Things That Go Boom

Jp with Mdman, Jaxx and Cindy

Elise led the group back to the elevator, as they were waiting for it to arrive said. "This building is mostly offices and meeting rooms."

Elise led the group down the elevator, back to the first floor and down a long hallway to two doors. Two guards stood on either side of the doors. Elise nodded to the two guards, who opened the doors by swinging them outward and holding the doors opened as the group was allowed to pass through them.

The doors led to an large outdoor area, that no one would know was their by the front building. There were several buildings, all built more long than up. Giving a definite impression that they were hidden back here quiet deliberately.

The buildings formed a semi circle and in the middle was a large courtyard with trees, benches, tables, chairs, flowers, a fountain in the middle.

Behind the first set of buildings were a second set of buildings in a similar formation.

People were walking around, going to and from various places. Probably, the most noticeable ones were the Orcs, who clearly acted as security.

"Before we begin the tour, let me say if you have any questions or need anything please ask. Now, about the order. " Elise began. "You all work under the leadership of Lady Elizabeth, so, I am assuming most of you are aware that her father, Duke Ellington, runs the Order. The Order was established in London in 1700, ten years later this headquarters and the headquarters in Russia were built."

She gestured to the buildings, "These buildings, in the front, are the various buildings that house the different departments. We will be going into most of them." Elise then added, "The buildings behind these are housing mostly. There are four recreational centers and two workout facilities in that group of buildings, as well." Elise then paused to see if anyone had something to add or ask before continuing on.

Cronk was taking everything in, listening close to what Elise had said. This place was magnificent. A place for for a king. He wondered if the Baron thought of this as his kingdom.

Suddenly Cronk looked confused. “If work out, why building?”

Dr. Jackal heard Cronk and replied softly, "Think of it as a special training room with special tools to do fancy training like fencing, heavy lifting and combat training. Since it is indoors they can train in the bad weather. I am sure Ms. Lagrave uses one to keep her skills sharp." Dr. Jackal continued to look around and pretend he cared that the Baron was showing off his fancy place. Sadly he would rather work in his lab than waste time humoring another noble.

Cronk shook his head. “Should call work in.”

Heavy lifting was his thing, besides crushing things, especially with things designed for damage. Maybe Pretty Flower could make Cronk something from her toys. He didn’t know the Wise One made things like that too. And of course, Cronk’s thing was also boinking the ladies. Oh, and whiskey. Maybe he should visit this work in place.

Elise led the group to the first building on the right. The building was two stories tall, built in a rectangular shape. "This first building is our library. Along with books, it houses some rare finds including rough drafts and first editors from authors such as Voltaire and Hugo along with one the original drafts of "Origins of The Species" It also houses rare and antique maps.

The library looked fairly like what one would expect. A desk in the front area, with a white haired woman checking various books. A section to one side with periodicals. Various places to sit. Stacks and stacks of books. Off to the right was a door with the word archives, rare.

Elise led the group out of the library, and to the right of it was a Cafe. It was a little bigger than most in Paris itself but not huge. People were going in and out of the Cafe, getting coffee, tea, pastries. "There are three Cafes, in this section. " Elise pointed out the cafes that were well spaced out. "In the back area, by the housing there is a casual eating establishment which is larger." Really, Elise was referring to what amounted to a glorified cafeteria with better food than most.

The tour continued to a long building that was shaped in a T. "This is our science lab," Elise said. "There are various units which the scientists are assigned to. "

The group entered the main doors and went to the right and the end of the hallway. Looking in one of the labs, there were scientists looking through microscopes and few filling vials. On the wall were a number of charts with circles and lines drawn on them. Gracing these charts were words like evolution, human, Eldren, Arundan, Gnome, Dwarf, Orc. Apes , frogs, fairies Magic, resistance to magic. Aptitudes.

"This lab and the one across the hall are dedicated to studying evolution of the various races." Elise explained.

Dr. Jackal looked at the cafes and science labs while walking along. He was impressed by how well managed they were but he was not a fan of sharing a lab with others since it could easily get confusing on who's materials belong to who for the research. Not all scientists like to work as a team, but it was impressive non the less. Dr. Jackal could appreciate work of others while separating the personality of the person who made the accomplishments. Not many people were at a point that they could do that. As he saw they were researching the evolution of various life forms he was concerned he might be seen as a sample as well. So he kept his mouth shut as they passed the labs in hopes to not get any attention.

Cronk was unimpressed by the tour thus far. He disliked things most people couldn’t understand. Hopefully, the tour would get more interesting. He did manage to smile at a pretty lady who seemed to be making notes for a scientist. She was the only thing he found interesting. If the Baron was attempting to impress them, he had failed with Cronk. He almost attempted to pick up a test tube, but decided against it because of the Baron’s warning.

The tour through the science building continued. The group saw the biology department where a surprisingly decent sized number of half cat-half humans worked. The physics department who were working on something that seemed to involve the planets, moon and a great deal of advanced math. The chemistry department was the only one in which one if the scientists actually came to speak to the group. A woman about 6' tall with redish hair walked over to the group, greeted them and said, "I am doctor Morgan. If you would please follow me, myself and a few of the other chemists have put together a demonstration for you."

The group is led to door behind the lab, which leads to a large open field. Standing there are two other scientists, two Gnomes, Dr. Eldercott and Mr. Reminize.

Dr. Morgan introduces the two scientists and says, "We have been working on something that might prove to be quite useful, to some of you."

Dr. Morgan opened a wooden box and pulls out, what looked like clay. "This looks like clay, feels like clay, can be molded like clay," to demonstrate this the woman made a pretty terrible looking bunny. "I am no artist," Dr. Morgan joked.

"This however is no order clay," Dr. Morgan continued. "It's an explosive, which only activates upon a direct and hard impact."

The gnomes start handing out headphones, similar to what someone working on a air ship's engine might wear. They even had Gnome and Orc sized ones.

"Please everyone put on the headsets," Dr. Eldercott, said, before putting on his own.

Dr. Morgan went to an opened area and threw the clay bunny, quite a distance and it fell to the ground hard. She counted to five, pausing in-between each number and then...

Boom!!!

The bunny exploded leaving a decent sized dent in the ground.

Dr. Morgan signaled for everyone to remove their headphones, once everyone had them off she said. "Would anyone like to try it?"

Cronk definitely didn’t want to do this. Well, that wasn’t true. He did want to do it, but the words of the Baron kept haunting him. If just a touch from his finger broke a vase, what would it do to this explosive clay?

Instead, Cronk looked around him. The most obvious choices to him were the Good Doctor, who seemed to have a knack for science, or Pretty Flower, who seemed to understand technology. All this was beyond Cronk’s comprehensión. How did they get clay to explode like a cannon ball?