Silly Plots 3: With government backing we can make it very silly

[Gullara]

[Adir's Dream]

Cassie looks up at him with a fearful look. He's gotta remember her. "It's me, daddy. It's Cassie." She grabs on his arm and tugs. "Where's mommy? Why'd you look different?" She looks up at him with tears streaming down her cheeks.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Felix's Tower]

"Hmm. Not sure why size would be an issue with-" Felix is interrupted by a flurry of fluttering wings, as a swarm of sparrows descends and...waits patiently on the fencing surrounding them.

"Oh, that time already?" Felix reaches into a pocket and scatters a handful of seed across the ground. The little birds swoop down to enjoy their breakfast.

"Right, yes, where were we? Fields! Yes, well, with only so much time on one's hands, any mage does have to specialise to a certain degree, that's true. But a wise wizard keeps the material on hand to read up on all forms of magic. So with a little time I'm sure I can figure out what this rotten sort had on hand, and whether it's dangerous." Sounds like that's a yes to books then. Felix pauses mid-munch of toast and sets his breakfast down again. "Well, I wouldn't normally enquire. Honestly, I might've just teleported you straight home if I'd been up but since you're here, what's been the difficulty for you in picking anything up from these books? There's not many with the aptitude to get too far without any teaching, but I'd expect most people to be able to pick up a simple trick or two on their own."

[Deathkeeper]

[Felix’s Tower]

Krayger manages to look embarrassed. It’s an expression strikingly similarly to one his nephew makes often.
”I, well. I suppose that I’ve been afraid of trying too hard to learn something only to find out that I should have been trying this instead of that why did you think that conjuring or fire or whatever was for you? Or something. And maybe I’m just so used to working with my hands that working on the immaterial is a daunting prospect. I...am probably overthinking it.” Maybe that was why his age was a problem. He knows too much about other things.

[Murkus]

[Adir's Dream]

Cassie looks up at him with a fearful look. He's gotta remember her. "It's me, daddy. It's Cassie." She grabs on his arm and tugs. "Where's mommy? Why'd you look different?" She looks up at him with tears streaming down her cheeks.

[Adir's Dream]

"Cassie," Adir blinks at her. His hair starts to turn white, at least. It bleeds onto his head like paint dripping. "Cassie, sweetie," He pushes out of his chair and kneels down in front of her. His dreams and his memories collide. "Oh, don't cry. We're gonna be okay. It's all gonna be okay now that you're here..." He tries to pull her into a quick hug.

"Wait," something like lucidity brushes his words. "How are you here? And who's your friend?"

[Rebonack]

[Adir's Dream]

That flicker of lucidity helps a lot.

Melissa doesn't feel like she's about to disintegrate into a million pieces anymore, but she doesn't exactly feel great.

"My name's Melissa, Mister Cassie's Dad," the cat-tailed little girl replies.

It's always important to be polite.

"I met Cassie when she got lost in the Weild and we're trying to help each other get home."

She knows Cassie's name now.

BUT!

She didn't ask for it. That's the important part. Knowing something and owning something are different things.

[Shadowcaller]

[An Epic Journey]

Ambrosia and Petrus make their return. The man starting to address them first. "We've made a decision. Lady Ithil will take the wood you're interested in and journey with you back to your employeer. There she will bargain with them exclusively for the rights to the material. Is that alright with you?" He looks to Willa and Corvus.

[Deathkeeper]

[An Epic Journey]

Willa crosses her arms, satisfied.
”That’s fine. I believe you know where my employer is, Miss Ithil. Do you have your own transportation or should Corvus and I be arranging our own?” she asks.

[Gullara]

[Adir's Dream]

Cassie nods as Melissa speaks. "A monster grabbed me and pulled me under the bed to a bad place. And the bad people took me away. There was other kids in a cage." She clings to her dad like she might get swept away from him. "I ran away, but I'm lost. Take me home, daddy!" She wails.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[An Epic Journey]

Corvus shrugs and nods. It makes no difference to him just how the material is acquired, just so that he can work it into some armor Dena can use, so they can get the venom they need.

"As long as it's fine with Willa, I have no objections."

[Murkus]

[Adir's Dream]

"I don't... I don't get it. I've never had a nightmare like this before..." More of Adir's waking mind bleeds through, and he seems to shimmer, growing a bit larger. His eyes flash their glacial blue shade.

"You can't have gotten taken away, baby. I tucked you in. I just saw you after Laurana... woke us up..." He flinches as though he's hurting, anxiety pinching a deep furrow in the center of his forehead. He looks up at Melissa. Instinct helps guide him, but it would seem sensible (if any of this were real, of course) to ask, "Where did you say?"

[Morty]

[An Epic Journey]

"Makes no difference to me, as long as I can learn something," Thariza declares.

[Rebonack]

[Adir's Dream]

"I met her out in the Weald," Melissa repeats.

The more the dream gets broken the easier it is for her to be here. By now it's only a dull ache instead of feeling like she'll disintegrate at any moment.

"In the Dreamlands, just off the King's Road. We played some make-believe and she asked a rock to take us to your dream but it tried to cheat her like a butt and I told it to be fair."

That probably isn't the most coherent explanation around. Alas, that is how the Dreamlands do. She glances over at 'Blue' then to Adir again.

"This is really real, Mister Cassie's Dad. And that's really Cassie and we REALLY need your help!" Melissa pleads. "We're both stuck in the Dreamlands for reals and we just want to go home."

Melissa isn't sure how someone would get rescued from the Dreamlands...

But!

If Cassie's dad is anything like her dad then he's probably super smart and super strong and he can probably figure out something!

[Slii Arhem]

From the Dragons Den to Safety

After a relatively uneventful escape from the Black Dragon's Den, Corvin has led his new pals Domhnall and Annabelle into a nearly nearby after hours clinic where, true to his agent's promise, they're expecting Annabelle and have a mage specialist on the way. A few of the staff have been earmarked for this after explaining how the curse transmits from person to person, and are safely in the camp of not being especially likely to be interested in her looks.

If they manage to fail at this, they've been offered hazard pay enough to cover the specialist's services for themselves as well. He's likely to make a mint out of this one.

"And then I said to her "Darling, that's not my cat!" The joke's rather tasteless, but he's hoping to put at least a hint of a smile on Annabelle's rather gloomy face. He expects nothing less than a groan from Dom.

[Halae]

Annabelle is curled up on one of the clinic chairs, her hawk on her shoulder comforting her. Corvin's dumb jokes seem to be having some effect, at least - while she feels terrible physically, he's managed to cheer her up somewhat. Enough for a smile, at least.

"You're incorrigible," Annabelle says with amusement in her voice. Said voice is still a little off, since she's hung over now, and she's thoroughly wrapped up in her robe and the tablecloth Corvin got for her. Her face is still bloody from where the nose had broken earlier, but Domhnall's spell has kept it from getting any worse, at least.

[Deathkeeper]

Clinic

Domhnall rolls his eyes and says nothing. He's plenty happy to let Annabelle off his back and into the hands of the specialists.
"So, what now? I'm no help from here...but not sure if I should go back out there alone tonight." he asks Corvin, having immediately dropped his coat and belt onto a chair the moment they were inside the clinic. Maybe it's not entirely appropriate, but he wouldn't think of that. It'll give them something to look at, but he'd only maybe think of that.

[Gullara]

[Adir's Dream]

"I don't... I don't get it. I've never had a nightmare like this before..." More of Adir's waking mind bleeds through, and he seems to shimmer, growing a bit larger. His eyes flash their glacial blue shade.

"You can't have gotten taken away, baby. I tucked you in. I just saw you after Laurana... woke us up..." He flinches as though he's hurting, anxiety pinching a deep furrow in the center of his forehead. He looks up at Melissa. Instinct helps guide him, but it would seem sensible (if any of this were real, of course) to ask, "Where did you say?"

[Adir's Dream]

"I met her out in the Weald," Melissa repeats.

The more the dream gets broken the easier it is for her to be here. By now it's only a dull ache instead of feeling like she'll disintegrate at any moment.

"In the Dreamlands, just off the King's Road. We played some make-believe and she asked a rock to take us to your dream but it tried to cheat her like a butt and I told it to be fair."

That probably isn't the most coherent explanation around. Alas, that is how the Dreamlands do. She glances over at 'Blue' then to Adir again.

"This is really real, Mister Cassie's Dad. And that's really Cassie and we REALLY need your help!" Melissa pleads. "We're both stuck in the Dreamlands for reals and we just want to go home."

Melissa isn't sure how someone would get rescued from the Dreamlands...

But!

If Cassie's dad is anything like her dad then he's probably super smart and super strong and he can probably figure out something!

[Adir's Dream]

Cassie shakes her head. He's saying more things that don't make sense. "It was a monster, and and-" She has to sputter for air, barely able to slip words past her sobs now. "It said it was gonna go back and get Laurana and-" She buries her face against him again.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Felix’s Tower]

Krayger manages to look embarrassed. It’s an expression strikingly similarly to one his nephew makes often.
”I, well. I suppose that I’ve been afraid of trying too hard to learn something only to find out that I should have been trying this instead of that why did you think that conjuring or fire or whatever was for you? Or something. And maybe I’m just so used to working with my hands that working on the immaterial is a daunting prospect. I...am probably overthinking it.” Maybe that was why his age was a problem. He knows too much about other things.

[Felix's Tower]

"Hmm, well if you've never really sat down and really tried to get to grips with it..." Felix idly toys with his beard as he muses over this. "That's understandable. It's all well and good me saying most people ought to be able to pick up some very basic magic with just some time and a book, but structured learning does help some people a lot. Still, I wonder if a more practical means of magic might suit you. I'm quite accomplished at golemancy, and that's something where the craftmanship of the golem is very important. If you build it right, it only takes a little spark to bring it to life. And I have a few books on artificing, of course-"

Felix blinks and looks up from his toast.

"Oh dear. Look at me rambling away like this. I must be terribly boring."

[Deathkeeper]

[Felix’s Tower]

Felix looking up finds the much bigger man looking at him quite intently. Krayger has been told that some find minotaurs’ intelligent eyes set in their bestial faces unnerving, but it hasn’t really come up in a long time.
”Please, not at all. You’ve already given me more help than anyone I’ve formally asked to teach me. I’d quite given up on learning anything at all.” he flashes a small smile.
”But despite yesterday’s delivery business I’m afraid my quarters are a rather long trip away. If you lend me any of your books they might not be back for a while.” He’s not wrong. It took him hours to get out here.

[Murkus]

Adir's Dream]

Adir tries to pick up his sobbing daughter and squeeze her close. He looks like he does in the waking world, now. Consequently the pull of that realm is stronger than ever, but Adir doesn't seem to be going anywhere just yet. He won't go without a fight.

He draws Cassie back from him, cradled in the firm pocket of his arm, safe where no one can touch her. He glances from her to Melissa, but doesn't ask anything yet. Let Cassie calm down a moment. Then...

"Okay. I believe you. Now I need you both to tell me, very carefully, everything that you see. Back where this magic rock is... tell me what it all looks like." He looks at Cassie in the eyes. "It's okay. Don't be scared. After that, I need to know about these nasty people who took you..." A pause. "In fact, tell me about them first, Cassie. Now this is very important. I need to know what they look like. How big they are. Anything special you remember about them..."

"This is going to get very hard, Cassie. You're probably going to go back, and I won't be with you any more... but I need you to hide. If they find you, don't fight them. Don't make them angry. Be brave. Be brave. If they go away, go back to the road. Look for help. Both of you." The stag doesn't know if there's help to be had... but he has to hope.

"...There was one other thing," he adds. He rocks Cassie a little, kneeling there with her. This question seems to be solely for Melissa. He repeats, "I... I think... I tucked Cassie in. I kissed her goodnight after Laurana... she screamed." He sounds a bit woozy. Remembering waking stuff while asleep makes him dizzy. "But if you're really here, and she's really there... who is she? Do you know anything about that?"

[Gullara]

[Adir's Dream]

Cassie nods and does her best to stifle her tears. "There was a road with lots of little rocks, with big trees by it. But when I ran away there was lots of white trees, with black spots. And some stairs." The girl sniffles and rubs her nose with her arm. "The monster was hairy with long arms and a hat. They called him Hobbins. And there was a lady with legs like mine called Taxi. And one had a stick and yelled a lot. And there was a talking horse with a big mouth that pulled the cage. And... I can't 'member more."

[Rebonack]

[Adir's Dream]

Okay.

Okay good the dream is about to come apart.

That means Melissa should be okay! Not disinitigrating is pretty great.

Then she realizes that Cassie's dad is talking to her maybe?

"Umm... I only got stuck here a little while ago. Some bad goblins attacked my school," she says. Depending on how well Adir keeps up with Inside news he might be aware that a group of nasty fae had hit an elementary school Inside and kidnapped a bunch of kids. VIGIL had been involved. But it was several years ago. "But my brother's friends with a fae and I've heard them talking about stuff before. Sometimes when a fae takes someone away they leave a thingy behind that looks like the person they took but it isn't. I don't remember what they're called. That's what my brother's friend is. One of the left-behind things."

A changeling.

Melissa is describing a changeling.

[Shadowcaller]

[An Epic Journey]

Willa crosses her arms, satisfied.
”That’s fine. I believe you know where my employer is, Miss Ithil. Do you have your own transportation or should Corvus and I be arranging our own?” she asks.

[An Epic Journey]

Corvus shrugs and nods. It makes no difference to him just how the material is acquired, just so that he can work it into some armor Dena can use, so they can get the venom they need.

"As long as it's fine with Willa, I have no objections."

[An Epic Journey]

"Makes no difference to me, as long as I can learn something," Thariza declares.

[An Epic Journey]

"We're got a deal then." Petrus declares and turns to Ambrosia. "I'll go and talk to Ikharos to make the proper arangements."
Ambrosia nods. "Indeed. Unfortunately, I don't have my own means of transportation so I will not to rely on you for that." She glances at the horses which brought them here. "I assume we're going to be using those?" Even if they technically weren't their horses.

[Deathkeeper]

[An Epic Journey]

Willa shakes her head.
”No, we don’t need them. Besides, they belong to our guide. Get everything you need and meet me over there. This is a one way trip. We passed a clearing a while back that is open enough for our needs and isn’t full of....guh, bodies.” she remembers the scene around them and gags.
She points the way for Ambrosia and Thariza. Then she heads out unless stopped to make the circle that the angel instructed her to make to be returned home.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[An Epic Journey]

Corvus looks to Thariza as Willa turns to go set up the portal.

"Will you require assistance with the materials? I am happy to lend some muscle if need be."

[Morty]

[An Epic Journey]

"I should probably proudly represent the Iron Legion training by carrying it all, but I won't say no," Thariza says, shrugging.

[Murkus]

[Adir's Dream]

"That's fine, Cassie, that's good," he says, and favors her with a smile. He seems to eye Melissa, but there's no trace of recognition on his face. He keeps up with the news, sure, but not well enough to remember a specific feyish kidnapping from years ago.

The second part of what Melissa says pierces him like a knife. Yes, he recognizes those traits. He remembers the tales of his youth much more clearly than old news, but then, don't we all?

"I know what that is! My family has even seen a few! But it might not be the same here as it is back home..." Adir remembers... and his body starts to waver, wobbling like a mirage. "Oh, no. Listen, Melissa. I'm trusting you to take care of Cassie... keep her safe... please..."

He lifts his daughter a little higher and she can feel his lips touch her forehead. "I'm coming. You better believe it. I'm gonna come as fast as I can..."

Adir has just enough time to lower Cassie back down before he fades, and the dream melts apart around them.

[Shadowcaller]

[An Epic Journey]

"I can make sure equipment and such are carried if that's going to be an issue." Ambrosia offers. "But meanwhile, I'm going to exchange a few words with Ikharos while you are preparing the portal. Excuse me one moment." She turns to leave and Petrus makes a bow.
"So this is your farewell then. On behalf of my research group I thank you for helping us against the raiders. If there is anything you need before you leave, I might be able to give you some provisions or perhaps a horse or two."
But if that isn't the case, he will leave with Ambrosia.

Though the scholar won't be gone for very long. She will soon return carrying a large piece of green colored wood in her arms. The objective of their quest.

[Rebonack]

[Adir's Dream]

"Okay Mister Cassie's Dad, I will," Melissa replies with a firm nod. "We'll BOTH get home."

Around Cassie the dream begins coming apart. It's an incredibly strange process, everything unweaving into shimmer strands and gossamer and glittering specks of golden stand, all of which go 'falling' up into the sky. By the time it's done, the children find themselves standing in a glade, a wide grassy meadow surrounded by trees so tightly growing that they may as well be a wall. In the middle of the meadow stands an old, rundown hunting lodge with a huge, ancient tree growing through the middle of it, its leaves gradually fading to yellow at the tips.

Not to far away, set into the face of the hedge surrounding the glade, is a tall white door.

"We're still in his dream glade," Melissa says, glancing around.

She hadn't ever actually been in a dream glade before.

Aside from her own of course. When she was still just a little girl. But she hadn't ever recognized it as that before.

That requires a degree of lucidity that she never had.

[Deathkeeper]

[An Epic Journey]

Willa smiles and accepts Corvus’ help.
”Thank you, but I shouldn’t need any extra supplies if everything works as promised.”
Willa shouldn’t have trouble making the circle and calling just as she was instructed when this whole thing began.
She just has to hope that the extra passengers aren’t a problem.

[Gullara]

[An Epic Journey]

As soon as the circle is complete, the space above it begins to fill up with a thick, greasy smoke. A voice emerges. "Ah... Is it time at last?" The voice is a low and quiet. Those gathered might feel a sense of vertigo looking into the smoke.

- - - Updated - - -

[Adir's Dream]

When her dad is gone, Cassie just stands there for a moment, tears streaming down her totally dejected face. He couldn't take her with him. She sniffles and looks at Melissa when she speaks. "What's that?" A dream glade?