A Faerie Affair - IC III: In the Court of the Faerie King

[Ninja_Prawn]

Astra, Korialstrasz, Opal and Orianna swept the gnolls out of their cave, ending the threat to the humans of Cershire. Buried deep in the cave's treasure chamber, they made a surprising discovery: a pixie sorceress named Kyu Sweetbreeze had been imprisoned there in a magical bottle! The mage joined the party as they headed north towards the Sea of Fallen Stars.

On the way, they met a band of humanoid adventurers whose patron offered passage across the Sea and a fey spy in Elversult who provided some potentially useful intelligence. Aboard the fast galley Meteor, the party made swift progress, reaching Feather Falls on their 26th day out of Queen Lydia's court.

There they met a pair of humans who happened to be heading upriver as well. After a desperate fight against a giant octopus and a nighttime encounter with some hooded figures, it became clear that the fey courts of Cormanthor were under siege by an army of monsters under the direction of a well-organised drow force. The party hurried on, fearing that Kyu's hometown may be in danger.

Another chance encounter saw the party brought face-to-face with Larynda Claddath, a drow mage and senior figure among the raiders. The next day, the fey travellers came to a druid circle, recovering from a fiendish raid. They helped save a magical tree that apparently helps keep a dimensional portal sealed, winning the friendship of the druids. The fey prince Hefeydd also appeared in person, leaving Orianna with a cryptic riddle.

From there, our intrepid band marched to Pinkleaf, which was celebrating Greengrass when they arrived. The celebrations did not last long, however, as the village was attacked by a horde of monstrous spiders!

And now... we are at the top of Round 4 in the struggle to defend Pinkleaf!

Revised Initiative Table
21 Ferb
15 Swarm 2
14 Kor
13.5 Orianna
13 Swarm 1 & Phase Spider
11 Astra & Opal
6 Giant Spider
4 Kyu

In the middle of the village, Kyu's missiles batter the giant spider, bloodying it. Over by the medical tent, Ferb lunges at the phase spider, swinging his battleaxe two-handed.

Attack: [roll0]
Disadvantage (due to exhaustion): [roll1]
Damage: [roll2] slashing

...but it parries the tired attack with its legs. The second swarm of spiders then starts crawling up Opal's legs, looking for a gap in her armour...

Attack: [roll3]
Damage: [roll4] piercing

...and they finally succeed!

It is Korialstrasz and Orianna next.

[tgva8889]

Orianna Blossomheart, Initiative 13.5
AC: 18 (with shield), HP: 32/32; Save DC: 13, Passive Perception: 11

The spider's sudden appearance surprises Orianna for a moment, but she has enough presence of mind to pull her shield in front of her and knock its blow away. In retort, she shouts a battle cry and swings her flail overhead at the beast. Then she shouts to Ferb, "I'll try to keep its attention." She then steps a bit around the spider, trying to stand between it and Ferb.

Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

[Majin]

Korialstrasz (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=311933), HP: 26/26
AC: 15, PPerception: 15, Spell Save: 14, Concentrating on: Flaming Sphere

Kor notices Opal pouring oil on the spiders. "Oh, that's a good idea. Just watch out for the flames". He rams the flaming sphere agains the spider swarm. Then casts a coldness spell on the giant spider.

Ram the flaming sphere against the swarm as a bonus action. Damage: [roll0]

[Ninja_Prawn]

Ori's flail deals a heavy blow to the target, but it keeps fighting, aiming another bite at her...

Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1] piercing plus [roll2] poison (DC 11 Constitution save for half)

...before it once again vanishes. No matter how hard you strain your senses you can hear no sounds from it and, though it appears to move while vanished, it leaves no footprints. At least it doesn't seem to be able to hit you.

The giant spider resists Kor's magic ((rolled in Roll20)), but his Flaming Sphere sets light to Opal's oil, destroying one of the swarms in a dirty orange flash. [roll3] Some nearby leaf litter catches fire, but not enough to pose any real threat.

Over to Opal and Astra.

[Stan]

Opal AC 18, hp 27/40, pp 13 Opal whips out her hammer and tries to use it on the giant spider. She hopes to extricate herself from the situation.

Opal attacks the giant spider, then is going to push it away. Will use precise attack if she misses by 3 or less. She'll use a bonus action to shove the spider. If the spider dies or is pushed back, she'll move 30' away.

attack [roll0]
damage [roll1]
shove [roll2] (melee attacks and athletics rolls happen to have same mod)

[WindStruck]

Astra isn't sure what to do at the moment, so she makes sure to keep out of the way, giving Kor's flaming sphere plenty of girth and also staying off the ground and not too close to any trees.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Opal's attack is accurate but not quite strong enough to kill the spider, which also manages to nimbly dodge her attempted shove ((rolled on Roll20)).

Realising its back is against a wall, the spider tries to pick on a softer target, shooting a web at Kor despite his altitude.

Attack: [roll0]
Disadvantage (due to long range): [roll1]

The webbing hits - Kor is restrained!

Kyu's turn.

[Pyon]

"Just, stop already you big dumb spider!" Kyu yells as she casts her spell. "Run away, stop attacking, something!


Kyu stats: 21 HP, 13 AC, 13 Spell Save, 11 Passive Perception,
Used spell slots: 1st: 3 2nd:, Sorcery Points: 4 Concentration:

Casting Magic Missiles to hopefully slay the big dumb spider!
Wild Magic [roll0]

Damage 1: [roll1]
Damage 2: [roll2]
Damage 3: [roll3]

[Ninja_Prawn]

Top of Round 5

Initiative Table
21 Ferb
15 Swarm 2
14 Kor
13.5 Orianna
13 Swarm 1 & Phase Spider
11 Astra & Opal
6 Giant Spider
4 Kyu

Kyu's spell slays the giant spider and also damages the remaining swarm, which assaults the grounded Korialstrasz, but fails to hurt him.

Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

Meanwhile, Ferb looks dumbfounded when the spider disappears. He pokes around a bit, then shrugs at Orianna.

Kor & Ori... away!

[Majin]

Korialstrasz (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=311933), HP: 12/26
AC: 15, PPerception: 15, Spell Save: 14, Concentrating on: Flaming Sphere

Kor feels a stab of guilt as the spider swarm goes up in flames. It's not like the beasts themselves wanted to attack, but...

Kor's pondering was cut off as he was wrapped in the spider web. As he hit the ground hard, he didn't feel as bad anymore.

It seemed like the webbing wouldn't come off very easily, so Kor changed into something that could deal with it better.

Use action to transform into a black bear

[tgva8889]

Orianna Blossomheart, Initiative 13.5
AC: 18 (with shield), HP: 32/32; Save DC: 13, Passive Perception: 11

Orianna grumbles. "This spider has some sort of magic that lets it fade in and out of existence. Quite the nuisance." She takes a ready stance, swinging her flail in preparation for an incoming strike. "Be careful. I'm not sure if it has retreated or if it has moved on."

(Ready action: "If the phase spider appears within Orianna's melee range, make an attack with her flail on it." No move.)

[Ninja_Prawn]

Orianna is right to be cautious. The phase spider pops back into existence right in front of her, so she strikes with her flail... which somehow gets tangled on her shield! ((rolled in Roll20, critical miss))

The spider tries to take advantage, biting with its huge fangs...

Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1] + [roll2] poison (DC 11 Con save for half (10))

...and hits!

Opal, Astra and Kyu can go now, while Orianna needs to make a Constitution saving throw.

[Stan]

Opal steps over to Kor and tries to help, wrenching at the webs. She feels bad that one of the little ones is in the brunt of the battle but tries to make light of it. "Hey Kor! Fancy seeing you down on this level. Bear with me and we'll have you eating bugs n' berries in no time."

After giving it a try on the webs, Opal takes off for the medical tent to see what's going on over there. She yells over her shoulder, "Astra, try putting these little ones to sleep."



ooc: strength check on webs [roll0]

[Stan]

edit: forgot me bonus action.

All the little bites had stung but Opal didn't seem to be affected much by their poison.

ooc: second wind [roll0]

[WindStruck]

Astra all but gritted her teeth. Opal had like no idea how her magic worked!

"I.. I can't do that right now!" Astra complained. She followed Opal more or less, ascending higher into the air once more to see what the heck was going on over here. Surely Kor and Kyu could take care of that one swarm of spiders?

[Pyon]

"I did it!" Kyu cheered in relief at the defeat of the giant spider. She focused her attention at the swarm now.


Kyu stats: 21 HP, 13 AC, 13 Spell Save, 11 Passive Perception,
Used spell slots: 1st: 4 2nd:, Sorcery Points: 4 Concentration:

Casting Magic Missiles to destroy the swarm of spiders.
Wild Magic [roll0]

Damage 1: [roll1]
Damage 2: [roll2]
Damage 3: [roll3]

[Majin]

Korialstrasz (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=311933), Bear HP: 19/19
AC: 11, PPerception: 15, Spell Save: 14, Concentrating on: Flaming Sphere

Kor just grunts at Opal. He then tries to stomp and bite the remaining spiders in the swarm dead. If that's not enough he will move and ram the flaming sphere on the swarm.

Attack the swarm.

Bite: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

Claws: [roll2]
Damage: [roll3]

If that doesn't kill the swarm, then move out of the square and ram it with Flaming Sphere. If it dies, extinguish Flaming Sphere. Damage: [roll4]

In any case, then move towards Orianna and the phase spider.

Edit: I'd guess the initial attacks killed it. So just extinguish Flaming sphere and move towards Orianna.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Opal frees Kor from the webbing, then Kyu's missiles thin out but don't quite destroy the swarm that's attacking him.

Top of Round 6

In the centre of the village, the oil burns out without setting fire to anything else. Ferb attacks the phase spider...

Attack: [roll0]
Disadvantage: [roll1]
Damage: [roll2]

...but misses again. Then the last remnants of the swarm attack Kor, purely out of spite...

Attack: [roll3]
Damage: [roll4]

...before Kor rips them apart.

Ori's turn

[WindStruck]

From up higher again, Astra could see something sinister looming beyond the borders of the village.

"Ettercaps!" she yelled, pointing in their general direction. "They must be the ones controlling the spiders!"

[tgva8889]

Orianna Blossomheart, Initiative 13.5
AC: 18 (with shield), HP: 17/32; Save DC: 13, Passive Perception: 11

Constitution Save: [roll0]

Orianna is pushed back as the spider digs into her with its fangs. Pulling her flail free, she swings it again, hoping this time to finish the spider for good.

((Use move to presumably pull flail free from its impossible position, attack with flail. See OOC thread for rolls.))

[Ninja_Prawn]

Ori still can't hit the spider, which makes one last attack against her...

Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1] + [roll2] (DC 11 Con save for half)

...before disappearing, apparently for good. You each gain 183 XP for seeing off these monsters.

Orianna is poisoned, paralysed and unconscious, but stable.

Although you seem to have seen off this first wave, it soon becomes clear that this victory is only temporary. Aside from a pocket of resistance in the north of the village, where a small group of satyrs, sprites and dryads are fighting back-to-back, there are no more fey creatures standing up to the invaders. Everywhere you look, spiders are advancing, herded by foul ettercaps. To the southwest, civilians are trying to escape past the monsters, but have been penned in by webbing.

Ferb looks dismayed. He says "we have to get out of here! Someone get the antitoxins from the tent - I'll carry this one." By which he means Ori.

[Stan]

Opal sighs and looks around. She nods to Ferb. "I'll get the stuff, get going."

She yells to Astra, "Can you fly ahead and scout a safe path?"


Opal looks over to Kor. "Ferb is exhausted, keep an eye on him and carry Ori if he can't handle it."

Opal rushes into the tent and grabs as much as she can that's useful and shoves it into her bag. If there is anyone in the tent, she informs them of the situation and tells them to grab the antitoxin and run.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Opal sighs and looks around. She nods to Ferb. "I'll get the stuff, get going."

She yells to Astra, "Can you fly ahead and scout a safe path?"


Opal looks over to Kor. "Ferb is exhausted, keep an eye on him and carry Ori if he can't handle it."

Opal rushes into the tent and grabs as much as she can that's useful and shoves it into her bag. If there is anyone in the tent, she informs them of the situation and tells them to grab the antitoxin and run.

Opal finds three antitoxins, a potion of healing, a healer's kit with [roll0] uses left in it and a terrified pixie flitting around in a panic.

[WindStruck]

"Scout a safe path?! We're surrounded!! Let's just take Kor's flaming sphere and punch through towards those ettercaps!"

Astra curses seeing Orianna felled by the weird spider. She flies up and uses a tiny healing kit of her own, imbued with awesome magic and pixie dust or something.

[roll0] + Orianna's HD.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Orianna regions consciousness and recovers 13 hit points.

An ettercap steps out before the massed villagers, brandishing a black wand with a spidery design...

[Pyon]

Kyu looks back at her village, and then back at her friends. "We can't do anything else can we?..."*Kyu said with a voice of sadness. "Astra is right if we are going to make it out we'll need Kor's fire. I can try and scare anyone off who approaches us with magic."

[Majin]

Kor transforms back into his normal form and flies to Orianna's side. "Did you get bitten? Let's take care of that". Kor lightly touches Orianna, letting druidic magic to purge the poison.

"If we can't defeat them, we should at least see that as many villagers can escape as possible", Kor says. "The flaming sphere will burn for a while, and I can make one more, but then I can't cure poison. So... don't get bitten"

Cast Lesser Restoration on Orianna. And bring Flaming Sphere closer. I guess burning the village doesn't really matter anymore.

[tgva8889]

Orianna shakes her head as she slowly comes to. Turning to Astra, she gives a small smile. "Thank you, Astra. The creature caught me by surprise this time." She then lays down and closes her eyes, visibly breathing but tired from her recent exertions and yet another touch with death.

As the others discuss the situation, Orianna raises a hand. "I should be able to help a few who are poisoned, but as I am still recovering a bit myself, if they could be brought here or I could be brought there with some help that would probably be for the best."

[Ninja_Prawn]

Kor purges the poison from Ori once Astra has bandaged her up - Ferb too is grateful to get her weight of his shoulders. Kyu flutters nearby, watching ugly, brutish spiders swarm into her village: the remaining defenders have fallen. Dumpling the mule runs to join you, eyes wild with panic.

The lot of you get ready to break out of the encirclement, while Opal bull-rushes the one ettercap that is in the open...

[roll0]

...and overpowers it! The monster is knocked to the ground, the strange wand slipping from its grasp. In response, half a dozen giant spiders clanber down the wall of webs, hissing furiously and forming a half-circle around you all.

[WindStruck]

Astra swoops in and grabs the wand, then she quickly flies back to join the others.

"I got it! Uh... now what?? I hope this thing does something useful... like... command the spiders away or something..."

[tgva8889]

Orianna looks on at the situation, her face becoming a stone mask. She heaves herself up a bit, then notes that her flail and shield are missing. "I think this situation has gotten quite beyond bad." She tries to take a ready stance, taking one of her javelins in hand just in case, but it seems odd without her shield. "Retreat has got to be our best option, though there's not much I can do in that regard."

[Ninja_Prawn]

The ettercap stands up and screeches an order to its charges. They advance on both you and the people of Pinkleaf!

Roll initiative! This will be a 3-round skill challenge per the rules outlined in the OOC.

Initiative:
19 Korialstrasz
17 Orianna
9 Opal
5 Kyu
4 Astra

[Majin]

"Let's see how afraid these spiders are of fire", Kor says. Looks like he might have to burn Kyu's village down after all.

Kor moves the flaming sphere closer to the spider, hoping it might scare them. He also tries to spread the flames among spiders with a spell.

Move Flaming Sphere with bonus action. Then use Control Flames to spread the flames, if anything catches fire. Skill check for that: [roll0]

[tgva8889]

Orianna takes a position at the back of the fleeing group, then holds her holy symbol in her empty hand and prays loudly. "Hefeydd, give me the presence to protect these fey from this swarm!" She raises her hand and a light seems to glow outward from her wooden symbol to her god, pushing at the spiders as if to keep them at bay. She tries to use herself to block their path, hoping the others can gain some ground as a result of her action.

((Cast sanctuary and have Orianna act as a half-human shield to block the oncoming swarm. Spell attack: [roll0] 2/3 spell slots remaining.))

[Ninja_Prawn]

Kor's Flaming Sphere sends one spider leaping for cover and lights up a section of webbing, which seems to burn easily. Orianna's holy aura drives them back further, giving the villagers a chance to crowd in behind. You've made a good start!

Opal's move.

[Stan]

Opal works to widen the opening so villagers can start escaping. She charges the largest spider at the edge of the gap, going shield first and emitting a growl reminiscent of a rockslide. After the initial impact, she swings her hammer underhanded so that it catches the underside of the spider on the upswing, hopefully flipping it or pushing it back further.

Athletics: [roll0]

if we were in combat, Opal would use menacing attack, then use her bonus action shove to push it back. If it became frightened, it could not come any closer to her to reclose the gap.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Opal clears a dangerous-looking spider out of the way, her hammer-blow sending it flying through the air.

Kyu next, then Astra.

[Pyon]

"As good of a time as any to try this out." Kyu said, as she raised her hands up doing the motions for her spell. "Fly away and never bother us again!"


Kyu stats: 21 HP, 13 AC, 13 Spell Save, 11 Passive Perception,
Used spell slots: 1st: 4 2nd: 1, Sorcery Points: 4 Concentration:

Casting Petal Storm at the point the spiders are coming from. Hopefully it will slow them down with all of the winds. Hopefully also catch the petals on fire for fiery petal storm!
Wild Magic [roll0]

Spell attack: [roll1]

[WindStruck]

Remembering Kor's flaming sphere and how he pretty much burned down the death dogs' den, Astra also remembered how she tried to put out those fires with Prestidigitation. Well, the spell could do the opposite as well! And so, Astra willed the magic forth though expertise of the simple cantrip, and she tried to make the flames the Flaming Sphere was spreading grow!

[roll0]

[Ninja_Prawn]

Kyu's spell suppresses more of the spiders, clearing a wide path through the encirclement. Well, except for the webbing, which remains something of a choke point. The Flaming Sphere has burned a small opening, but Astra isn't able to open it any further.

Round 2

Status: :smalleek: =========|=== :smallsmile:

The flames die down and the party surges through the opening, civilians streaming behind you. The narrowness of the opening means you form a long, thin train, but your efforts in battling the invaders are sufficient to keep the people safe so far. They aren't out of the woods yet, however. The figurative woods, that is... after all, these are forest creatures who would be quite happy to stay in the literal woods... The invaders were many and the five of you are now in amongst their second rank. Bulbous ettercaps leer at you from every shadow, while giant spiders stationed in the trees ready their spinnerets...

Kor's turn.

[Majin]

Kor nervously flutters around the small opening, letting villagers pass through first. He could have tried to burn a bigger hole, but then the villagers would have to stop and wait. Kor instead decides to blast one of the closer spiders with a small torrent of wind. He hopes this might cause one of the spiders to stumble and hopefully create at least some confusion amongst them.

Use Gust to push back a spider. [roll0]

[Ninja_Prawn]

Kor knocks a spider out of a tree, sending it tumbling to the ground! This leaves a gap in their air defenses, so that a number of pixies are able to escape into the forest canopy.

Orianna is next.

[tgva8889]

As they continue forward, Orianna checks on the stragglers, helping any of them to their feet she can with a bit of divine help. Letting her healing gifts flow through her, she tries to subtly help those falling behind to catch up with the others by revitalizing their bodies.

((Using Lay on Hands to help people who are injured, flagging, potentially poisoned, etc. and to keep people moving. Spell attack! [roll0] Will spend however many points of Lay on Hands you deem appropriate for this action.))

[Ninja_Prawn]

Orianna uses [roll0] points of her Lay on Hands to support the flagging and the wounded. They pick themselves up and push forward with renewed vigour.

Over to Opal!

[Stan]

Once there is an opening for escape, Opal heads for the rear. She intends to be the last one out as she's probably the only one fully armored and in full health. She scans the village for anyone still alive but not moving towards the escape route. If she finds anyone she scoops them up. Then she hovers at the rear in to protect those exiting.

ooc: perception to find wounded stragglers. [roll0]

[Ninja_Prawn]

Opal spots a pair of stragglers who have gotten turned around in the maze of webbing the spiders have been laying down - but not quick enough to help them. An ettercap pounces mercilessly, grabbing both and dragging them off...

By and large though, most people seem to be well on their way to freedom.

Go, Kyu!

[Pyon]

She stay above the villagers, putting herself between the villagers and the spiders. Kyu looks up at the spiders above on the trees and takes aim for one; she gathers flames in her hands and shoots them out as a bolt hoping to bring the spider reeling down in pain.


Kyu stats: 21 HP, 13 AC, 13 Spell Save, 11 Passive Perception,
Used spell slots: 1st: 4 2nd: 1, Sorcery Points: 2 Concentration: Petal Storm

Action: Firebolt! [roll0]

Bonus action: Turning 2 sorcery points into a first level spell slot!

[Ninja_Prawn]

Kyu hits her target, eliminating a spider just before it can web her.

Astra is up.

[WindStruck]

Seeing two villagers getting pounded up by an ettercap right in front of her made Astra's blood boil. "Take this, you nasty monsters!" she yelled, brandishing the pilfered wand at the next nearest ettercap like it were a pixie-sized staff.

arcana! [roll0]

[Ninja_Prawn]

Perhaps tapping into a subconscious understanding of the Weave, Astra successfully intuits the wand's activation sequence... and sends a tangled mass of webbing at the ettercap. It and several of its comrades are covered in the sticky ropes and are distracted for long enough that the entire party slips past unmolested!

Round 3

Status: :smalleek: ============| :smallsmile:

The ettercaps quickly recover from their entanglement - it looks like they are able to move freely in the stuff just like spiders can - and give chase moments later. The warm afternoon sun, only partly obscured by the forest canopy, shines golden on the path ahead... but there is still a deal of running, flying and scurrying to do before you can be certain that you are safe!

Kor's turn.

[Majin]

"Oh!" Kor exclaims as Astra manages to activate the wand. "Well, I guess that's what you'd have expected. With them sort of being spiders and all".

They had made a nice headway, but it wouldn't hurt to put some more distance between them. Kor casts a spell on one of the ettercaps, if not to kill it, at least distract it.

Cast Frostbite on one of the Ettercaps. [roll0]

[Ninja_Prawn]

One ettercap is slowed enough that it drops out of the chase. You can feel your freedom getting closer!

Ori takes over...

[WindStruck]

While everyone is being chased, Astra can't help but bring up as they scurry through the woods, "Uh, guys, does anyone have any idea where we are actually going??"

[tgva8889]

Orianna's response to Astra is firm and short: "Away from them." Noting her things in the nearby cart, she hefts the javelin she has been carrying and takes pause for a moment to aim at an oncoming ettercap, hoping to slow it down with a well-placed strike. She then grasps her flail and shield out of the cart, giving Dumpling a small pat as they run.

((Athletics to throw the javelin at the ettercaps as they approach, hoping to slow them down either with a hit or at least a forced dodge. Strength (Athletics) [roll0]))

[Ninja_Prawn]

The javelin is a miss. You can't be sure, but it feels like they might just be gaining on you...

Opal time!

[Stan]

As Opal is moving along, she looks around for things to slow pursuit. She pulls down a dead tree covered with semi-poisonous vines so it falls on the path behind them. Then she spots some mint and growing among some lavender and grabs bunches of both to strew behind her, hoping the ripping and throwing will spread the scents noxious to spiders.

ooc: survival [roll0]

[Ninja_Prawn]

Opal turns her survivalist skills into a weapon, creating environmental hazards and leaving them in the group's wake. Your pursuers balk at the strong scent and you build up a substantial lead.

The creatures are still chasing you, but they are so far back that you only glimpse them occasionally and even the beating of their clawed feet on the ground is getting attenuated.

It's Kyu and Astra to bring us home!

[WindStruck]

"I have an idea to misdirect them!" Astra says. Eventually the group comes upon the precise thing Astra was looking for. A large boulder and a slope. "Go that way!" she said, indicating a direction that didn't follow the decline. Then Astra cast Levitate on the boulder and brought it as high as she could, while following the others. But she kept moving and soon she was too far away to maintain the spell. All as planned.

The boulder fell, and now here was the plan: the boulder would make a lot of ruckus and continue to do so as it crashed one way down the slope. But the faeries would be running a completely different direction. That ought to be enough to misdirect and confuse the spiders and lose them for good!

epic plan, or too many loose ends??

[roll0]

[Pyon]

Kyu looks for any villagers who might be looking tired or beat up. She will look for the most tired looking one and cast a quick spell on them.


Kyu stats: 21 HP, 13 AC, 13 Spell Save, 11 Passive Perception,
Used spell slots: 1st: 4 2nd: 2, Sorcery Points: 0 Concentration: Enhance Ability: Constitution

Bonus Action: Turning my last two sorcery points into another first level spell slot.
Action: Casting Enhance Ability: Constitution on a tired villager.
Wild Magic: [roll0]

Enhance Ability-ness: [roll1]

[Ninja_Prawn]

The stress of the situation is too much for Kyu, who loses control of her magic and begins to glow brighter than the noonday sun. Fortunately, Astra thinks on her feet (or wings, I guess) and incorporates this development into her plan...

Just as you predicted, the monsters follow the beacon-like sorceress, who lures them right into the path of the falling boulder! Spider-faced villains are scattered everywhere - it looks like they will not be chasing anyone for quite some time now. You each gain 500 XP for escaping the spiders and keeping most of the villagers safe!

Deep in the forest now, everyone pauses to catch their breath. Kyu's parents, looking frantic, cry with joy when they find her, and the poor dryad who Astra had saved also comes out of the woodwork to thank you. The few surviving sprites line up before Opal and give a formal bow while Ferb slaps Orianna's back heartily. No one congratulates Kor, but that means he has more time to look around. Kor, please make a Wisdom (Perception) check.

[Pyon]

Kyu waits to stop glowing, being more than annoyed that her spell backfired on such an important moment again. Clearly her enhance ability spell was cursed to never work properly. When the glowing stopped she went to hug her parents. "Are you alright? Did everyone make it back okay? How many of us are here?"

[Ninja_Prawn]

They look around to make sure. "Yes, we're a little winded but I think we're all okay." Then there's a pause. "Wait, where's auntie Miyu?" Casting around frantically, no one is able to find Kyu's crazy aunt. "Oh, Kyu, this is terrible! You two were always so close!"

Kor, meanwhile, finds a shiny! It's a smooth, green orb made of polished stone. It looks somehow special...

[Majin]

Kor is happy they seem to be safe, but he is not certain the danger is over. Some smaller spiders could be tracking them. So he decides to keep lookout. But then a nice green bauble grabs his attention.

Kor nonchalantly flies to the green orb and swipes it. Then he flies to a remote tree branch, and starts inspecting it. He turns it around, sniffs it and tastes it, trying to produce an effect, as to Kor it seemed like the orb was somehow special (he found it near a fae village after all).

[Pyon]

Kyu brought both her hands over her mouth in shock. She held back tears but the corners of her eyes were giving away that she wanted to cry. Sniffles were the only sound she made for a bit until she regained her composure. "Maybe she made it out... We don't know." Kyu said, forcing herself to smile. "Yeah she was always creative. She made it out I'm sure! And..." With her arm she wiped her eyes. "And my friends and I are going to save everyone! We're going to get help, we're going to get really strong and then no more villages will have to be destroyed."

[Ninja_Prawn]

"That's our girl!" Kyu's parents say, hugging her. "We're all rooting for you."

The orb doesn't do anything when Kor licks it, but he does notice some small claw marks on it. The marks are the same size as his own hands...

[Majin]

Kor notices Kyu talking with some older pixies, who sort of resemble her. Probably her parents. Good thing they'd made it out okay. He then turns to the orb and frowns (as well as you can without eyebrows). The bauble looked like it might have been handled by Kor himself, but that didn't seem very likely. Was there another faerie dragon nearby? Kor had better hide the orb. The previous owner might be looking for it after all. It didn't seem magical, but it couldn't hurt to have Astra check it out later.

Kor flies to Ferb. "Say, was there another dragon living near the village? A dragon like me, I mean".

[tgva8889]

Orianna accepts Ferb's congratulations with some cheer, though for the most part she seems interested in taking a rest. She makes a quick walk around the area to make sure things are safe, then takes a seat somewhere and simply tries to catch her breath.

[WindStruck]

"Wow that was..." Astra takes a breath and lands on a branch to rest. "Intense! I'm so sorry about your village, Kyu!"

Now looking at all these refugees... some former residents of Pinkleaf, others now fleeing refugees who were already refugees... it dawned on Astra that this was going to be a lot of work just helping all these people survive. Not to mention finding them a home that would actually be safe and fighting against the forces that commanded such evil.

For the time being, as the grim realization set upon Astra, she got to work checking all of the others to help make sure everyone was ok. Even a small cut left unattended could make a nasty infection!

[Ninja_Prawn]

Kor flies to Ferb. "Say, was there another dragon living near the village? A dragon like me, I mean".

Ferb nods. "Yeah, there was. Fish, he called himself. He died fightin'... not far from here, actually."

Astra finds a lot of people with minor injuries. It looks like she's going to be busy for a while...

[Stan]

There isn't much Opal can do to help with the healing. She checks for any signs of spiders and then goes to talk to Ferb and Orianna.

"Ferb, you mentioned a safe haven you were planning to move the villagers to? As we already lost the opportunity to pack and leave in an orderly way, I think we should go ahead and go there now. I know everyone is tired and scared but we should get them moving as soon as everyone has had a short rest. The spiders could find us any time, we might have only a couple of hours respite."

[Majin]

"Oh... I'm sorry. I just found this", Kor says and holds up the orb. "I just figured this would have belonged to one".

[Ninja_Prawn]

"Oh, yeah, that's his. He took it everywhere with 'im. I never asked why..." To Opal: "I was thinkin' to take 'em to Coppertree's fort. The spiders don't know where it is, so it should be safe."

Today is Greengrass, 1492. It is 3:20pm.
You are in the woods, not far from Pinkleaf.

The ragged band of refugees takes a little time to rest. Kyu, Kor, Opal and Ori gain the benefits of a short rest. Astra, please make 4no Wisdom (Medicine) checks. A thin drizzle makes it through the canopy, making everything slightly wet, but at least you don't see any more spiders.

As Ferb and the village elders start to gather everyone together, Kyu's parents flutter over. "Are you going to the faeries, then? Oh, I hope they decide to help us..." Kyu's mother gives her a new raincoat. It's a dark olive green and not very stylish, but she wraps it around you anyway, saying "it's not summer yet, dear. Don't you go catching a cold now."

[Pyon]

Kyu loves over the color and frowns. "I don't like the color..." But either way she closes it up and snugs herself up in it. She looks at the ground for a few moments trying to find the words for what she wanted to say. "Please be careful." She looks back up at her parents. "No one is allowed to be eaten by spiders until I come back. You have to promise!"

[Stan]

"Ferb, how far away is the fort and in what direction? Maybe we should escort you but I'm not sure."

[Ninja_Prawn]

Astra tries to heal people of the cuts and scrapes they picked up in their flight, but there are so many! You have hardly scratched the surface by the time the others gather together, itching to be moving on.


"No one is allowed to be eaten by spiders until I come back. You have to promise!"

"We'll do our best," they say. "Good luck!"


"Ferb, how far away is the fort and in what direction? Maybe we should escort you but I'm not sure."

"If this is where Fish died, I think I can get them there alright. It's... that direction. Maybe a couple of hours' walk."

[Majin]

Sounded like the orb had been special, though Kor didn't know if it only meant something for that Fish fellow. Since Ferb didn't seem offended about Kor keeping it, he decides to drop the subject. It was fancy shiny after all.

"I think we should go with them? It's just a couple of hours, so it's not that big of a detour. I wouldn't want to stop to rest yet anyway, and we'll be safer in a bigger group", Kor says to Opal and Ferb.

[tgva8889]

Orianna stands to join Opal, Kor, and Ferb. "I think providing some additional security is a sound plan. At the very least knowing more precisely where these fae are staying might help us in discussion with the court. Although that attack certainly makes me feel a greater urgency to get to our destination." She looks around the group, then adds, "Either way, this doesn't seem like an ideal place for us to set up our final camp."

[WindStruck]

Astra was getting pretty tired from today's travels, and then when she expected to have a nice time in Kyu's village, they were attacked by spiders! And then they had to flee! And then there were so many people that got hurt and killed! And now they wanted to keep traveling!

She was starting to feel pretty weary, curling up in some ridiculously-sized blankets for her in the cart with dumpling. But they were getting a little damp.

"Mm.. it probably is best if we go with them. But I really need a nap..." Maybe just a small nap to rest a tiny bit. Everyone should be fine and not die of gangrene within the next 30 minutes...

[Stan]

Opal agrees. "We'll get going as soon everyone has regained their energy."

[Ninja_Prawn]

Today is Greengrass, 1492. It is 5:30pm.
You are at Fort Coppertree.

Everyone is nervous and jumpy. For hours, you pick through dense forest, wondering whether the next half-glimpsed shadow or sudden rustle will be hostile... but nothing happens. Kor gains one level of exhaustion and Orianna gains two. It is almost anticlimactic when you arrive at a sort of wall. Seeming almost a natural arrangement of trees and shrubbery, it has an undeniable defensive quality.

Ferb shows you a hidden entrance and leads you in. The fort looks natural on the inside, too, a maze of thorny plants dotted with tiny holes that look like rabbit wardens. It is almost a surprise when a pair of faeries pop out of one of the holes to greet you. "Ferb. Welcome back. Did you bring the people from Pinkleaf? Good, good. I'll let them in," begins an older, beaded man that Kor instantly pegs as a druid. A bronze-clad woman, younger but no less haggard, gives a start when she sees you (it takes a few seconds), reaching for her tiny sword. "Ah, my apologies," she bows, "I didn't see you there. Allow me to introduce myself: I am Madame Olwen Oakenbrook, and that was Sean Coppertree. We... we are all that's left."

Her haunted eyes are difficult for you to meet, so it is a relief when Sean returns. "As much as I'm happy to see so many people safe, you've left quite a trail." Ferb apologises: apparently he was too tired to remember to cover the group's tracks. "Don't worry. I can patch things up. You, newcomers, can you help? Have you any skill with illusions?"

[WindStruck]

"Illusions? Uh.. uh... like this?" She tries doing a little trick with Prestidigitation.

She sighs. "I'm afraid I've got nothing to help cover the tracks we all made... you're all that's left? Just.. you two? Here?"

[Ninja_Prawn]

"Oh, um, well..." he glances at Olwen. "There are lots of other refugees, now, but... when we started, there were eight of us, trying to defend the forest. We were part of Soren's court back in the day, you see, but we left - or were exiled. Ferb, Olwen and I are all that's left, and it's all we can do to provide this sanctuary. What brings you here, anyway? You look like you've still got some fight left in you..."

[tgva8889]

Orianna, as exhausted as she is, waves Sean off. "Do you have anywhere I can rest?"

[WindStruck]

"Well... we come all the way from Queen Lydia's court. King Soren and Queen Rena had requested aid, and well, she sent us...." The tone of Astra's voice would probably lead them to believe she could have probably afforded to send quicker, better aid by other means... or at least, a bit of lack of confidence.

In any case she continued by asking, "So you were exiled?? Why?"

[Ninja_Prawn]

Orianna, as exhausted as she is, waves Sean off. "Do you have anywhere I can rest?"

Sean flies over to a patch of shrubbery, using his magic to make it bend and twist into a comfortable bed. "You can rest here for now."


"Well... we come all the way from Queen Lydia's court. King Soren and Queen Rena had requested aid, and well, she sent us...." The tone of Astra's voice would probably lead them to believe she could have probably afforded to send quicker, better aid by other means... or at least, a bit of lack of confidence.

In any case she continued by asking, "So you were exiled?? Why?"

Sensing your concern, he says in a kind tone "perhaps you have more to offer than you realise. In truth, it is a surprise to me that Soren and Reena even sent for aid. Maybe there is hope for them yet... as for myself, well, I wouldn't know where to start. My story is long, and I have heard that I tend to ramble."

[WindStruck]

"Well we've all had a long day and not much else but to listen. Well, maybe Ori is going to pass out from exhaustion from the looks of it, but I had a nap on the way here. Did it have anything to do with their feud?"

[Stan]

Opal gives a bit of encouragement. "Well, we're not going anywhere else tonight. Perhaps after we've settled in so we can give it full attention. Our goal is to invoke the intervention of King Soren and Queen Rena in a large cooperative effort. The more we know, the more likely we will succeed."

[Ninja_Prawn]

"Alright, alright, make yourselves comfortable. Oh, wait, the tracks!" He rushes off to cover the tracks left by the people of Pinkleaf.

"He... could be gone a while," mumbles Olwen. "I'll tell you what I know, instead. If you think it'll do any good. So, Sean, myself... the others... we were part of Soren's court. Lived in his enclave. I was a sworn knight... maybe I still am." She goes on to explain how Soren's court (known to its inhabitants as the 'Palace of Jewels') used to be a nice place to live, where you could always count on the other faeries to have your best interests at heart. The loss of that trust seems to be the overarching theme of Olwen's story. She is uncertain about when or why things changed; it seems to have been gradual. "It was worse for Sean, what with him being so close to Soren. The King used to listen to him all the time, but lately a new favourite has had his ear." Apparently, it was the spider invasion that finally forced Sean and his allies to leave - they believed that something had to be done to protect the forest, whether or not the court would support them.

All in all, Olwen takes about twenty minutes to tell you this. It is clearly a struggle for her to sustain the effort of talking for that length of time. Sean has not returned yet.

[Majin]

Before Olwen starts his explanation, Kor asks Astra to check the Orb he found for magic, just in case.

Kor listens to Olwen's story, though his head nods slightly. At the end of the story, he sniffles indignantly and says: "Hmh. Well it sounds like Soren's kind of a jerk. You can't abandon your old friends just like that. I wonder what could be more important than this..." Kor wonders how they could get through to Soren. Maybe Kor should steal a shiny from him, to teach him a lesson. Although that might not be very diplomatic...

[Stan]

Opal was tempted to go help Sean to be useful but realized that she is not subtle nor airborne and would just make new tracks as they went.

After listening Opal pats Olwen gently on the shoulder. "Thank you for your vital help and information. Now, you need to rest. I'll patrol the edge of the fort until Sean gets back. I'm sure there are some pixies not too exhausted who can help."

Opal tries to find a few Pinkleaf residents who are not injured or exhausted and asks them to help out by finding a good hiding spot on the walls and watching. She knows that the little ones in her group had already been travelling all day before the attack and were in no shape to be asked to do more.

[tgva8889]

Ori is quickly asleep, exhausted from the exertions of the day. Though she tries to stay awake to listen to the story, she's already laid down by the time it starts and she falls too quickly asleep before she can put what she heard to memory.

[Pyon]

Kyu follows after Opal. "I'll help! If you are asking everyone else for help I need to help as well. I can still fly for days, don't underestimate my infinite energy!"

[Majin]

"I'll come with you, at least until Sean comes back. I'm sort of worried, he had to go alone to cover our tracks. There are lot of scary things out there tonight" Kor says Opal and Kyu and follows them.

[Ninja_Prawn]

It's actually quite difficult for Opal to 'patrol' the fort, as it doesn't really have walkways or battlements and the tunnels aren't big enough for her to fit through. Working with Kyu and Kor, though, you manage to at least feel like you're helping, as well as meet some of the other folk that have taken shelter here. Pixies for the most part, you find small groups of them huddled in every other nook and cranny.

After a fair length of time, Sean returns. He looks drained, as if he has been casting a lot of magic spells. "So then, what's the news? I haven't had word from the outside world in days."

[Stan]

Opal surmised that she wouldn't be much help in this structure but her willingness to pitch in has apparently inspired others to help out, so it worked out in the end.

She's relieved that Sean is back. She tries to answer his questions.

"Well, we've been travelling so have a narrow view. But the trouble that you've been experiencing extend at least as far east as Featherdale. Drow have been controlling animals to attack. We had a nasty encounter is a huge octopus on the river. Obviously you're aware of ettercaps and the spiders. We ran into one of their leaders riding a scary fire horse thing. She mistook us for one of their group so told us that they had brought up displacer beasts and other creatures for this attack. Though I'm not sure if their goal is conquest, slaves, or a specific person or thing. On the way through, we mad contact with the Abbey of the Just Hammer. They didn't trust us but Kor has been sending back info to them and they might join forces in an a counter attack if they feel it's also in their interest. As we passed the Wolfjaw Towers, thre seemd to be an organized drow presence as it was a base of operations. They had built a bigger bridge across the river. Ugh, we should have tried to destroy the bridge, but we;ve been moving, just us and they felt like an army. Some problems have been going on long enough that Queen Rena and King Soren have felt the other to blame and this tension was noticed by Queen Lydia far to the south over a month ago."

Opal pauses for breath, then adds, "Um, that's all I can remember at the end of a long day. But feel free to ask questions and I'll try to answer. I'm still in shock and feeling awful We travelled so far, promising to help Kyu save his village, only to witness it being overrun the day we get there. Maybe if we'd hurried just a bit more, we could have gotten here a couple of days earlier and made a difference."

[WindStruck]

"That about sums it up... are you guys going to be safe holding out here, as long as you aren't discovered? And is there anything else I can do to help? I'm a bit tired, but if anyone else needs some wounds taken care of, I'm ... at least somewhat skilled with that. And I know some magic too, but..."

Astra's eyes water up. "I don't think it can help you. We arrived in Pinkleaf, and we were hoping to have such a nice time. It would have been perfect. I've never believed in using magic to cause harm to another but... but all these monsters... it seems there are so many horrible people and monsters that will stop at nothing to do unspeakable things... is there no other way?"

[Ninja_Prawn]

"Ah young one, do not cry," says Sean, embracing Astra. "This Realm has ever been filled with monsters, but as long as good people stick together and do their best to help one another, some happiness will survive. This place will be a safe sanctuary for hope until peace returns to the forest."

"I only pray you can convince the King that these invaders are not another of Reena's schemes..." For All his positive words, he looks worried.

[Majin]

"Another? What sort of schemes has she concocted previously then?" Kor asks.

[Ninja_Prawn]

"Oh all sorts. Like one time, she sent spies to turn all of the water in our wells into troll blood. Heh, we got her back though. Replaced her collection of salamander orchids with actual salamanders!" He gives the impression that that was a net win.

[WindStruck]

Astra looks to Sean. "I... I guess I will try..." (more) Astra would keep trying, she thought to herself.

Hearing these pranks, she looked quite confused. "What..? Why would they..." She brought her tiny hand up to her forehead and shook her head. "I don't know if that's some kind of playful pranking or what, like they actually like each other... but they're nearly at war now! And this situation we have is serious!"

[Ninja_Prawn]

"Yes, very serious. It's difficult to imagine how to get the two courts to set aside their differences and work together, though. They've seen each other as enemies for so long... I am sure you'll have to speak to the King and Queen themselves to have any chance of success."

[Stan]

"Well then, I guess our best plan is still leave for King Soren's court in the morning."

[Ninja_Prawn]

Today is the 1st of Mirtul, 1492. It is 4:00pm.
You are... somewhere in the forest. You all gain the benefits of a long rest.

Well. You're here. According to the map, this is where you should find Soren's Court, the 'Palace of Jewels'. It took you long enough to make the final journey, nearly 7 hours not counting breaks, but for all that, it seems very anticlimactic. In fact, you can't even see where the entrance is. You search around, until a stern-faced faerie appears before you. He sets his fierce gaze onto each of you in turn, then announces in a shrill screech: "if you've come for jewels and gems, I shalln't tell you where to find them."

[Stan]

For some reason, this last bit of distrust is a sort of last straw for Opal and she just can't keep taking these courtly people entirely seriously.

Opal raises one eye brow as she returns the faerie's gaze. Then she makes a show of looking around.

"Hmm, if you're sure there's no way we can get it out of you, I guess we shall have to go on looking for ourselves then won't we? Alas, we cannot keep looking for long as if we failed to present ourselves to the noble and grand King Soren at a solicitous hour, Queen Lydia would be very cross indeed."

[tgva8889]

Orianna, who is still quite tired at this point, just shakes her head when the fey speaks in cryptic language. She turns to the others with a shrug says "I have no idea what this means."

[Ninja_Prawn]

He drops the silly voice to reply: "indeed. Though I suspect you will not find much on your own. Tell me, for what reason did this Queen of the South send you here?"

[WindStruck]

"You know what? We don't even know anymore. She just said King Soren and Queen Rena needed help - and quickly. I guess it's about the drow and ettercaps we've already met. Though I suppose a better bunch of people could have been chosen and gotten here much faster."

[Ninja_Prawn]

"Ah, well that makes more sense. Why in the world would she send someone competent to help us? Come on in, then."

He snaps his fingers and a glittering portal opens, through which you can see a bright and vibrant glade, with clusters of baroque and bizarre buildings interspersed among artfully shaped trees and sparkling waterfalls. "We shall go straight to the King. He will want to know you have arrived."

[Majin]

"Well maybe she wouldn't have to send anyone if you took care of your own problems..." Kor mumbles. They'd come a long way, and were greeted like this? Would every court fey be this haughty? He follows the strange fey through the portal.

"Who are you anyway?"

[Pyon]

"Wait wait! I need to make sure I'm looking my best before we go in." Kyu straightens out her clothing and from her pack produces her mini-sunglasses which she puts on her hair to hold it back. "You guys as well! What if the King doesn't like us because we aren't fashionable like the court folk."

[WindStruck]

Astra looked at Kyu, still in the same dress she set off on her journey in. Though it had been cleaned and mended many times, it had once again begun to look a little ratty from today's travels. And thinking to her other set of clothes, the traveling outfit which she wore when the weather was usually bad and tended to get even dirtier...

Astra shrugged. "I don't know, Kyu... maybe we can hope he's a nice guy and will be thankful we helped protect his subjects? But I mean we definitely aren't nobility..." She sighed and struggled to remember all the talk of what to expect and how to behave... but in the end, all she could do was hope for the best.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Chapter 2: In the Court of the Faerie King
You all gain 1,000 XP for arriving at Soren's court!!

"You may call me Goldfeather." The faerie makes no comment on your... attire. Somehow, his silence seems quite pointed. The faerie who may or may not be named Goldfeather leads you up towards a cluster of ivory-coloured spires that fits your mental image of the word 'palace' almost perfectly. Its faerie-sized windows reflect the strange brightness that suffuses this place in a dizzying array of reds, blues and greens, as if the building was studded with gemstones.

Well-heeled fey flutter around, but mostly away from the palace and giving the general impression of busyness and industry - in stark contrast to Lydia's court, whose inhabitants all seemed to practise a studied laziness during the brief time you were there. One thing that jumps out at you is how ridiculously embellished their clothes are, with every one of them wearing multi-layered skirts, dresses and cloaks, all completely covered with intricate embroidery. Indeed, the next time you look back to your new companion, he is also bedecked with ridiculous finery that was not there a moment ago. He says only the word: "illusion" when you notice.

"Now remember," he pauses as you approach the doorway, "make eye contact with His Highness when you introduce yourselves. Do not turn your back on Him at any time. And please, be very careful with the... R-word... in His presence. This is Cloverfield, the King's secretary." A sharp-nosed young woman makes a slight bow to Orianna and falls in beside you.

"Are you ready?" She asks.

[Stan]

Opal quickly takes off her helm and tries to smooth her hair down. Her hands can tell that she has serious helmet hair so she re-dons her helm. She brushes off what dust and leaves that she can. Then she nods to Cloverfield.

[Majin]

"Well, I'm a dragon, so I'm always at my best", Kor says and grins smugly. No need to do something as silly as changing clothes for him. His scales were shiny, and that would be enough.

Kor casts a spell to speak with beasts, and chatters calmingly to Dumpling as they enter the courtroom.

[WindStruck]

"Uhh... uh..." Astra stammered. She checked herself one last time, trying to straighten her hair a bit, and then she cast Prestidigitation on her dress to clean it up. My, she wasn't even wearing shoes! But then again, she almost never did except in winter when it was too cold out.

Then she laughed, a sprightly giggle. "Well, I don't think we'll ever be ready, to be honest! But you know what? I don't think I care if we look like rabble. We didn't come as courtiers. We came as those that would help His Majesty! And I will gladly do it any way I can!"

Yes, it was now or never. Astra could probably spend months in etiquette lessons and dolling herself up. Even then, she wouldn't be sure if she'd be ready to meet the king. But people needed their help now!

[Ninja_Prawn]

"Well then, let's join the party!" Says Cloverfield, striding towards the door. Goldfeather casts a spell, and the heavy-looking doors burst inwards, suddenly exposing you to the sound of music and merrymaking.

The room before you is a sizeable hall, finely decorated and covered with all manner of banners and tapestries. Hundreds of faeries are inside, dancing in what appears to be a complex, three-dimensional contredanse - though it's impossible to see what anyone's doing thanks to the preposterous quantities of fabric everyone is wearing. At the head of the room is a weary-faced old man dressed entirely in cloth-of-gold robes, which appear to be... covered with goldwork? It's hard to tell at this distance. In any case, it is obvious that this man is the King.

He sits bolt upright when you enter, then shouts: "STOP THE DANCE!!" Everyone freezes. King Soren flies over to you. There is an uncomfortable pause. "Thank the stars you're here. Now we can finally put a stop to this nonsense." He speaks quietly enough that the nearby faeries know to pretend that they can't hear, then unceremoniously hugs each of you in turn. It's a little bit like being attacked by a duvet made of golden sandpaper, but thankfully it doesn't last long.

"I swear, that woman is not going to know what hit her..."

[WindStruck]

Astra is a bit taken back, being bearhugged by a guy in extremely uncomfortable, abrasive material. But at least his welcome was warm and enthusiastic, regardless.

Astra was trying her best to maintain eye contact. Or.. was that only supposed to be when she was speaking to introduce herself? Ugh. Better play it safe. "Uh, it is nice to see you too, Your Majesty! What woman are you talking about? The drow sorceress that leads the raids upon your lands?"

[Ninja_Prawn]

The King responds after a brief pause. "Oh, yes, the... 'drow sorceress'. That is who I mean." You can hear the sarcasm thick in his voice. Suddenly, he claps his hands together. "Well then! We should introduce you all to the court." He turns and goes back to his throne while the faerie lords and ladies form up in ranks, leaving you a clear pathway up towards the throne. There is some jostling.

[Pyon]

Kyu is taken a back from the hug to the strange clothing and mannerisms of the King. Kyu is the first to approach feeling weird going through the pathway of nobles. She does her best to do a courtesy when she arrives near the throne. "Your Highness and uhm... Monsieur's and Madame's. You may call me Kyu Pinkglass. I am a traveler, a glassblower and a wish granter here to help in any way I can."*

[Stan]

Opal is a bit overwhelmed by the noise and flash. But she tries to keep her head and remember what Hefeydd said. She returns the hug, technically, extending her arms slightly and applying no pressure so as not to seem overly informal and so as not to squish the little guy. Once it's apparently her turn, Opal bows deeply, though keeping her head raised to maintain eye contact.

"It's a true pleasure to meet you and your throne.
I'm from a distant domain, you may call me Miss Stone."


Opal had been working on it while walking for a while but poetic expression just wasn't her thing.

[WindStruck]

Astra flew forward next. "Greetings, King Soren and his esteemed court! My name is, uh," Oh crap, what about pseudonyms...? Astra hadn't really given much though to it as they journeyed thus far, since talking briefly with Hefeydd. Well whataver. "You may call me Ruby Diamondheart!" she said, thinking of Opal who just went.

"Or, uh.. I guess.. just Astra is fine..." she said blushing. This was so stupid! "I'm a wizard... healer... at your service..." she ended, mumbling and so uncomfortable, looking at the king and everyone.

[Majin]

Kor isn't so enthusiastic about the hug, but he endures it as gracefully as possible. It was a weird gesture, better fitting for humanoids.

Kor flies forward and prepares to introduce himself to the court. All the unexpected excitement of the past day had made him forget about the whole court thing. Also, the king was way more familiar than he'd expected. Well, being himself would have to be enough. "Hello... I mean greetings! I am Korialstrasz, druid from the forest of Wealdath" Kor says. "Umm, nice to meet you all?" Was that proper introduction? Would have to do. Besides, the king seemed relaxed.

[tgva8889]

Orianna, who is still rather tired, spends a rather large amount of her mental energy taking everything in, such that she's mostly caught by surprise when they enter the dance, and then again when King Soren hugs them each. Introducing herself last proves to be her only saving grace, and she says, "You may call me Ori" as she is introduced.

Her tiredness is not quite enough to miss the sarcasm in the King's voice, and she makes a note of it as she is pulled around the room by the etiquette, making sure to meet eyes which each fey she introduces herself to. Frankly the entire thing spins her head around, and she makes a sort of pleading gesture to someone else to maybe try and get them out of this situation so she can at least sit down somewhere and put her thoughts in some form of order.

[Ninja_Prawn]

The King clears his throat...

"I extend my welcome out to you
Ye ragtag and a-motley crew
Who do so well my ears surprise
With such creative alibis
I wonder though, what gifts you bring
To buy the favour of this King?"

His eyes glitter.

[Stan]

Opal looks around at the others. Duh! A gift. Maybe the others can whip something up. Opal is also tired but does her best to avoid getting them immediately exiled. She tries to summon up some rhymes and deliver them with her rockslide grace.

"Ori has letters for your highness from Lydia the Queen.
Secrets from Royal to Royal, if you know what I mean."

Opal quickly fishes something from her bag. She quickly gets on her knees and extends both hands together, palm up. In her hands is a shiny white stone, worn smooth as you might find in a stream bed. It's a fine specimen of such stones, but it's still just a rock.

"True, we are but simple Fey on the Road.
We could never hope to match the glitter of your Gold.
I have a simple treasure to present in my Hand.
It holds the magic of my distant Land.
It's as purely white as the the grace of your Highness.
Without imperfection, it shines lightly with an inner Shyness.
It carries the strength of the peak, the swiftness of the Stream.
With it, you can say in truth that your jewels outshine the Stone of Gleam."

Opal then waits awkward on her knees until someone reacts or takes the stone.

[Pyon]

Kyu thought hard what she could possibly gift the king. They hadn't even thought of that had they? She scratched her head, and her hand touched the glasses she had made for herself. With a sigh she poked her chin as she thought of a rhyme.

"I said that I could work with glass,
They are fashionable and practical for blocking the sun.
If the court enjoys them I could make them in mass
But right now they are the only pair that is certain!"

She reluctantly took the glasses from her head and presented them to the king.

"A pair of sun blocking glasses made by Kyu
And now gifted to you."

[WindStruck]

Astra waits a bit for the king's response to Opal and Kyu. She flies backward trying to find Orianna without turning her back to the king, and she whispers in her ear, "What about that stuff from Count Chen?"

[Ninja_Prawn]

"My, my, what heartfelt gifts
Opinions sure to shift
A rock from nymph of stone
That was her very own
And stylish pixie-craft
Made by Kyu's hard graft
Whatever shall I do
To make it up to you?"

You notice that he reaches for the letters first, though.

Count Chen's chests are in the mule cart.

[WindStruck]

Astra begins a sort of poem, indicating for Ori to get that box Count Chen said, and she also vaguely references Kor.

"A fitting gift for a great king,
Would come no less from a dragon's horde.
Alas all that we could bring,
Is a generous gift from a noble lord.

From lands to the south,
On ships we sailed,
Up a river's mouth,
A treacherous tale.

But now we're here,
To cheer or jeer,
We volunteer this souvenir."

Astra finishes with a bow.

[tgva8889]

Rather than speaking, as she's a bit too tired to even come up with proper paired couplets, Orianna instead collects the various gifts as they're mentioned and she figures out exactly to what everyone is referring. She hefts the chest from Count Chen carefully from the cart and presents the letters for King Soren to take at his own leisure.

[Stan]

Opal stands and takes a chest from Orianna, waiting for instructions from the king or somebody on what to do with it.

[Ninja_Prawn]

"Ah, excellent," says King Soren. "I do enjoy getting things from humanoids. Let's take a look, shall we?"

Goldfeather steps forward and opens the chest with a magic spell. Inside is a smaller box, carved and painted in a nautical design. The King picks it up and opens it, causing the box to unfold itself into what would be a small canoe by humanoid standards, but could probably fit a decent crew of faeries. The King beams and declares: "take it to the Vault!"

"Well, I do believe you five have earned yourself some credit. Have you lodgings in my sanctuary, yet?

Suddenly, a noblewoman demands:
"Your Highness, please excuse
This interruption rude
And let me share my views
For to improve the mood

My doors I would open
To these good strangers five
Until the time is when
They wish to leave our hive"

Almost before she has finished, Cloverfield is insisting:
"Listen not to her
All sources do concur
Her style went out last year
It's true, not just a slur

Instead I'd house them here
Your Grace would have their ears
And then you need not fear
What secrets they might hear"

"Nonsense!" Storms a new voice, without any hint of tune. "These are clearly artisans and traders. Look: healer, holy man, glassblower... wish-granters all. Clearly they fall under our domain; housing them is council business."

Pondering for a moment, the King's face takes on a cat-like cast. "It seems you have a choice, my dear ambassadors."

[WindStruck]

Astra tries to speak in pros again...

"Ah, the king's secretary!
Offers room when we are weary.

A great offer I wouldn't mind,
But who are these folks who are also kind?"

Feeling rather restricted by these protocol, Astra really has to fly backward and still nearly turn her back to the king to address the one who interrupted.

"Who might you be, madam?
An introduction would be ... grand?"

Oh boy. And then trying to find the voice of the last person, she said,

"And you sir, you have great timing!
Cause I really wonder, do we have to keep rhyming?"

[Ninja_Prawn]

"You need not rhyme with me, young pixie. I am not the Court and what we are doing is talking, not addressing," says the councilman, who is decorated with all manner of chains, symbols and livery. Several of the nobles sneer and huff. The one who spoke before sings...
"You may call me Gingerlily
But my name is Applehoney
Fam'ly name both great and storied
Yes, I'd say we're classy indeed"

[Majin]

Kor whispers to the group: "So who should we go with? It sounds like Cloverfield wants to keep secrets from us, but I'm not sure because all this rhyming is sort of confusing..."

"One question before we decide, fair lady,
have you someone making sweets... fresh daily?" Kor says to the noblewoman. The woman's name sounded tasty after all.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Lady Applehoney replies:
"Making? Nay! Why, I shudder at the thought
Such things are below us of noble line
But if sweet treats are ever by you sought
My cooks can sate that appetite of thine"

[tgva8889]

Orianna has a bit of trouble following everything that's said, but she looks between the three and attempts to discern for herself whether any of the three seems to have any sort of particular motive for keeping their house. Unfortunately, her own tiredness causes her to miss some potentially obvious ways the particular fey rhyme, speak, or present themselves, and so she's stuck with no true sense. Shaking her head to clear it a bit, she looks to Lady Applehoney.

"If such kindness you would show to us,
We may be so inclined.
But if it's not presumptuous,
How would you change our mind?"

Insight (Wisdom presumably) [roll0]
Disadvantage [roll1]

[WindStruck]

Astra speaks up and says,

"Well I can't speak for everyone.
It sounds like staying with you will be fun.
But I'll do my best to represent my fellows,
If it means departing with one who's not so mellow."

Astra was hinting at splitting up to go with the council man. Would he behave a bit nicer when not in this court? Perhaps so. It seemed like he hated all this rhyming too. It wasn't quite Astra's thing either... at least, not yet. But she did know one thing.. if she had to do it all day, it would drive her crazy!

[Stan]

"Others may go their way to see what it will yield.
I shall stay at the kings' home at the pleasure of Cloverfield."

[Ninja_Prawn]

"Very good," says the secretary. "I will have one of our larger rooms prepared for you." She hurries off.

Lady Applehoney summons up a porter and bustles over, keeping her eyes on the King as she approaches. "Is it the three of you, then? I suppose I'll have to stable the donkey, as well..."

[Pyon]

"Kyu wants to make some glass,
because the lass...
Uhm.... Uuuuh..."

Kyu tried to find another rhyming word but just stuttered until she pointed a finger at the councilman and stated frustratedly. "I'll be staying with him."

[tgva8889]

Orianna observes the decisions being made and then offers a nod, not really minding where she stays enough at this point to refuse some kind of lodging.

[Majin]

Kor pats Dumpling on the head.

"She's called Dumpling,
And she's done a lot of traveling.
She needs a place to rest,
because... She's just the best".

Well, as long as it rhymes, Kor thinks. He hesitantly adds "Uh, and a mule, actually... My lady".

[Ninja_Prawn]

Kyu tried to find another rhyming word but just stuttered until she pointed a finger at the councilman and stated frustratedly. "I'll be staying with him."

He seems pleased, asking "are you ready, then? Please come with me."

He leads you out of the King's palace, accompanied by a large entourage of grandees, each seeming to wear more chains and medals and carry a bigger sceptre than the last. You all cross the manicured garden in the centre of the enclave and enter another massive palace, all marble and stained glass. "Now, I'm sure you're sick of protocol and paperwork, so I'll just assign you both to the Special Department for Miscellaneous Business for now. Fortunately, I happen to be chairman of that Department..." he extends a hand... "Jasper Sandyshore, pleased to meet you."
Cloverfield whispers in your ear: "you must be the smart one, then. Is there anything else you need with the King, or would you like to get settled in now?"

He hesitantly adds "Uh, and a mule, actually... My lady"

Lady Applehoney waves her arms to beckon you over...
"Of course, of course, come, come, come, come
Half-nymph and dragon and pack-mule and all
Shake off that frown, don't look so glum
You'll come with me and we'll all have a ball!"

The Applehoney house is up in the trees; your host has an attendant Levitate Ori and Dumpling up to it. Everything in the house is beautifully carved - seemingly out of the living wood - and decorated with glittering gemstones, but it feels positively modest when compared to Soren's palace. The Lady hustles you in and sends young faeries, pixies and petals scattering with a flurry of instructions, such that you find yourselves plonked into big, comfy chairs being offered a selection of sweet-looking fruits before you know what's going on.

"Is there anything I can get for you, friends? Something to drink? A change of clothes? Or perhaps we could get some music started in here??" An acidic edge to that last one tells you it was directed more at the servants than at you two.

[WindStruck]

"Ah thanks! I couldn't stay there and rhyme all day or I would go completely bonkers! It's nice to meet you, Jasper. By the way what do all those medals and chains mean?"

[Majin]

"Oh, I would like something to drink, maybe something sweet wine", Kor says and pierces a piece of fruit with his claw.

"So... What's the situation here? Have you heard about the drow attacks", Kor asks Applehoney. Kor decided to be blunt, since he knew so little about courtly intrigue that if he tried any finer manouvers, he'd just end up crashing into a tree, so to speak. Maybe her reactions would reveal something.

[Stan]

Opal gives a thin, tired smile and talks to Cloverfield as they go. "Thanks. I think rest would be best now. That will also give his Highness time to digest whatever was in the letters from Queen Lydia. I do want the King to appreciate that drow and ettercaps are behind the disturbances, though. I have seen them first hand and, from a distance, the Wolfjaw Towers looked like a military base."

Opal walks a bit and considers further.

"Of course, the court was aware of our imminent arrival, powerful Fey must be aware of their domains. But the details may have been sprung upon you all. Rather than trying to force the King's hand while all eyes are upon him, I'd prefer to give his Highness a chance to arrange a scene to his liking, whether a private consultation or a public display, as he sees fit. I'm sure that you'll do as you choose anyway, but feel free to convey all of this to your King. My friends and I are not trying to gain a position in any court or see anyone rise or fall. We just want to protect our fellow Fey from the evil welling up from below. I see no advantage from us being overly coy."

Opal is trusting by nature but she's aware that courts can be full of nasty deception. But she has little to hide and little to lose. An apparent mismatch between what she said and what the king appears to know tomorrow would at least let her know where she stands with Cloverfield.

[tgva8889]

Orianna nods emphatically. "Some wine would be fine, yes." Then, thrown into the mix, she shakes her head. "Oh, actually, nevermind. I'll pass for the moment." She looks at the fruits carefully, though doesn't partake in anything. "If you have someplace I can change and keep my belongings, I would appreciate it."

[Ninja_Prawn]

Jasper goes through each adornment in turn, and they quickly blur into gibberish... "...this one signifies my membership of the Bureau of Frivolity, this is the Pin of the Chairman of Special Department for Miscellaneous Business, this chain means that I am a trustee of the Shadowy Council of Ominous Mystery..."

It feels like hours later when another faeries comes and stops him. After a brief discussion, Jasper informs you that "your rooms are ready now; I hope they are to your liking. Please take your time and come back down here if you need anything else."

Your rooms, which are next to each other midway up the structure, overlook the centre of the enclave. They smell faintly of frankincense thanks to small incense burners on the nightstands. Astra's room includes a heavy wooden desk stocked with ink, quills and parchment, as well as a statue of an old (and very oddly dressed) faerie. The bed is a bunk above the writing desk, with no ladder of course. Kyu's room is dominated by an ancient-looking painting. A vanity mirror is accompanied by brushes, combs and powders on a small round table, opposite a big bed with a fluffy-looking mattress.
"Of course, madame." Says your host. You are shown to a spacious guest room with a human-sized bed (Applehoney emphasises how rare it is to find such things here) and an airy veranda. A copper tub is quickly procured, filled with water and heated, should you need it.

Meanwhile, the noblewoman is answering Kor's question. "Situation? I hadn't heard about any drow attacks. Hmm... but if there have been drow in the woods, I'd wager they're mercenaries hired by Reena's cowardly dogs to do the fighting for them. That's why Lydia sent you, right? She wants to make an alliance against those lily-livered scum?"
Cloverfield smiles and sits on your shoulder as she directs you to your rooms. "You... really mean that, don't you? You folks really aren't what I expected from Lydia's emissaries." You turn left at the top of the stairs. "Make sure you rest up. I foresee a big day for you tomorrow!"

The walls of your room are hung with selection of weapons; gleaming bronze blades and silver hammerheads catch the faerie-light and scatter it artfully all around; and a human-sized suit of plate armour stands in a corner, its arm propped up to serve as a cloak hook. The four-poster bed is closed off with dark velvet curtains and would probably be big enough to sleep three of you...

[WindStruck]

Ah! Paper, ink, quills! This was great. Astra took in the room for a bit, then set down her stuff, got comfortable, and set to work. Getting the Common/Sylvan dictionary out, she tested out her new cantrip to copy each page, letter by letter in blinding speed!

[Stan]

Opal thanks Cloverfield as he flits away. Once in the room, she spends 20 minutes admiring the weapons and armor without touching them. Then, she removes her armor, washes up a bit, combs her hair, and goes to bed.

[Pyon]

Kyu enters her room, looking around in awe. She first tests the bed making sure it's as comfortable as it looks. Her next thought is to go through all of the brushes and powders making mental note of what she would use the next day. Kyu frowned when she looked on the painting but ignored it. She didn't plan to spend a lot of time in her room anyway.

[Majin]

Kor is baffled. "Oh, ah... No. There are definitely drow and giant spiders and some weird spider monsters out there, but I don't think they work for Reena or anything..." Or could they? Some fey were working with them, true, but Kor had got the idea that they'd been coerced. It seemed like there was some bad blood between the courts, so it wouldn't be easy to find the truth.

"So, seems like people here really don't like Reena's court, huh? Have you guys fought or something?"

[Ninja_Prawn]

Astra finishes the day with twice as many dictionaries as what she started with! You'll need a feat to dual-wield them, though. :P

Meanwhile Kyu finds that the room is pretty well equipped. You could create almost any look you wanted to with this stuff...

"Oh, yes, all the time. It's her fault we've all had to wear this stupid frippery for the last two months..." She waves disdainfully at her dress, which is covered in intricate embroidery. "Though at least your arrival has put a stop to that. Millie!" She summons a servant. "Burn all my dresses, would you? Replace them with something... simple and rugged, like what humanoid adventurers wear."

[tgva8889]

Orianna takes a moment to consider the bath, but ultimately decides she's much too tired and weary to care about such things and decides to soak for a while, trying to wash the dirt from her body before she takes an early rest. A nagging thought goes through her mind, but ultimately she lets it slip away in her drowsiness as she falls asleep.

[Majin]

Okay, so the nobles were kind of weird.

"I guess that's neat". So was their arrival an excuse for getting to have a change of wardrobe?

"Well, it's getting late so I think I'd like to find my room and get some sleep", Kor says to Applehoney. It seemed they would have long days ahead of them.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Today is the 2nd of Mirtul, 1492. It is morning.
You all gain the benefits of a long rest and those of you who did not have inspiration gain it!

You all wake up to your first morning in the Palace of Jewels. Golden bright sunlight lances down through the trees and everything is perfectly still, as if the faeries' enclave is a little pocket of timelessness that can never be touched by what goes on outside. Each of you receives a fine breakfast and a set of options to consider.

As I mentioned in the OOC, your days in the enclave will be broken down into four sessions (morning, lunch, afternoon, evening/dinner). You may take up to two short rests between whichever sessions you wish. The options below are generally available for anyone.

Shopping. There is a thriving market where a wide variety of things can be found. Soren's faeries do not trade in cash; you must secure credit from the Royal Order of Coin-Counters first (this will be tracked on the accounting tool). Spellcasting services (such as Sending) are also available.

Visit someone. You can arrange to visit pretty much anyone, either at their home, workplace or for a meal, provided they are available. This includes other party members.

Attend Court. The King holds Court in the afternoons. This is effectively a public forum where most political business is conducted.

Visit the Library. If there's something you want to research, you can spend a session here.

Enter the Vault. King Soren's treasures are stored here. It is open to the public for tours, and if you're in his good books, he may even loan you things from it.

Schmooze with Nobles / Wrestle with Bureaucrats / Conspire with Insiders. You can spend a session gaining influence with one of the main Court factions. Random things might happen.

Venture out of the Enclave. This may take multiple sessions or even days, depending on how far you want to go.

Pick Fights with Spies. They're everywhere.

Sell Secrets to Spies. If you have any.

Wildcard! Anything else you can come up with.
The two of you have already received a stack of invitations to join various guilds, councils and committees; it will probably take you a couple of hours just to go through all the paperwork. A quick scan of a few of them indicates that joining a guild will give you the right to practice its trade (which will earn you credit) and vote on guild business.

Being members of the Special Department for Miscellaneous Business gives each of you 50gp of credit to start off with.

Jasper has invited both of you to meet with him regarding some Miscellaneous Business he'd like you to do. It doesn't appear to be urgent.
Kor is awoken early by a small flock of brightly-coloured birds that have gathered around him. Wait, what's this? One of them appears to have a message tied to its leg... unraveling the tiny strip of paper, you discover... oh my. This is a love letter, from... Lord Mistychime to Lady Applehoney!

Orianna has a letter on her nightstand. It comes from Daved Candycake, one of the warlocks bound to Hefeydd, asking if you would like to have lunch with him.

Lady Applehoney is looking very different today. With messy, tangled hair and dressed in drab travelling clothes, you almost wouldn't recognise her. Once you've had breakfast, she has a favour to ask of you: "you see darlings, I've been trying to re-equip my armsmen so that we're ready to give Reena's lads a kicking. The problem is, those pencil-necks at the Chamber of Commerce won't deliver the weapons I've requisitioned! I filled in all their accursed forms and everything! Perhaps you could could speak to those pixie-friends of yours and see if you can't... hurry things along?"
You wake to find a single folded note on your nightstand: an urgent summons from Cloverfield including directions to 'Secret Room 5M'. It contains a letter of credit, indicating you have 100gp worth of credit to your name.

[Stan]

Opal gets up and quickly makes herself presentable. She opts to leave her chain mail in the room and takes most of her things out her bag, leaving in the chalk, flute, group treasure, and her stones. To that, she adds her hammer and the letter of credit. She also straps her shield to her back. She leaves with the summons in her hands so she has the directions handy.

Opal feels naked without her armor and gear but she thinks it might be better to not play the part of the warrior all the time. She can appear in court in full armor if the King and Cloverfield think it's appropriate.

[WindStruck]

Astra is quite overwhelmed by all the papers. She skims them all during breakfast and winds up deciding to join the healer's, alchemist's, and wizard's guilds just because she actually knows something about them. She also dares to join the misc thing... Out of curiosity but also because Jasper wanted to talk about it or something. She signs those papers and sends them back to be reviewed.

That alone took some hours. The other invitations are set aside but not discarded. Then Astra leaves to try and meet Jasper at the appointed time and place.

[Pyon]

Kyu's enthusiasm for the papers and council maters is close to zero. She takes her time to find the paperwork to join the Glassblower's Guild, signs it and is done with it. She then takes her time to arrange herself fairly well, putting on light make-up and choosing her least travel worn clothing. Kyu proudly wears her belt of warmth anyways, after all it's so warm! Then she leaves to attend court.

[Ninja_Prawn]

The Secret Room 5M (which is next door to Secret Rooms 5L and 5N, according to the signs) is a dark, cramped little meeting room, furnished only with a small table and a few faerie-sized chairs. You'll have to sit on the floor while you talk with the three faeries you share the room with, unless you'd rather stand.

Your co-conspirators are Goldfeather, Cloverfield, and one you haven't seen before. A woman with a bright orange mohawk and a distinctly militaristic style of dress, she greets you with a raspy voice: "Miss Stone, good morning. You look well. The name's Bronzeshield. Grand Marshall Clara Bronzeshield."

"She commands the King's armies," Cloverfield fills in, "and his real name is Lord High Wizard Smokesong." She must mean 'Goldfeather'.

"Let me explain something," he says. "We want the same thing you do. The drow invasion is the most serious threat to the Court since... well since the last drow invasion. We want to - need to - march against them with all our strength."

Bronzeshield cuts in: "but I can't do that as long as Reena's forces threaten our southern border."

"And besides, the King won't give the order to march unless he's convinced they're a real threat. I'm his closest adviser, but he won't listen to me; all the squabbling with the Chamber of Commerce and the noble houses has left it so no one trusts anyone. That's why we need you. Are you in?"
There's less to say about your morning, so I'm going to hold you where you are a little bit while the others catch up. Looks like you've both got plans for 'lunch', so I don't need anything else from you right now.

[tgva8889]

Orianna quickly pens an affirmative response and sends it as soon as she can find a courier, then she goes to find Kor. She doesn't have much success before breakfast time, though, and opts to instead simply attend and discuss with him some plans afterwards.

As Lady Applehoney gives her request, Orianna listens carefully for a moment as she samples her food, then asks, "Your armsman? What possible reason could they have for denying you such supplies, especially given the dangers Reena might pose?"

[Majin]

Kor read the letter quickly. He was rather unsure what to do with it. He wasn't really that interested in the contents, but it might be scandalous, depending on who this Mistychime fellow was. Applehoney, despite the sweet name, seemed rather eager to go to war. Maybe they'd have to manipulate her or something later. But maybe he was assuming too much. He didn't know Applehoney yet after all...

To get out of the dilemma, Kor just eats the letter. This court thing sure was going to be exhausting.

--

Yeah, Applehoney really did look like she was ready to go fighting. "Soo... You're really seem ready to fight. What did Reena do?"

[Ninja_Prawn]

The love letter tastes of perfume. It's gross.
...
"What didn't she do?" Applehoney replies. "We've been at war, off and on, for as long as anyone can remember. Like last year, at the Feast of the Moon, when she replaced the King's clothes with..." she trails off for a moment... "well it was scandalous anyway. Then back in 1484, when she lured a load of humans to our copper mines. Now that was a debacle. And I'm sure her agents have infiltrated the Chamber of Commerce - that must be why they won't deliver my weapons..."

[Majin]

Kor eats and drinks lots of sweet stuff to get the perfume taste out of his mouth. Why would you put perfume on a letter. Ugh.

Kor listens Applehoney rant about Reena. Didn't really sound like war to him, more like pranks. "Spies? I guess that's possible..."

Kor finishes his breakfast. "Well, I'm off to see the court". Kor wants to see if he might get to see the king's treasury. Must be lots of shinies there.

Swapped new prepared spells for Kor. Doesn't seem like we'll be doing that much fighting.

[Stan]

Opal sits with her legs criss cross, knees near her chest, to leave plenty of room. She smiles during the introductions then listens.

"My name is Opal Orlaith. I'm in as long as the plan isn't to attack and destroy Queen Reena's forces. That would mean many dead on both sides and benefit only the drow. Do you have a plan to get her to also refocus her forces on the drow? Then the King might listen to reason. I'm a neophyte of courtly intrigue." Opal snorts slightly as she breathes out. "I mean, obviously. But I will play whatever role on the royal stage that you direct me to."

[tgva8889]

At Applehoney's comments, Orianna gives her head a shake. "Quite awful. I'll see what I can do your for armsmen." When she can look away, though, she does give a small smirk at the whole situation.

Orianna stops Kor as they leave Reena's presence. "Actually, I'd received notice from a friend in the court who wanted to meet. One of my patron's close confidants. Would you perhaps be interested in joining me, Kor?"

[Majin]

Kor did want to see shinies, but then again it most likely made more sense to travel together. This was an odd place, and probably dangerous in its own right. And there was time to see the treasury later.

"Oh, sure"

[Ninja_Prawn]

"Excellent," replies Cloverfield. "There are several things that you and your friends can help with. Our first problem is the nobility..."

The wizard picks up the thread: "they feel Reena's insults most keenly, and have been the loudest agitators for war. You need to find a way to sate them. Perhaps gain them some measure of revenge, or just distract them long enough that their influence with the King diminishes."

"The second thing will be the merchants. We've managed to keep them divided against each other up to this point, but that upstart Jasper Sandyshore is on the brink of unifying both sides of the Chamber of Commerce."

"On its own, that isn't such a bad thing. We'll need them to be productive for when we take the fight to the drow. The problem is that master Sandyshore wants all the power for himself. I believe he plans to usurp the King and install a puppet of his own! He must be taken down, by any means necessary."

The Grand Marshall provides the third issue. "Finally, we really do need to do something about Reena. I agree with you that we should seek a diplomatic solution. It will not be easy, however. There is a long history of animosity between the two Courts, with many wrongs to be righted from both sides." She looks you square in the eye. "We would like you, Opal, to get close enough to the King to find out what he would need to forgive her - and to get close enough to her to do likewise. Bring them to the negotiating table, and do whatever needs to be done behind the scenes to make a deal possible."

"I can teleport you into Reena's Court, don't worry about that," Smokesong confirms. "The Queen's High Wizard is for us, too, so you should be able to get some help from her while you're there."

[Stan]

Opal sits and tries to absorb everything. The situation is more complex than she is used to.

"Um, I'm more than willing to try but this might be beyond me. Can we organize some kind of competition? It should be something that the King is way better at than Jasper, so Jasper's status drops a bit as part of it. Ideally, it would drain everyone's anger somewhat. If we were able to include Reena's court, then maybe it would allow everyone to get a chance to get back at those they feel slighted by while also bringing the courts together."

Opal pauses to think, fidgeting with the rocks in her pocket. She shouldn't be making all these decisions on her own but she was isolated at the moment. She would try to meet with the others later today if she could. For now, she'd try to get things moving.

Opal shrugs and spreads her arms, being honest rather than trying to invoke confidence.

"Hey, how about we get the King to challenge Queen Reena to a competition? I'm thinking of a two part competition. The first part is a monster hunt. Then everyone writes a short poem about their trophy. That way, the powerful and the witty both have a chance. A great quatrain about stepping on a spider might be as good as a simple statement about killing a drow priestess. We can insinuate that the poems are a chance to hide insults against rivals to get more people involved - you could do things like compare the hideous trophy to an outfit many will recognize. Scoring is both individual and group. Maybe the best 3 or so individuals get a prize. Then the individual scores are totaled and the court with the most points would win - a - whatever both royals would covet. This would give everyone an indirect war with minimum direct combat. We could also set the boundaries for the competition to where there is Drow activity to both start the fight early and encourage nobles to travel about in the forest and see for themselves the destruction going on. I have no idea who the judge or judges would be as they have to be neutral to the two courts. I know it's crazy and weird. Do you think the courts would go for it? If so, I can pitch it to the King as a way to get back at the queen, then go meet the queen to issue the challenge and hopefully get her to agree."

[Ninja_Prawn]

They consider your proposal and respond positively. "That could definitely work," says Cloverfield, while Smokesong/Goldfeather grumbles that "something like that would take a while to put together..."

"We can do it, though. Hmm... if we combined it with some kind of... military tattoo? Yes, that would give us an excuse to mobilise the army to help with preparations. We'll sort out the details, Miss Orlaith. In the meantime, it would help if you could spend some time getting on-side with the King. Being as you're a newcomer to the Court, you must have plenty of fresh stories to tell him... and he'll need to respond to those gifts you all brought him as well."
If there's one thing that all of you have taken away from your first morning with the faeries, it's that everyone here is very intense! It looks like this mission is going to be very tiring... but maybe lunchtime will offer opportunities to take some breaths?

"So, yes, miscellaneous business..." Jasper begins. "You may have noted the ridiculous amount of embroidery everyone was wearing yesterday... and how no one is wearing it today. Without going into all the details, that was actually a 'prank' Reena's court played on us; she manipulated the fashions so that all of our industrial manpower would be tied down with pointless needlework so that she could get ahead of us in the arms race. Your arrival, however, has suddenly made the 'adventurer' look trendy, which has freed up a significant amount of labour-power... which is ours to redistribute.

I'd like to reopen the copper mines and start making weapons again, only... the key to the tunnels seems to have gone missing. It's a gaudy, human-sized, brass affair, set with polished malachite in a floral pattern; you can't miss it. Could you... help me look for it, by any chance?"
You head off to the Royal Palace at lunchtime. It's busy, even though the King isn't in yet.

[roll0]

Hold on, what was that? Please make a Wisdom (Perception) check.
The two of you meet with Daved and head out to a taproom on the fringes of the Enclave. It is quieter and less ostentatious than the parts of the faerie court you have seen up to now, though still quite full and well-appointed. The warlock is an older faerie with bushy eyebrows and a huge feathered hat. His voice is calm as he introduces himself.

"Ah, you must be Orianna. And one of your travelling companions? I am Daved Candycake; please to meet you. Our... mutual friend... mentioned that you would be coming here, so I was understandably curious. What brings you all the way out here?"

[WindStruck]

Astra nods along, listening to Jasper's explanation. Hm. So maybe they wouldn't look so out of place now! Cancel shopping for fancier clothes. Or shoes, even (though the 'traveling' outfit did come with some already).

"Huh. That's kind of... weird. How do you know this whole fashion thing was Reena's doing?" she asked with a shrug. "I mean, we just came here and boom! Now we've set some other kind of trend apparently..."

Astra giggled at that a bit, and then they moved on to the next business. "You mean, you want me to just search high and low for a key...?" she asked, at first giving Jasper the strangest confused look of 'what are you thinking' to sheer excitement. "Oh! Wait! I just- my spell book!" she stuttered all over the place, dropping her bag to the floor to fish her spell book out of it. "I've recently learned how to cast a magic spell which might help you!"

She was, of course, referring to the Locate Object spell. "But theoretically, the magic only has limited range. So it would be best to begin casting the spell around areas you believe it may be in. Shall we go there first? Or is there other business to attend to?"

If you want to make things faster, you may have Astra cast Locate Object on your next update.. but it doesn't seem things need to be expedited anyway.

[Pyon]

Kyu quickly turns around and squints her eyes to try and find whatever she thought she saw.

Perception: [roll0]

[Majin]

"Hi! I'm Korialstrasz. You can call me Kor." Man, that faerie's name didn't fit his face, at least anymore. Huge eyebrows... Kor tears his gaze off Daved's forehead. "Well, we are here on Lydia's behalf... Trying to sort this mess out, I suppose. Oh hey, what do you know of a lord called Mistychime?".

[Stan]

Opal listens and nods to Cloverfield. "Ok, then. Do you know when, where, and how I should approach the King? Should be privately or at court? Ooh, what should I wear? Not that I have many options, mind you. And what should I say? I was sweating stones the last time I addressed the King."

[tgva8889]

Orianna nods to Kor's description, taking a seat once introductions have been finished. "Yes, you are correct. My companion Kor has given you most of it. We've seen a lot of dangers in our journey here, which has given us great concern. Please, if you would not mind telling us, what's happening in the court?"

[Ninja_Prawn]

"That's understandable," says Cloverfield, "he does have a powerful presence. He's really quite personable in private though, so that would probably be the best way to go. I can get you in to see him pretty much any time you want - except afternoons of course - just look for me around the Palace."
Daved scratches his chin. "Well, there's always a lot going on. Your arrival has been on everyone's lips this morning, but that will die down soon enough." It isn't clear whether he means this to sound reassuring or unfortunate. His whole demeanour is so... unexpressive. "The main thing that keeps people occupied is the war. The generals have had me drilling the troops night and day in how to fight humanoids, so I figure maybe Reena has brought in some mercenaries...

As to Lord Mistychime, yes, I know of him. On his... third wife now, I think? Afraid I don't know much more; I don't really socialise with his sort."
Yes, there is something. It's the wall, over there... you eye seems to skip over it, like it doesn't quite fit in right. On closer investigation, you find a secret passage!
"Oh, we know it to be her doing," he explains, "because she sent a messenger a few months ago, with an honour guard all in plain black uniforms. So of course, all the fashionistas immediately determined that our Court just had to dress in the opposite fashion. It was a cunning gambit, really, but don't worry; we'll get her back."

He then leads you out of the door, talking as he goes. "There certainly is other business to attend to, but it can wait if you can find the key now. Ah, but it is good to have a mage in the Special Department again... those racketeers that run the Spellcasting Services are never easy to deal with. Now then, I expect the key will be in this building somewhere. Is that good enough, or do we need to narrow it down further?"

[WindStruck]

Astra is rather skeptical of how Reena's all-black uniforms caused... whatever crazy fashion trends she witnessed recently. But then again, she had no idea how these Faerie politics worked. Ah how she pined for her far less complex social life back home.

"Well, I think just searching about this building shouldn't be too much trouble. The spell can last quite a while while I search. So let's see..."

Astra begins to cast the Locate Object spell and says, "A human-sized, brass key, inlaid with malachite..." and continues concentrating on that thought.

If she can sense a direction, she follows it around walls and through doors and over other obstacles as best she can. If she senses nothing, she continues further into the building to see if she will begin to sense that kind of key.

[Pyon]

Kyu's eyes twinkle as she finds the secret passage. "This looks like adventure!" She says to herself. Kyu will check that she is alone or at least that no one is paying attention to her and when she can pass unnoticed Kyu will sneak into the secret passage. She will cast dancing lights if it's too dark inside.

[Stan]

Opal stops to consider the options. It's really not her way to charge forward, outside of battle. And she's the least convincing speaker in the group. She really should confer with everyone first. But she didn't know exactly where anyone was. Twisting indoor passages always confused her a bit so she doubted she could find them before the afternoon, so a day would probably be wasted. Each day would probably mean another place suffering Pinkleaf's fate. She hopes her friends will understand. She faces Cloverfield directly.

"Actually, perhaps it would be best to try now, while it's still fairly early. If that's ok with you. Lord High Wizard, Grand Marshall, this has been very helpful. I look forward to being of service to you in the future."

[tgva8889]

Orianna listens to his words, glad to find someone who might tell them about what must have been obvious. "No one has seemed trustworthy before, or at least straight, so perhaps you could assist me in understanding. What is going on with this war? Who is fighting and why? It seems there are many dangers here, but I did not expect true war."

[Majin]

Oh, so Mistychime was married... Well, Kor wasn't really interested in their personal affairs, so he would keep silent about it for now. They could use it for bargaining later, but it felt wrong to start blackmailing their host on the second day.

"Yeah, only thing I've heard is Reena pulling a few pranks. It doesn't sound like a reason for war".

[Ninja_Prawn]

You concentrate on your mental image of the key, and soon feel a tug in your mind. It's nearby! You go along a hallway... up some stairs... take a right... up again... past a few doorways... here! It's in this room.

"...here?" Jasper asks. "In this room? But this is Hector Poppyseed's room. He has no business with the key to the tunnels..." The door is closed, but it doesn't look like it's locked...
You wait until no one is watching and slip into the passageway. It is kind of dim, but you can see alright with the help of your Dancing Lights. After a few minutes of twists and turns, you come to a fork: you can carry on ahead, or turn upwards through a vertical shaft. It looks like someone has scratched a sign into the wall. Apparently upwards leads to 'secret rooms' and straight ahead leads to 'hidden treasure'.
He thinks for a moment. "It's... well when I say 'war', I don't mean there's fighting all the time. Tensions rise and fall, and actual bloodshed is infrequent. Soren and Reena, they fight by proxies a lot. They undermine each other, interfere with trade and industry... most of the time my soldiers just sit around looking fierce."

There is a pause, and he takes a drink, but then continues. "That's why everyone's so tense right now. Something's different... I don't know exactly what it is, myself, but it feels like something is going to happen. I was hoping we'd get through this year without a flare-up, but..." He sighs. "As to why they fight... it goes back a long way. I heard that, once upon a time they were friends, but that must have been centuries ago. Something big must have turned them against each other, I reckon."
Cloverfield makes you a lunchtime appointment with the King.

Save for a few tight-lipped servants, you are left alone with him for the time being. He is genial, easily making small talk despite any discomfort you may have - you sense that he may be deliberately trying to put you at ease. "I hope the food is to your liking," he continues. "As cosmopolitan as my Court is, we still don't see too many oreads around here. Dryads, yes, plenty of pixies, but one gets tired of... plant-based cuisine."

You feel like enough small talk has passed now that it wouldn't be rude to bring up more serious topics.

[Pyon]

She almost yelps in excitement when she reads the signs on the wall. This is way more than she had planned for today. Secret Rooms sounds like fun, and just the type of place where Kyu could find something to help, but there was a lot of excitement in treasure. "Eenie, meenie, minie... moe!" She pointed her finger between the two passageways until it landed on hidden treasure. With her mind set, she flew onward to adventure.

[WindStruck]

Astra says, objectively as she can, still trying to maintain her concentration, "I have no idea who that is, but the spell is telling me it's in this direction... Well, theoretically it's a straight line to the object. It could be 'through' the room, on the other side of the wall... let me see something."

Astra tries straffing to the side a bit to see just how much the direction changes. If it hardly moves much, it would probably be beyond the actual room. If it moved a lot, it was likely in there.

"Well in any case, is it also possible that there's yet another key fitting this description? Since I haven't actually seen it, the magic will only find the closest one that resembles what you said, not necessarily the one you had in mind..."

[Stan]

Opal tries to force herself to relax. She is partially successful.

She smiles and nods at the mention of the food. "Oh yes, it's quite wonderful. Especially so after eating mostly rations for weeks." Opal pauses to take a sip of wine. She's not used to strong wine and is trying not to drink too much, though it's probably vast quantities by tiny fairy standards. Well, here goes nothing, she thinks. "Uh, Your Highness, I'm still a bit confused. Would you mind explaining the source of the conflict between you and Queen Reena?"

[tgva8889]

Orianna stews on Daved's information for a moment, then asks, "Could the tension be related to what we encountered on our way here?" She pauses to turn to Kor, then continues, keeping her voice as low as possible. "We've encountered many dangers in the woods around here the past few days. We were attacked by creatures who were brought by Drow warriors, we encountered some kind of controlled sea creature which attacked us, and not a few days past we found a druid circle suffering under some kind of blight. And then the town we had stopped in before we came here was attacked by spiders. I fear something very sinister is afoot here."

[Ninja_Prawn]

"There's only one copy that I know of. Hmm, I'll need a warrant to search in here. Give me a minute." He fishes a hat out of his bag and puts it on before writing out a search warrant. He then takes the hat off and opens the door. No one is in.

"Maybe it's in these drawers... yes, found it!" He brandishes the key two-handed, then frowns. "Still, I wonder how it got here... we'll have to look into that later. For now, we need to go down and reopen the mines."

It's a good 20 minute flight down to the huge stone doorway that marks the entrance to the copper mines, which are located directly below the Palace. Jasper unlocks it with the key and takes a torch into the darkness. A short way in, you encounter a hoist - or at least, a landing for one. "Well that's a good start. It... looks like the rope has snapped and dropped the hoist car to the bottom of the shaft. I don't suppose you have any tricks that could save me having to find an engineer...?"
"Yes, that sounds like exactly the kind of thing that would heighten tensions. A town nearby was attacked by spiders? I wonder why I hadn't heard about that... the King normally sends us out to deal with that sort of thing." He lowers his voice. "Were the people alright? Did anyone get hurt?"
The passageway ends with a locked, rusty grate. You can see a small chamber beyond, which appears to be lined with old and dusty chests. There is also a strong mixture of smells coming from the chamber: too many for you to easily pick out what any of them are.
"The source, hm? That's hard to say, it being so long ago. I'm not sure I even remember myself. Let's see... I recall her burning down my old palace, but... that was because I executed her envoys. Why did I do that? Did she... send someone to break into my vault? If only I still had my old diaries, but they disappeared a long time ago."

[WindStruck]

"As a matter of fact..." Astra says, beckoning Jasper to follow her down with the light. When they reach the hoist at the bottom, she uses the Levitate spell to begin slowly raising the hoist. Once they get to the top, however, they both have to struggle a bit using their own small bodies to try to shove it horrizontally, but they manage to set it above the landing before Astra lowers it safely down.

"Whew.. Well, I guess you still need some engineers to fix your rope and hook it up, but at least that'll be far more convenient..."

[Majin]

"Well, we got a lot of people out safe, but... There were so many spiders..."

Kor shakes his head. "But why would the king want to keep it a secret? Maybe he just didn't know about the spider attacks, maybe the village couldn't send messengers..."

[Stan]

"Hmmm. If you like, I could try to find your diaries, if you like. My friends could help, too. In the mean time, how about challenging Reena's court to a big contest to finally settle things once and for all. But something that doesn't kill most of your court like a full war. It would also give your nobles, officials, and unions something to do other than bicker at each other and plot conspiracies."

[Pyon]

Frowning at the locked gate, Kyu makes a mental note of the strange smells and place. "I'll return here some time with a way to get in..." She smiles mischievously. Now she was more curious than ever to find out what was inside. Kyu backtracks and will explore the path that leads to the "secret rooms".

[Ninja_Prawn]

The King thinks on your proposal and allows that it is "very interesting; certainly preserving the strength of my Court is a wise idea... but I don't see how it could work. Right now, I just can't trust those southern dogs: they'd surely use a contest as cover for an attack on us."

You can almost see the cogs turning in his head. "Well, perhaps we could work something out, if they'd make a gesture of good faith. Say by giving back the humans they stole from me the year before last. If she keeps them much longer, they won't be children anymore!"
The other branch leads you out into a larger corridor - no longer part of the hidden way, but still very dim and quiet. A deep maroon carpet seems to suck the life out of the space, and all the doors are made from dark wood with tarnished copper numbers on them. The door closest to you is labelled 'Secret Room 2X'. You can hear whispering voices within...
"Maybe so," he agrees, "maybe so. It is true that we haven't been sending out so many scouts lately. It feels like every year that goes by, the Court gets more and more inward-looking, you know?"

He shakes his head. "Spiders are dangerous foes. You can't get too close, or they'll pull you out of the sky with their webs. I hope the ones you encountered are not headed here..."
"Eh, the miners can probably fit a new rope on their own. Mended ropes are never much good," Jasper shrugs. "But that was a good job! I think we can get this place up and running today, now. There's just one last thing I need some help with."

He leads you back up to the guilds' hall, to a small office. "The last thing is to decide what we should do with the copper. The smiths have been asking for material for a while, both for the King's army as well as various noble houses. I'm inclined to sit on it for a while, wait until they're really desperate but... if there really is a war coming, I can't be responsible for our soldiers not having decent equipment. Or, of course, we could make it into brass and trick some humans into thinking it's gold. We might be able to hire some mercenaries or buy some gnomish super-weapons or something. What do you think?"

[WindStruck]

Astra gives her input and says, "Well first of all, I don't think anything good can come from lying, to other fey or humans, gnomes, or otherwise. Suppose the gnomes decide to retaliate with those super-weapons, hmm? Or if we might desperately need their help later, but they still remember the time you cheated them before..."

"Still, I think you are better off supplying weapons for our army. I do believe war is coming, but not with Reena! There are drow attacking the kingdom, and they have terrible beasts and legions of spiders at their command!" she says, reiterating the obvious point (well obvious to her) that they were in real danger.

"How about this? Send adequate copper to the smiths for weapons and armor. And instead of indulging the nobles, you think some other copper might be useful for trading with gnomes and humans honestly? Raw copper or brass pieces are probably of little value, but if we could do make something unique and special out of it...."

"Or heck, sell it to the nobles, then you should have the wealth you need to trade honestly. There's a lot of ways to go about it!"

[Pyon]

Looking around Kyu floats closer to the door ear forward trying to listen to what is being said.



Perception: [roll0]

[Majin]

Kor shudders at the memory. "Yeah, getting stuck in a web is not fun, I can tell... Someone should probably go scout the areas. Oh, and there were some kind of... Spider men controlling the spiders. Well some sort of humanoid spiders anyway".

"So what about Hefeydd? Is he going to meddle in this? He seemed like he might like meddling".

[Stan]

Opal brings her hand to her chin as she pauses to consider. She spends more time than she really needs to decide so as not to appear too eager.She pops in a canape and chews while thinking. After a suitably dramatic pause she responds.


"If it pleases Your Highness, my friends and I could serve as envoys and speak to Reena on your behalf. We are a delegation from Queen Lydia and have the papers to prove it, though I'd guess that Reena would still suspect us as we came here first. But that can't be helped, anyone from your court would be even less trusted. And I think a friend of mine has someone who could provide us with neutral judges respected by both parties. If you agree, we might be able to leave tomorrow."

[tgva8889]

Orianna is somber. Then she turns to Kor, a thought having occurred to her. "I remember there being some sort of fae officials there. Do you recall anything like that, Kor? It seems odd that the King wouldn't know if his soldiers were there. Or perhaps more odd if they weren't one of his." She nods in agreement with Kor's description of the spider men, though she only adds "They chased us from the town, but we lost them escaping. I think many of the people are all right. They're in a fortress not too far from here, though I'm not sure how safe they'll remain with all that's outside."

She nods at Kor's comment. "I think he would, if it weren't considered such an affront to meddle in mortal affairs. At least, that's what I can recall from what he's told me." Looking darkly at Daved, she sighs. "The Court's insular nature may be a problem given all that's occurring. We did not find a clear source, but it seemed the Drow were organizing forces for some reason. Unless Reena has allegiances with the dark elves, I suspect their activities will be bad for both courts."

[Ninja_Prawn]

"Adequate copper for the smiths will be all we can produce, at least until the backlog is cleared," he says, "but it makes sense to prioritise them. I'll speak to the other members of the Special Department to make sure, but I suspect they will agree with you."

He takes some notes and sorts some papers, then says "Well, time is getting on. Is there anything you'd like to bring up while we're here?"
"That would seem most prudent. Yes, you shall have my blessing as envoys. I will set aside some time tomorrow morning to brief you and send you off, so please tell your companions to be here."
It's kind of muffled, but you think you hear the name Applehoney mentioned - the family that Ori and Kor are currently staying with.

Then, you feel a tap on your shoulder. "Excuse me miss, but do you have leave to be here? Your behaviour seems... suspicious."
"Yes, I do believe Hefeydd is already doing all he can get away with. With that in mind, I'll have to trust you on the spiders and drow. You have been out there in person, after all.

The question, then, is what do we do about it?"

[Pyon]

"I uhm..." Kyu poked her fingers together as she looked for an excuse. "Actually, yes. Yes I do." She puffed out her chest to make herself seem important. "Do you understand the permissions I've been awarded? I'm sorry for acting suspicious but I am allowed to be here by his Highness' orders."

[Ninja_Prawn]

"And you have... proof of this?" She asks, raising an eyebrow.

[Stan]

Opal continues with small talk and answers whatever questions the king as. Once it's over, she thanks the king and bids good bye, saying that she doesn't want to take up any more of his time. She also mentions that she'll be sure to attend court this afternoon.

[ooc: if you there are specific questions that you want Opal to answer, fire them off. Otherwise Opal describes their trip iff the king shows interest and describes her former life if asked.]

Once out Opal returns to her room. She rests until court and and thinks how to contact her friends if they don't show up to court.

[ooc: Opal has already done 2 things; the court will be her 3rd. Her storyline can be put on hold until the others are at the same point, unless you have something else in mind.]

[Pyon]

"Yes here it..." Kyu goes through her dresses as if searching her pockets. She gasps and puts more and more drama into it making a show of searching for something. "I think I lost it... Gosh I'm going to get into so much trouble..."

[WindStruck]

Astra ponders a bit and says, "Well I suppose not..."

She thought to ask about the whole business with warrants and how Jasper simply made one up himself, but then again, seemed to be more courtly nonsense. They were probably in the right entering to find the key anyway.

Instead she says, "Are these copper mines your only concerns? What about, say, producing spider anti-venoms? Or perhaps I could learn or share some new magic spells with others? I'm all ears."

[Majin]

"Oh right, there a lot of folk in the court. Yeah, you'd think he'd know about stuff. Unless he doesn't want to", Kor says to Orianna.

"I guess we could talk to all the people in the court and convince them what the real danger is. And maybe we could go catch a drow and bring it to the court. There are plenty in the wilds. And they're not all very smart"

[tgva8889]

Orianna nods to Kor's suggestion, then turns to Daved. "Are there any in the court who may be more level-headed at our news? We would not want to raise alarm unless we're sure something useful would be done in response." After a moment's thought, she adds, "And do you know who may have sent soldiers out to Pinkleaf, sometime around Greengrass?"

[Ninja_Prawn]

Jasper answers "well, anti-venom is a bit of a grey area. It's between the Arcane Chirurgeons' Association and the Alchemists' Guild -" you notice his eyes narrow as he names the latter - "but there are some ongoing disputes there so production is on hold at the moment. The Learnèd Institute of Mages would be the place to share spells... but they are notoriously jealous of their secrets. To them, 'sharing' really means you giving things to them, not the other way around."

Your business with the Special Department concluded for now, you have time to grab a quick lunch before deciding what to do next. You may take a short rest if you wish, but you do not have to.
Please make a Charisma (Performance) check.

I'm calling this performance rather than deception because I get the impression that both you and the guardswoman know what's going on here, but perhaps if your acting is good enough she might take pity on you anyway. Kyu's got that sweet, moe personality that enables her to get away with this sort of thing.
Being as you are in the Royal Palace already, there isn't much risk that you'll be late for the holding of court. You take your time resting, but don't hear anything from the others before court.

The others are probably one post away from going to court. Astra is ready now, but I don't know what her plans are for the afternoon.
"Hmm... there aren't any other standing armies in this region. Pinkleaf is a pixie village, so they don't have much in the way of militia... I doubt Reena would send anyone there... the only thing I can think is that they hired some mercenaries. It's possible, if things are as bad as you say.

I don't think there is anyone at the court who could be described as 'level-headed'. Let's see. The people from the Merchant's Council are quite pragmatic, but they're far from trustworthy. My commander, Grand Marshall Bronzeshield, is a good person, but she has fallen out with the King and doesn't attend court any more. You could talk to the King's secretary, Cloverfield... personally I find her annoying but she knows everyone and has all kinds of access. I doubt she'd dismiss such alarming news out of hand."

[Majin]

"Well, our friends have probably already been talking to the merchants and Cloverfield... Probably. It's not like we had much of a plan".

"But hey, Bronzeshield sounds like she's a big shot in the army. We should probably talk to her in any case. What did she do to get on the king's bad side anyway? Maybe we could talk her up. It seems like we're a big deal here".

[tgva8889]

Orianna nods to Daved's comments and then to Kor's suggestions. "I agree about Bronzeshield. At the very least, maybe she'll know how to protect the people of Pinkleaf, and it might help to have more official help in bringing a drow before the king. Maybe we should try to meet with our friends and discuss our plans? I have the feeling we're not going to get too far all asking the same people the same questions."

She adds to Daved, "Thank you for meeting with us. It has been truly helpful. Frankly I feel I would not have gotten much of a straight answer from anyone in the court. One would think I'd be used to the way of fae by now, but I spent far too much time in human lands. Was there anything I might be able to do to return the favor? And perhaps any way we might be able to discreetly bring word to you, in case we need to meet again or we find out something of your interest?"

[Ninja_Prawn]

After your meeting with Jasper, you head off to find some food. It turns out that all sorts of fruits are plentiful here, apparently regardless of season. You pick up a sweet raspberry and meet a few people from different guilds. Mostly they like to talk about all the feuds and rivalries that go back and forth between different groups - it's difficult for anyone to keep track of them all, and you do have to wonder how anything gets done around here. Maybe that's why Jasper seems so exasperated all the time...?

Anyway. In the afternoon, you head over to the Alchemists' Guild. Your application here was accepted without issue and thus you are welcome to use their equipment. There are individual workspaces will all sorts of arcane apparatus, far more than you're used to carrying around with you, and the store room is well-stocked with materials and reagents. The head of the guild is an old woman wearing many layers of robes and cloaks: she has a taciturn bearing and says only "healing potions are in demand right now, I'll pay double credit for any you make."
"Oh, it's no problem. I figure I'm duty-bound to help the Prince's Knight anyway." Daved finishes his drink and then says "well, the Grand Marshall usually stays in the barracks while the King is holding Court. Did you want to go there now?"
You see the guardswoman's face soften as she decides to let it slide. She escorts you back to the main hall, where you happen to run into Opal...
The two of you meet up in the palace as dozens of faeries gather in anticipation of the King's appearance. They cluster together in small groups, talking, whispering, arguing, making it seem that a lot of business is being conducted here. A noble faerie (you can tell by his accent) dressed in a ratty patchwork of leather and fur approaches you and asks: "you are two of those newcomers, are you not? I understand you have the King's ear... I would be most grateful if you could assist me with getting him to consider some of my proposals..."

[WindStruck]

Astra asks, "High demand? Is that because of impending conflict? And how much is double credit..?"

She at least lets the guild head answer those questions and get a breath before continuing:

"Uh, sorry for all the questions. Actually, I was wondering how the supplies of anti-venom for spiders are? I think the court will be fighting a lot of spiders soon, but I may have heard a rumor that there is a conflict or something or the other preventing people from making any?"

[Majin]

"Hmm, well, I was going to see the treasury, but I suppose it's not going anywhere... I guess we could go see Bronzeshield now, maybe see rest of the gang in the evening? What do you think?" Kor asks Orianna.

"Oh, and I can send small animals to bring messages. Though it seems to be pretty popular method here, so I don't know how discreet it is".

[Stan]

Opal is not used to being in the middle of politics but she does her best. She tries to put on coy smile before responding.

"Well yes, we are recently arrived. And, well, I do know who the king is. We would be happy to listen to your proposals. But forgive me, you may call me Miss Stone. Who do we have the pleasure of getting to know?"

[tgva8889]

Orianna considers for a moment, then asks, "How would I get a message to my companions? I know one is staying with Cloverfield and the other two are staying with a councilman, though I now realize I'm not sure we ever found out who it was who took them."

After Kor's suggestion, Orianna pauses in thought. "I think we should go to see Bronzeshield together if we see her at all. It will likely take more than one of us to fully convince her of the danger we faced. We'll likely want to send for our friends soon so we can all agree to meet somewhere and discuss what we've learned. We'll have to see the King himself sooner or later."

[Ninja_Prawn]

She answers your questions: "I had assumed it was just the latest trend, but who knows? The regular rate is 10 credits per potion, I'm sure you can do the maths."

Regarding antivenom: "conflict, yes. We have no stockpiles at present. The ACA usually takes most of the antivenom we produce, but lately they seem to have gotten the idea that they can produce it easier themselves. Tch. No loyalty any more. So we stopped production. They'll soon be crawling back to us, eh?"
"Oh, er, Miss Stone. Pleased to meet you. I have been called Beaky Lilyboat." He doffs his cap and you notice that he does have quite a big nose. Heh, 'Beaky.'

Before he can say more, a flourish of sound from a string quartet announces the King's arrival. He declaims:

"I grow tired of yonder strings
And this aging herald
Bring me a brass band that sings
And a fresh new skald"

Immediately there are half a dozen people competing for the honour...
Daved nods at Kor's Animal Messenger suggestion. "I don't imagine much discretion is necessary if you're just talking to the companions you arrived with. That kind of druidic magic should be fine here. If you'd rather save your energy, you could collar a kid and ask them to run a message - though that would be on the assumption that they would read it and sell your secrets to the highest bidder. I understand some folks use dead drops or even plant coded messages inside everyday gossip, though you would have to set that sort of thing up in advance of course."

[WindStruck]

"Wait... so what happened?" Astra asks. "Why can't this guild make any now? Are you not allowed to?"

Also, how long would it take to make a healing potion here? And what would policy be if Astra made something but kept it for her own/the party's use?

[Stan]

Opal looks to Kyu and whispers, "Would you like to give performing a shot? You have the advantage of being fresh and new. But don't get lost, we need to talk later."

[Majin]

Kor scratches his chin and nods at Orianna. "Mmh. Yeah. Hey, maybe we should go find them now, see what they've been up to? I'm pretty sure they'll be easy to find, what with all the fuss going on. We could go eat something together"

[Ninja_Prawn]

"No, we stopped production voluntarily," she explains, "so that our antivenom couldn't get confused with the ACA's inferior product."


Also, how long would it take to make a healing potion here? And what would policy be if Astra made something but kept it for her own/the party's use?
I'm gonna say 1 regular Potion of Healing per day for simplicity's sake. If you kept it, you wouldn't get paid, but it's otherwise fine.

Kor scratches his chin and nods at Orianna. "Mmh. Yeah. Hey, maybe we should go find them now, see what they've been up to? I'm pretty sure they'll be easy to find, what with all the fuss going on. We could go eat something together"
Although you haven't spoken to the others since yesterday, you know them pretty well and may be able to guess where they are right now anyway. You may roll a Wisdom (Insight) check to get a hint, or just take a random guess.

[WindStruck]

"Oh.. uh, why don't you guys just like, put a special label on it so people know you're the ones who made yours?"

[Pyon]

Kyu taps her sides and nods. "Yes, that sounds like fun. I'm going to give it a shot!" She flies to the group of now competitors and tries to get ahead of the line and in plain view.

[Majin]

"I think the court would be good place to start looking. If they were going to talk to the king or nobles, they would probably be there" Kor says to Orianna.

[tgva8889]

Orianna, distracted by her own thoughts, nods at Kor's suggestion absently, then realizes that he actually made it and turns to look at him with a nod. "Yes, I think that's a good plan. Sorry, my mind is troubled by what Daved told us. I fear our charge may be a bit more difficult than I had originally thought."

[Majin]

"Oh yeah, this is definitely a colossal mess. I don't really event want to start thinking about it too much, or I'll just crawl into a hole and stay there until I turn purple". Kor sighs. "... I'm not really used to this much responsibility"

[tgva8889]

Orianna gives a smile to Kor. "Well at least we are here together. Though it looks difficult, after what all of us have seen together I feel we are up to the challenge. We've certainly done a lot more than we thought we would in getting here."

[Ninja_Prawn]

She blinks - perhaps they hadn't thought of that. Still though, her response is swift: "well they'd surely try to copy it. Unless... there was some magic that we could use to put a hidden mark on them... hmm."
Ori and Kor arrive at the Palace with troubled expressions, but quickly spot Opal and Kyu just as the pixie volunteers herself as the King's new skald.

It seems like she has two serious rivals for the position. One is a young woman who looks every inch an adventuring bard, decked out with rapier, breastplate and slashed doublet. The other is a softly-spoken faerie, ostensibly from the Ancient Order of Pranksters. An impromptu competition springs up as someone whips out a tambourine and the King reclines on his throne. The musician (who isn't very good, but clearly intends to provide accompaniment to all of the contestants) intones:

"A verse, a verse, the pressure's on
Four lines to prove that you're the one
It's ladies first so let us see
What you have got, little pixie!"

You'll need a Charisma (Performance) check, as well.

[Pyon]

Kyu bows slightly and clears her throat. First she thought of the best songs she'd heard. There were pretty ones about cute girls and boys, there were adventurous and heroic ones. Why not combine both?

"Your Highness, and noble people of the court. I bring you the tale of a little adventurous pixie. Not an adventurer per se, more of a traveler. I'd be glad to tell of her tales and more."

"Small, cute, pretty as can be
She traveled around merrily
Until she was trapped by evil Drow
She awaited for a hero to set her free!"




Using tides of chaos!

Performance: [roll0]
Tides of Chaos: [roll1]

[WindStruck]

"Eh, a hidden mark? But then to prove you made it, it would have to be revealed anyway and spoil the whole secret. I mean, what would give them the right to just copy your labels and claim it was made by you? That's lying. And fraud, isn't it?"

As for the magic she was talking about, it certainly wasn't anything Astra was familiar with. And unless all it took was some kind of simple cantrip, it would probably be quite an expensive waste...

[Majin]

Kor decides to listen to Kyu and the other two artists' performance.

"Hey, she's talking about us!" Kor whispers to Orianna and grins.

[tgva8889]

Orianna nods and gives a smile back to Kor, though it's tinted with a bit of concern. Though she initially doesn't understand what's going on, she picks up quickly, trying to follow the cadence of Kyu's words and the beat which proves harder than anticipated given the lack of skill on the musician's part.

[Ninja_Prawn]

The bard scoffs.

"Oh helpless maiden, you should quit
For our great King you are not fit
Far better choose a bard like me
To sing the news of royalty"
Charisma (Performance): [roll0]

Apparently mud-slinging is fair game here, then. The prankster goes next...

"You both are wrong and here's a twist:
Something perhaps we all have missed
There is no way the King can trust
A stranger who's come here but just"
Charisma (Performance): [roll1]

The King clears his throat and stands, suspending the contest. He talks in plain speech, to emphasise the point. "Actually, that is one of the things I want to speak about today. Or two things, really: strangers, and trust. It seems that both are in short supply at present... but I have deemed these travellers worthy to stand in my Court, and I would like to take this opportunity to announce that they will be serving me as envoys forthwith."

There is an eruption of chatter at this point, but if you spoke up, you are sure people would listen.
"I wouldn't put it beneath them," she mutters, "and I feel like we'd only have to catch them out once to prove the point. What makes you so sure we'll be 'fighting spiders soon' anyway?"

[WindStruck]

"I see! Maybe you'd have labels, but a special hidden mark in case.. if you're so sure they will try to copy it."

To the question of spiders, Astra says quite plainly, almost nonchalantly at first, "Oh, I don't know... Maybe the fact that the village of Pinkleaf was overrun by hordes of them?! The news I and my companions bring is not merely for show. These lands are under attack by drow and their minions."

[Stan]

Opal is surprised that her words this morning have already had such a large and public effect. She hopes she can handle what she is setting into motion. She looks around to see if any of her friends are here and are going to speak up. She's not the best candidate for a speech but one of them should say something. Maybe, she'd get the ball rolling and Kyu or someone can run with it.

Luckily, the King did not use rhyme - maybe that set the standard for the moment so she wouldn't have to. She raises her arm in the air and does a half turn at the waist then twists back to facing the front before talking. She's sure there's a spy from Reena present so she doesn't want to be so anti-Reena that it hampers their ability to negotiate.

"We are honored and hope to repay the Great King Soren's faith in us with great changes. With luck and effort, threats from drow and disagreements from rival courts will be quickly resolved and everyone can return to the joys of courtly affairs."

[Ninja_Prawn]

She struggles to process that information, stammering back to you "Pinkleaf... overrun... hordes?" Then she shakes herself out of it. "Well, just goes to show that you pixies need to toughen up a bit.

I take it you are planning some kind of daring quest to liberate the village, then? That's the sort of thing adventurers do, I gather. Well, you're welcome to browse our recipe books if you want - there are plenty of compounds in there with... adventuring applications."
One of the would-be skalds responds, "well now, that is a surprise. Where, pray tell, would Your Grace be sending these envoys?"

The King is tight-lipped. "That is a secret: I will not announce it before the Court." This, again, sets of a wave of speculation among the gathered faeries.

[Stan]

Opal gazes at the King with calm attentiveness. She has no intention of revealing what the king has chose not to.

[ooc] if things calm down a bit, Opal wanders about in search of either Cloverfield or the others. If she finds Cloverfield and can talk privately, she reveals that she will be meeting with the king tomorrow morning regarding their envoy role (though he probably knows anyway). She also tries to signal Kyu to follow her and help find the others so they can arrange a private talk later.

[Pyon]

Kyu turns a mocking grin towards the other bard, loving the fact that they are trusted with secrets and everyone else is not. If the contest is over Kyu will join Opal but if not, she will stay and try her luck at another song.

[WindStruck]

Astra looks at the guild woman with mouth agape, almost speechless. "Toughen up a bit, are you mad?! I'm not talking about pixie soldiers and militia men! I'm talking about a village of innocent pixies, women, children, refugees from other attacks!"

"Look, madam guildmistress... I don't mean any disrespect.. but this land simply has no time for courtly bickering, guilds scheming for power, and race slandering. I beg you to cooperate with the arcane chirugeons because at this point, it doesn't matter who makes the anti-venom. The king's soldiers will need it just as much, if not moreso than weapons and armor."

persuasion: [roll0]

to bring about a revolutionary change of heart!

With that said, Astra finally calms down a bit. "I... I think I will see what you have now, however. Thank you."

So I guess she'll look at those "adventuring compounds" while she's at it.

[tgva8889]

Orianna stays silent as Opal comes forward, more interested in observing and gauging the crowd than presenting herself just yet. Her brow furrows a bit as she looks about. She whispers to Kor, "I'm not sure what to make of what's happening. It appears we're to be trusted with a mission, but from what Daved told us I suspect it will not be one that helps bring things together. Unless our friends have had luck convincing the court."

Insight to gauge what's going on with King Soren: [roll0]
Also a second roll, if necessary, to gauge the crowd's reaction: [roll1]

[Ninja_Prawn]

"I suppose you make a robust case," she concedes. "I will... reach out... to the chirugeons and see if we can come to a compromise."

You take a look at one of the books of alchemical formulae (Cazzok's Cogent Compounds, Volume II). The contents page lists the following compounds: Bottled Starlight, Bottled Twilight, Dust of Disappearance, Dust of Dryness, Dust of Sneezing and Choking, Feather Powder, Invisible Ink, Oil of Slipperiness, Potion of Animal Friendship, Potion of Fire Breath. You could probably memorise one of the formulae this afternoon, if you wanted to.
The King notices Kyu's situation and says: "oh, yes, the contest is over. I choose her as my new skald." He indicates the bard who went second as the winner. "Now then..."

The Court proceeds to deal with some matters that don't particularly interest you. Opal is able to sneak a message to Cloverfield, who gives her a small smile but is generally too busy to talk. Orianna struggles to intuit anything specific from the atmosphere in the room, but it's apparent that the King is very much in charge of what's going on and appears to be playing the room quite deliberately. There is much speculation about what you will be tasked to do; many have deduced correctly that you will be sent to speak to Reena's Court. Such a move does not seem like it would be popular among the nobles.

[tgva8889]

Orianna beckons to Kor, then carefully makes her way around the room to Opal. She puts a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Glad to see you are doing all right. What did you think of the performance?" At her comment she gives a motion towards Kyu, her face a usual subdued stone. She gives the room a look, then asks, "Have you seen Astra?"

[Pyon]

Returning to the others Kyu shakes her head. "I saw her yesterday, but not today. We were given mountains of paper work to join this guild and that. I slipped out as fast as I could to do something more fun. I found a secret passage with some rooms and treasure though!"

[Majin]

"Yeah, but we don't really have to obey if they want us to do something nasty".

"Hey, that was a nice performance! You really got friendly with the king, huh?" Kor says to Kyu. "A secret passage? That sounds fun! You have to show that to me! How secret is that treasure? Do you think anyone would mind if some went missing?"

Kor glances around. "But maybe we could some more quiet place to talk. And grab bite. All the serious talk this morning made me hungry"

[Pyon]

"I just wanted to talk about our adventures a bit. I bet if I had more than verses I could have told a story that the king would have loved." Kyu pouted. "The treasure was in this room and it smelled. I bet your nose could pick out what it was, we can go there later!"

[tgva8889]

Orianna nods at Kor's notion, glad to have a friend at these times. She seems to loosen a bit at his suggestion of disagreement; it was an option she hadn't really considered but now found quite reasonable.

Orianna nods, suddenly finding a hunger she had suppressed in all the excitement. "Yes, perhaps food might be in order. Does anyone know of any place good to eat that we might find some quiet?"

[Stan]

Opal nods enthusiastically at at Kor's suggestion. "Yes, we should fill each other in on events so far in a private setting. And I'm always up for eating, especially if it's more than trail rations. But I guess we should wait until Court is over, so as not to appear rude."

[Majin]

"Smelled?" Kor sniffs the air, trying to catch any odd scents.

Perception: [roll0]

"Let's just ask someone about a eating after the court's finished".

[WindStruck]

Instead of trying to commit any one recipe to memory, Astra takes out her six sheets of parchment paper and begins jotting down the recipes with her ink and quill. At least she was somewhat focused on also maintaining legible handwriting.

She copies down, in the order of what caught her fancy the most:

Bottled Starlight
Potion of Animal Friendship
Oil of Slipperiness
Dust of Disappearance
Feather Powder
Dust of Dryness
Bottled Twilight
Invisible Ink
Dust of Sneezing and Choking
Potion of Fire Breath

Astra quickly realized she wasn't going to have enough paper. So the brilliant thing she did was flip the oldest recipe over and write on the back. She gave the last a few moments for the ink to dry. Now with a bunch of alchemical recipes copied down on loose parchment paper, she tried to neatly tuck them in her book, making a haphazard ad hoc recipe tome.

Hm. How long had all this taken? Was there anything else she might be able to do today...?

[Ninja_Prawn]

Courtly business continues. Among other things, there is an intense stand-off between the King and some representatives from the Honourable Guild of Blacksmiths regarding the allocation of resources. Eventually, the King relents on his demand of a new set of instruments for his brass band and agrees that weapons production should be stepped up. At this point, Lady Applehoney kicks up a fuss about who will have access to the new arsenal, receiving only obfuscations and excuses in return.

The only thing you can smell at the moment is the bewildering array of perfume being worn by the faerie nobility. There are all sorts of scents: not just fruits and flowers, but also more earthy tones like nuts, leather and... possibly even literal soil. That's some impressive dedication to fashion right there.
As the Court winds down, you obtain a few recommendations for places to eat this evening. From what you can gather, Shimae's Grand Hall of Grander Songs is the place to trade gossip and swap stories, but The Bittersweet Buffet has the best chefs in the conclave.
The loose pages stuffed into your book give it a somewhat ragged appearance - just like the spellbooks of the famous wizards of old! Hopefully they'll come in handy in the future.

You check the time (there are magical clocks in the Guildhall) and determine that you have a few hours left this evening to use however you please.

[WindStruck]

Hmm, what to do now. Astra realized she hadn't seen the others for the whole day. Maybe it would be best to try and find them.

So, Astra spends the rest of the evening asking around where her friends are. She figures that Orianna, Opal, and Kor would stand out a lot, and someone ought to have seen them...

[Stan]

"Does anyone have any objections to The Bittersweet Buffet? It sounds like it will be quieter and have fewer people intentionally trying to overhear our conversations. We can all fill each other in."