8.18.2005
Are You Feeling It?
Okay Marivhon, you hang back.
You guys check out the trophy room, up ahead. A large museum, basically. Lots of weird stuff under glass, nick-nacks, really, like a statue of a monk with the inscription "LIVE SIMPLY SO THAT OTHERS MAY SIMPLY LIVE" or a katana from the third Kunbo Century or the 23rd annual monk's fest prize to Mysterious X for best stillness. There are signs that this used to be a great hall dedicated to, well, Odin... bare patches of discolored wall where a animal's head might be displayed, for instance.
However, at the back is a large door flanked by twin warrior monk statues. It's locked, Cinder, you can't open it, and the door looks heavily reinforced, made of good wood bound with steel. There's a sign that reads "Archives, Monks Only (and Only by Permission of M.X.)" Marivhon, you can't get through it either though. Hmm...
Continuing your way through, you occasionally bump into a monk or two, many of them engaged in construction. Taking down timbers, cleaning up the fireplace from the main dining hall, generally 'modernizing' the place and adding monk-friendly frescoes and 'Successories' style motivational posters. "TEAMWORK, A TWO WAY STREET: You are your brother's keeper, and you are being kept by your brother."
Still no sign of Grunna. Cinder, again with a door you can't open. It's marked "Magical Treasury." Ha, just kidding. It actually seems to be the office of the Mysterious X! He's got a nice placard, but the lock defies you.
Marivhon, a couple of the monks recognize you and smile and nod. "Back again? Oh you're in luck. Larry and Tony are in the recording studio again! You should check it out." They escort you through the living quarters down some stairs to a recording studio and soundbooth, where two monks with ponytails are mastering their latest record. The label on the door says "MOP Production Studios, LLC". Then underneath a handwritten note says "This iz where the magic happens baby!!"
As you enter, you hear some beats fade out as a woman says "Je t'adore... mais je suis desole" in a husky voice over some monks chanting. Larry the monk smiles and says to Tony: "Yeah, now we got it... now pull the midrange back in... kick the backbeat!" They bring the backbeat back in, some silky slow 4-4 beats. "Hells yeah. Can I ask you something? Are you... are you feeling it? Cause I am totally feeling it." Tony seems to be feeling it: "You know I am feeling it."
"Can we help you dudes? Hey, check out the latest masterpiece. Shh, no, don't say anything, just check the music, feel that beat." Tony pulls up the chanting monks a bit louder. Lar and Tony have some stuff to do, so they give you each a complementary CD single "J'excuse" and get back to the mixing board. They'll autograph it on a successful CHA check.
Still no Grunna though... maybe you have the wrong place? And then, continuing your tour, Cinder finds a locked door he can open, down a hall in the basement. It opens into a dusty, stone corridor, ending in stairs that go down.
(Ha! How long has it been since that stuff?)
You creep downstairs, Cinder, Mike, and Marivhon trying really hard and failing to be Hiding and Silent. You then see upahead what looks like a large stone-walled lounge, with three monks playing mah-jongg. They're pretty engrossed in the game, and don't see you, but one of them seems to be thirsty:
Monk 1: "Hey I'm thirsty... anyone else for some iced-tea?"
Monk 2: "Yea bro, hook it up."
Monk 3: "I'm in."
Monk 1 apparently hooks it up by pulling a bellcord. Out of a large, iron door comes a woman who totally doesn't fit with the whole monk vibe. First off, she's ten feet tall (so she's sort of hunched over). She's blonde with two big braids. She's wearing what looks like burlap, but leaves her feet exposed, showing huge, glowing manacles around her ankles. Finally, and here's the give-away, she's wearing a nametag that reads "HELLO MY NAME IS GRUNNA HOW CAN I HELP?"
Monk 1 orders her to get some iced-tea.
Your commands, sirs?
You guys check out the trophy room, up ahead. A large museum, basically. Lots of weird stuff under glass, nick-nacks, really, like a statue of a monk with the inscription "LIVE SIMPLY SO THAT OTHERS MAY SIMPLY LIVE" or a katana from the third Kunbo Century or the 23rd annual monk's fest prize to Mysterious X for best stillness. There are signs that this used to be a great hall dedicated to, well, Odin... bare patches of discolored wall where a animal's head might be displayed, for instance.
However, at the back is a large door flanked by twin warrior monk statues. It's locked, Cinder, you can't open it, and the door looks heavily reinforced, made of good wood bound with steel. There's a sign that reads "Archives, Monks Only (and Only by Permission of M.X.)" Marivhon, you can't get through it either though. Hmm...
Continuing your way through, you occasionally bump into a monk or two, many of them engaged in construction. Taking down timbers, cleaning up the fireplace from the main dining hall, generally 'modernizing' the place and adding monk-friendly frescoes and 'Successories' style motivational posters. "TEAMWORK, A TWO WAY STREET: You are your brother's keeper, and you are being kept by your brother."
Still no sign of Grunna. Cinder, again with a door you can't open. It's marked "Magical Treasury." Ha, just kidding. It actually seems to be the office of the Mysterious X! He's got a nice placard, but the lock defies you.
Marivhon, a couple of the monks recognize you and smile and nod. "Back again? Oh you're in luck. Larry and Tony are in the recording studio again! You should check it out." They escort you through the living quarters down some stairs to a recording studio and soundbooth, where two monks with ponytails are mastering their latest record. The label on the door says "MOP Production Studios, LLC". Then underneath a handwritten note says "This iz where the magic happens baby!!"
As you enter, you hear some beats fade out as a woman says "Je t'adore... mais je suis desole" in a husky voice over some monks chanting. Larry the monk smiles and says to Tony: "Yeah, now we got it... now pull the midrange back in... kick the backbeat!" They bring the backbeat back in, some silky slow 4-4 beats. "Hells yeah. Can I ask you something? Are you... are you feeling it? Cause I am totally feeling it." Tony seems to be feeling it: "You know I am feeling it."
"Can we help you dudes? Hey, check out the latest masterpiece. Shh, no, don't say anything, just check the music, feel that beat." Tony pulls up the chanting monks a bit louder. Lar and Tony have some stuff to do, so they give you each a complementary CD single "J'excuse" and get back to the mixing board. They'll autograph it on a successful CHA check.
Still no Grunna though... maybe you have the wrong place? And then, continuing your tour, Cinder finds a locked door he can open, down a hall in the basement. It opens into a dusty, stone corridor, ending in stairs that go down.
(Ha! How long has it been since that stuff?)
You creep downstairs, Cinder, Mike, and Marivhon trying really hard and failing to be Hiding and Silent. You then see upahead what looks like a large stone-walled lounge, with three monks playing mah-jongg. They're pretty engrossed in the game, and don't see you, but one of them seems to be thirsty:
Monk 1: "Hey I'm thirsty... anyone else for some iced-tea?"
Monk 2: "Yea bro, hook it up."
Monk 3: "I'm in."
Monk 1 apparently hooks it up by pulling a bellcord. Out of a large, iron door comes a woman who totally doesn't fit with the whole monk vibe. First off, she's ten feet tall (so she's sort of hunched over). She's blonde with two big braids. She's wearing what looks like burlap, but leaves her feet exposed, showing huge, glowing manacles around her ankles. Finally, and here's the give-away, she's wearing a nametag that reads "HELLO MY NAME IS GRUNNA HOW CAN I HELP?"
Monk 1 orders her to get some iced-tea.
Your commands, sirs?
