I will perceive the fish

Hopford follows suit and starts staring at fish

@Hikari You notice the fish movements, and also notice something else peculiar about these particular fish - they seem to move just a little... off? You can't put your finger on it but they almost seem a little too aware. Fish aren't really known for having high IQs so the fact that they're deliberately seeming to notice your presence and react to you is weird.

Not necessarily hostile, just odd.

"Hm..."

My turtle plush watches the fish

(Me, my secret agent partner, and her 500 dollar 4 foot tall turtle plush)

The fish in the tank in front of the turtle plush stare back, gulping and doing the :o fish face.

(You, your secret agent partner, and your other secret agent partner who's not a turtle plush.)

(contractor*)

I wave to the fish

One of the fish drifts vaguely in the direction of your hand, then drifts back down.

(Is this the same day that we saw the Archivist? Or did we have a long rest between then and now()

(If you want to have gone aquarium-ing a day after finding the briefcase we can say you long rested)

(I like LRing because it means I get my cool stuff back)

One of the visitors you saw by the entrance, an older grey-haired fellow with a flat cap, wanders to a fish tank close by and starts peering closely at the fish. He taps a finger on the tank and a fish darts away.

I study him to see if he looks helpful

Roll Investigation

(So do we have a LR?)

(Yes, assuming you’re fine with a day’s passage)

(That's fine)

(I am)

4+7 = 11

(can Hopford help?)

He looks like a fairly old chap, human. He isn’t appearing to visibly react to the weird behavior of the fish.

(Sure)

Is the glass too thick for much sound to come through?

9+7 =16 for the reroll

@Hikari It's pretty thick aquarium-grade glass, so probably all sound is very muffled.

But there are still signs saying "PLEASE DO NOT TAP GLASS."

So I assume if I used speak with animals I wouldn't be able to hear the fish saying anything through the glass?

@Laurel You note that the man's hat is a size too big for his head, but otherwise he seems normal. His clothes are nice and look freshly ironed.

@Hikari It's a toss-up, fish speech is mostly bubbles. You could definitely try :p

I cast speak with animals

As the magic allows you to understand Bubblespeak, you suddenly hear the African cichlids in front of Seline chittering quietly in high-pitched voices: "She is bright? She so bright! Very bright! Must follow! Pretty!"

What did I expect.. I think to myself

The bigger fish swimming around in front of the old man, meanwhile, are chattering quietly: "Spooky. Not like. Go away. Go go."

Some of them are hiding in the seaweed in the tank.

I look at other exhibits to see if other fish are saying the same sort of thing about other patrons

It's harder to hear from further away, but distant Bubblespeak is saying things like "Food? Yum? You bring food?" and a deeper bubbling that might be from the turtles: "Duuuuudddeeeee."

I nod with respect towards the turtles saying Duuuuudddeeeeee and look back to the old man

"Beautiful fish, aren't they?" he says, without looking up from the tank.

I lean over to Seline and Hopford and whisper that the fish are afraid of this man

"If only life could always be as simple as following a current," he says, moving over to look at some tetra fish. "Imagine how peaceful their lives must be."

What are the tetra fish bubbling?

@Sciborg (Hopford prepared Detect Magic that morning btw)

The tetra are quiet; they are floating around in apparent nervousness.

Can Hopford be ritually ritualing detect magic without being too obvious?

(Hey, I have a thing I have to get to, you can go on without me if you wish! But thank you for the game!)

It's hard to conceal because it's verbal and somatic, so you'd be making lots of gestures and muttering. You could definitely try but it'd be a high Stealth roll.

Hopford would rather not then...

(i must go as well i didn't even realize it was late <3)

THANSK FOR THR GAME!

(Also! Everyone level up!)

(AW YES)

😳

(Because plot and also why not!)

AHHHHHHHHJH

And now, at last, I can swim.

That's almost too convenient 🤔😅

Yeah lol, I was like, I feel like we will level up when we start doing water things and it's convenient because rangers get a swim speed at level 6

What a coincidence! :p

This also means the other group reaches 6 too, by the by, which works out nicely

I was going to ask...! Excited!

And I meant to say this earlier but this is a collaborative story, if you ever want to just straight up improvise something like "hey remember that time we went to the (insert water-related place) and did (very relevant thing)" I'm just gonna roll with it and incorporate it, I'm basically never going to say "no that didn't happen." So don't feel like you always have to stick by my Planned Locations or anything, I'll always throw out ideas but you can make up your own.

Like if there hadn't been an aquarium and you had said "hey how about we go to the aquarium that totally exists" i'd be like "hell yeah there's an aquarium now"

Pretty sweet, I should definitely do more of that

I always have random NPCs, items and critters that can be dropped into basically anywhere so don't be afraid to just bullshit locations into existence :p

"remember that time Oakwinkle jumped the tarrasque driving a monster truck?"

top right did not disappoint

@Sciborg these are clearly album covers

@Sciborg :) noted :)

@Sciborg @bobble making sure you see this and that we've levelled up to level 6

+9 Arcana here I come

(chose Stealth and Arcana for new Expertise since that's what she's been using so it makes narrative sense to improve)

I'm getting a larger power boost than I should since I realized I forgot to update my modifiers for Proficient skills when my proficiency bonus went up

So also +9 Sleight of Hand :)

that's many awesomes

I'm just sticking to Thunderstep for now (ignore my question here for now)

There's a possibility I won't make 8.30pm (5.30, or 12.30 at your locals?) but I can do my best

@AncientSwordRage I'm actually iffy today too, we just found out my dad has Covid and I wanted to go see him :(

Still willing to play though, just might end early

Actually yeah I may have to cancel. Dad is not feeling good and I wanna head over

Alright. Hope he feels better!

Sorry :(

No problem this end! Get well soon Mick's dad!

sends bobblie nurses