) were busy with late-night junk and not wanting to sleep in a communal activity, but they permit their children to partake.

Maverick is lovingly petting Liberty, trying to help her sleep. She keeps fighting to keep her eyes open, but is slowly giving in.

Antoinette is curled up against Jake with a peaceful smile on her face as she drifts off.

Eli opted to cuddle with Miranda, the two of them being single children who's parents opted not to come.

Vel and Billy, of course, enjoy being curled around Angel and Lucky, petting the two. Angel smiling at Lucky and twitching her nose all bunny-like as she slowly closes her eyes.

Jake's worried about another nightmare attack, or kidnapping, or who knows what else.  So he wards the area as best he can with the magic available to him.

Lucky thanks him, and gushes on him about how happy he is that Jake is back safely.  Before bed he's sure to wish everyone a good night.  Adorable cuddle time makes him melt!  Happy tears roll down his cheeks and he spends his last waking moments gushing on his family about the cuteness!

Jake returns Ant's hugs, but falls asleep serious faced.

It was the last peaceful night they all enjoyed... just kidding.

The next morning comes without incident. There is a large breakfast shared by the group. But it does come up that the families that came to fetch their children are going to leave either today or tomorrow.

Jake was nomming but stops eating to get starting churning out scrolls of sending.  "Be sure to take a sending scroll with you.  If anything that feels like Wrashk's work happens... another kidnapping for example, please let me know."

Lucky is sorry to see people go, but understands.  He's sure to give goodbye hugs to those leaving.  "Don't forget to write!  I'll miss you!"

Kerfluffle.

The scrolls are all graciously accepted with much thanks.

All the noble children get snatched up for schooling. Thanks to being good friends with so many noble children, Lucky and Angel are permitted to attend that schooling as well.

Jake, however, is pulled aside by Antoinette in an unusual display of taking charge. She just takes his hand and walks off. Assuming he doesn't fight her, she takes him to a room in private and turns to face him; even lifting her eyes swiftly to meet his. "Why don't you smile?"

Lucky is oh so excited to be going to school with Angel.  For him it's a dream come true to learn amazing things with friends and family.  "Isn't this exciting, Angel?  I've always wondered what school is like.  And this is royal school!"

---

Jake on the other hand isn't so fond of school.  sure he knows it's important things he'll need to know to survive as an adult in the political arena, but he'd rather be learning magic and tinkering.  So he welcomes Ant's unexpected interruption.  Even if he knows he'll be reprimanded for letting her run off with him.  Besides.  Could be an important prediction.

Jake sweatdrops at the question.  He thinks about how to answer in a way she'll understand.  "Slavery making you sick took away some of my smiles.  The siege took some more.  The Shadowfell took most of what was left.  If I had any more, Wrashk has them.  Hopefully, I'll get some back when he's caught."

Angel looks around and nods. "I wonder how it will compare to mom and dad's teaching..."

Miranda says, "I wish my parents would teach me."

Liberty shrugs. "It's weird to be able to ask questions and not get punched or kicked for it." Yeah. Being a slave sucked.

---

Antoinette looks ready to cry. "It's not fair. They need to give you your smiles back."

He nods to Angel.  "Me too.  I'm worried I'll embarrass you with how dumb I am, but I'll try real hard not to."

Lucky offers Liberty a hug.  He doesn't know the rules about hugging a Princess, but that doesn't stop him.  She'll always be his best friend.  They went through hell together and he's convinced he wouldn't have survived without her.  "It's great, isn't it?  I always figured we'd end up having to fend for ourselves if we escaped.  I'm so happy we both got our families back!  Talk about better than answered prayer!"

To Miranda he offers, "Me, Angel, and Liberty could help try and persuade your parents.  Maybe they'll change their minds after hearing our story."

---

Jake doesn't know what else to say or do.  "That's right.  It's not fair."

He gives his sis a hug.

Angel pffs. "Embarrass? I doubt it."

Liberty hugs back and simply nods in reply.

Miranda says, "Not very likely. My parents are super busy with politics. Which, to quote them, is more important than any of us."

---

Antoinette cries on Jake. "Give back my brother's smiles..."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:02, Wed 08 June 2016.

Jake hugs Ant and tries to pet her comfortingly.  But his face shows that his mind is full of thoughts of revenge.

---

Lucky smiles brightly to Angel.  "I'll do my best!"

He gives Lib a smile and another squeeze before offering Miranda a buddy-buddy arm-around.  "Gosh.  Now I feel sorry for you and your parents both.  I'd hate to be stuck with some thing so important it limited my time with my daughter.  It'd drive me batty to think that if I didn't do my job then something bad would happen to my family and everyone else's.  Let's encourage 'em at bed time."

School goes well for the kids. Even if Jake had to watch Ant cry, it's not like school was the reason. After school, Eli quietly hands out little slips of paper to the others. The paper reads, "You have been invited to join my club. If you accept the offer, follow Eli to the secret clubhouse."

For those who follow him, Eli leads the group into the nearby woods, pulls a lever that was hidden inside a rock, and the ground opens to reveal stairs.

Down the stairs, the place lights up with neon lights and a glowing ceiling. Eli wants to say "Tada", but just shyly smiles there, sliding his foot.

If nothing else, being a slave taught Lucky how to be extremely well behaved.  He's relieved to see how lenient the teachers are on those who act up.  Jake spends class working on his Spock impersonation to try and avoid upsetting Ant any more than he already has.  Eli's idea has Jake raise an eyebrow.

"Brilliant," he thinks aloud, "Why didn't I think of that?"

He follows along, admiring Eli's work.  "Nicely done."

---

Lucky's reaction to the invitation is to glomp Eli, cuddle cheek rub!  "Of course I accept.  Thanks for the invitation!"

When he sees the entrance he gasps and jaw-drops in awe.  "Wow!  This is amazing!  Eli, you're incredible!"

Angel says, "Brilliant? I see what you did there." and nudges Jake with her elbow before looking up at the lights.

All the kids are amazed and slowly walking around the place, checking it out. Except Antoinette. She just smiles brightly at Eli.

Miranda woahs and looks around. "I.... feel home somehow."

Eli says, "So... this is our clubhouse. Reinforced physically and magically. I'll be reproducing its protective nature at our homes as best I can, but whenever we are here, the only thing that could kidnap us would be beings way too powerful to be interested in us." Eli is still running on the assumption that angels, demons and deities would not really give the kids a second glance.

He then offers badges to everyone. "Club badges."

Lucky giggles when Angel points out the pun.  Jake scriggley faces.  But eventually catches on to the pun and ohs.  He accepts the badge and spends his time sensing the magic and puzzling out how Eli put all this together.

"Sorry I wasn't available to help.  Thanks for putting this all together.  It'll be a big relief to not have to worry about that much."

Lucky puts on his badge and wears it proudly.  He nods enthusiastically to Miranda.  "It was made with love!  That's why it feels so home-like.  Thanks so much, Eli!"

More glomps and cheek-rub purrs etc.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:20, Thu 16 June 2016.

More steam shooting out Eli's ears as he turns red from all the cuddles and buries his face in Lucky.

But Angel decides to distract Lucky after a bit and soon, the kids are exploring the nooks and crannies.

Eli pulls Jake aside while the kids oo and ah over the neat-o stuff in the underground clubhouse. "These badges... I was hoping you could help me turn them into remote links to the magical wards of this clubhouse. If we are able to do that, then we won't have to worry about magical kidnappings or nightmares ever again. But every time I tried, it drains some of the magical power. Which means the more badges I use, the more power drained and thus, the more people being protected remotely, the weaker the ward becomes."

Lucky hearts!  He's more than happy to pet the blushy Eli then wiggle on the others while the geniuses have their secret meeting.  Not that anyone could understand the backwards Egyptian should they listen in.

Jake raises an eyebrow and rubs his chin in thought.  "Sure, I'll help.  I like your idea.  Maybe we could eventually get enchanted tatoos so we don't have to worry about lost or stolen badges.  Either way, I'll need to be brought up to speed on how you got this far before I can start helping with improvements.  I think I have an idea that might work, but it depends..."

Eli begins explaining how the protective ward works. It isn't advanced, but it isn't basic either; a Magic Circle Ritual for each type of creature known, mixed with what looks like some kind of custom, less-expensive version of a Forbiddance Ritual. Eli clearly went to a lot of effort to make sure this spot was as protected as possible from scrying and even physical infiltration. As it is, inventing a custom version of a seriously advanced ritual is impressive, as is making these rituals permanent, rather than their normal 1-day durations. But the truly impressive part is the remote access magic he had been working on, which is kind of unheard of. Considering it is new and there really isn't a precedent for it, the fact it sucks more magic the more people use it is probably not only the best one can hope for, but already amazing. Not only does it work, it "tries" to be energy efficient.

The more Jake studies it, the more he can see Eli has clearly been busy with this ever since the nightmares. Very likely had been thinking on it even when hanging out with the others.

Jake listens intently to Eli's explanation.  After he finishes, Jake nods, visibly impressed.  "Good job, Eli.  I can tell you've been working hard on this.  While I was busy thinking on how to stop the badguys.  We make for a pretty good team.  Me the sword, you the shield.

"I've got a number of ideas..."

Staying inside the circle while using surrogate constructs to interact with the outside world...  Spending a treasury's worth in ritual components to ward the entire castle...  Spending a year and a day to set up a permanent teleportation circle...

"...But only one of them is practical.  Namely, upgrading the badge.  We can put sensory rituals into them so that the protective energy only goes to where it is needed.  If needed, we could increase the surface area for more runes by turning the badges into belt buckles and scribing runes on the belts.  Come to think of it, a belt forms a circuit..."

Jake continues brainstorming, feeling pretty good that he can contribute.

Eli nods. "I like that sensory idea! There are already magic items that have such a thing like the dancing weapon, so it is feasible! Also; I've also been thinking about a vulnerability trap. Use ourselves as bait since the bad guys seem so intent on bothering us all the time. And then when the next 'occurrence' happens, we spring the trap. What kind of trap and how it would contain our enemies... well you said you're the sword, so I'd leave that to you."

Jake rubs behind his head, blushing a little.

"Thanks.  I'm glad you like it.  You've done so much for everyone already, so I'm just glad I can help.  That trap idea is brilliant!  I'll get on that right away."

He starts cantripping magical diagrams to figure out the best trap for the enemy.

Brain blanking. Ya make a. I'll figure out more for this some other time.