005: Nothing but flowers

[Sierra]

<El-Cideon> The guestroom at Marina's house is a little slice of (mostly) home hidden away in Arborea--finely-carved furniture of aged wood that looks to have been in the family for some time, actual mattresses! There are multiple beds in one big open room, but surely by now everyone's used to not having much privacy while traveling. Curtained windows open up on the backyard, and the walls are adorned with several paintings done with exquisite detail: one is of a lord and lady dressed in noble finery, likely Marina's parents to judge by the woman; another is a panoramic view of the royal castle in Solata; one is a landscape, evidently the local valley viewed from the peak of an impossibly high mountain; and the largest depicts a hot spring populated by comely nude elf maidens. (more)
<El-Cideon> After a night's rest, you're woken in the morning the arrival of Marina's avian companion, flying in through the door to take up residence at the head of Franceska's bed, rousing everyone with a raucous *plork.*
<Franceska> Having a chance to bathe properly, sleep in a nice bed and meet another human has lifted Franceska's spirits enough that she merely chases the bird away with a wave, stretching.
<Stephanie> Stephanie bounces off the bed, landing smoothly into her unlaced boots!
<El-Cideon> "You know," a yawning Rosemund says, "Canterbury here is very noisy. It had not occurred to me how grateful I should be that Fran and Julia have more silent companions."
<Julia> Getting up in a leisurely fashion, Julia takes some time to brush her hair before dressing as she replies to Rosemund, "Thing knows that Things should not be heard. Or even seen most of the time. Still, perhaps he is summoning us on behalf of Marina?"
<Stephanie> "Looks that way! You think it's an emergency?" replies Stephanie, who appears to have slept in her clothes, hat and all.
<El-Cideon> The bird flaps its wings insistently!
<Stephanie> "It is! It totally is," she declares, grabbing her arming belt from the corner and skipping out the room.
<Julia> "Hopefully just a call to breakfast," the now sombrely dressed Julia rises and stretches before slinging her bag over her shoulder and heading for the door. "Lead on, Canterbury?"
* Franceska takes the time to dress, giving Stephanie an incredulous look. "What possible emergency could there be?"
<Stephanie> "What, you're asking that when there's a bunch of elves having a carnival out the front?"
<Franceska> "Oh. I thought that was just a nightmare from last night."
<Stephanie> "The nightmare will never end until we leave Arborea," replies Stephanie, with a sage nod.
<Franceska> "Yes. Well. We had best follow, then."
<El-Cideon> Canterbury flaps his way downstairs and leads you to the backyard, taking up residence on a tree next to the steaming tub, which presently contains what looks to be a napping Marina. Canterbury announces your presence with a victorious squawk, at which point its master rouses with a start, submerges herself up to her neck and shoots her familiar a glare. "You ghastly beast! I told you to alert me when they woke, not bring them straight here!"
<Stephanie> Stephanie looks momentarily crestfallen. "We're not under attack?"
<Julia> "He actually woke us up himself," Julia adds. "Forgive us for the intrusion, though," she inclines her head and retreats back inside to give Marina her privacy.
<El-Cideon> "Oh, only our sense of common decency--" she starts, before the bird snatches a towel from the tree and drops it on her head. It disappears back indoors as its master splutters uselessly.
<Stephanie> "Best bird ever," mutters Stephanie, backing away inside once more.
<Franceska> "Do you need a hand?" Franceska offers. "Or we could just go wait for you elsewhere." In a place without elves, hopefully.
<Julia> "Amazing that Thing is more well behaved than a heavenly bird..." Julia comments with a shake of her head, looking down at the small bat clutching to the folds of her robe's sleeve. There's a certain gleam in the familiar's eye in response to that statement, but surely it's nothing...
<El-Cideon> She removes the towel and straightens out her hair. "Oh, I am perfectly capable of drying myself off," she says. "Unless you're offering to assist, of course?"
<Stephanie> "Well, it's probably some weird elf bird with pointy ears," replies Stephanie, thoughtfully.
<Julia> "Perhaps so," Julia hums, moving further inside as she can still hear Marina's invitation to Franceska from where she is just through the door.
<El-Cideon> "That cannot be," Rosemund points out, "because birds do not have ears. So how does one tell if it is an elf bird?"
<Stephanie> "They don't?"
<Franceska> "I was thinking more along the lines of helping bring you a robe," Franceska admits. "But you do seem to have everything well in hand." Nodding to herself, she leaves their host to dry off in peace.
<El-Cideon> "Well, when is the last time you saw a bird with ears?" Rosemund challenges as Franceska returns.
<Julia> "Well... no earlobes anyway?" Julia posits. "What other traits identify elves, then?"
<Stephanie> "I figured they had really, really small ones!"
<Franceska> "Haughtiness," Franceska says instantly upon rejoining the others.
<Franceska> "Oh, and we must not forget a casual disregard for the rules."
<Stephanie> Stephanie furrows her brow. "They live pretty much forever, they're kind of skinny, and they're self-righteous knowitalls who don't explain why they do things?"
<El-Cideon> "You must admit," Rosemund says to Franceska, "that if every person followed all the rules all the time, it would make a very dull world, would it not?"
<Julia> "Canterbury does look fairly well fed..."
<El-Cideon> Canterbury, sitting on the bannister of the central staircase, does not like the sound of this statement and chooses to go visit the frontyard.
<Franceska> "I must?"
<El-Cideon> "Well, yes!" Rosemund says, perplexed that there could be any dispute on this account.
<Stephanie> "At the very least, if everyone followed the rules, you'd be out of a job and be stuck at home all day?"
<Franceska> "Ah, yes. That sounds... terrible."
<Julia> "Many rules are quite unnecessarily restrictive, I feel. Perhaps if they were merely a bit loosened then no one would have to break them?" Julia posits with a smile.
<Stephanie> "Eh, as long as one guy's got a bigger stick than another guy, there's always gonna be bullshit rules," muses Stephanie.
<El-Cideon> Eventually Marina reappears, dressed in a gown colored the shifting blues of ocean waves, precisely as well-tailored and modest as her previous attire. "Has everyone eaten? Are we prepared to embark?" she asks.
<Stephanie> "Mmhmm!"
<Julia> Julia hasn't... but well if people are ready to go she won't slow them down. There are fruit and nut bars she can chew on as they go!
<El-Cideon> Setting out for fairy country, Marina leads you downriver until it pools into a sparkling lake that stretches farther than the eye can see, mountains somewhere in the distance on the other side. There is a bridge here, leading across the river to the east, woven or perhaps grown from twisting grass and reeds and vines.
<Stephanie> Stephanie takes a moment to skip off the path and take a look underneath the bridge.
<El-Cideon> "It will be most of a day's walk before we reach our destination," Marina says. "If you would not mind, would you tell me a little about yourselves as we walk? Oh, and about Solata? I have little memory of it. What season would it be now? We don't have them at all here, you see. Forgive me my curiosity, I so rarely have human guests."
<Julia> "I think it best if we take the bridge one at a time," Julia suggests, not trusting the grassy construction.
<El-Cideon> Stephanie sees a decided lack of hidden treasure or trolls or any such otherwise common under-bridge decorations. There is plenty of water! And the bridge itself seems curiously able to hold itself up without support beams from below.
<Julia> "Oh, it is Autumn, the delightful season where leaves turn hues of red and gold to give a wonderful display as they die," Julia supplies with a bright smile.
<Stephanie> "We're safe! No trolls!" replies Stephanie, skipping back. "It's the right time to sell blankets and thick clothes!" she adds.
<El-Cideon> "Oh, I see," she says, sounding unnerved somehow by the nature of Julia's description.
<Franceska> "You prefer autumn, then? I think winter is the best of all seasons, with the whitest snow covering everything," Franceska muses.
<El-Cideon> "Spring is the best!" Rosemund insists. "When everything is coming back to life and color is everywhere."
<Julia> "Winter is nice when you have that nice fluffy white snow, or intricate natural shapes of ice hanging from branches and roofs," Julia allows, "But when it all turns to slush and sleet it loses its lustre."
<Stephanie> "Winter's the worst," voices Stephanie, rolling her eyes. "The roads are all snowed over and people freeze to death everywhere. Hard to think about how pretty it all is when it's like that. Now, I guess I should say summer so we're all squared away... but nah, I'm with Rosie on this one."
<Franceska> "I would put the blame squarely on spring for that," Franceska says primly. "All that life coming to be is quite messy."
<El-Cideon> "Well, Stephanie, it is quite easy to judge winter the nicest of all when one is snug and warm inside her mansion," Rosemund points out, with a less than subtle nod towards Franceska.
<Franceska> "Everything looks beautiful outside, and I get a considerable deal less visitors," Franceska agrees.
<El-Cideon> Rosemund bravely tests the bridge and sets out east! It does not visibly budge beneath her armored weight.
<Julia> Waiting until Rosemund is almost fully across, Julia begins her own crossing.
<Stephanie> Stephanie rolls her eyes, and when Julia is over, she skips along after her.
<El-Cideon> "Ah, it's quite safe," Marina says, walking alongside Julia by way of demonstration. "I've watched a whole troupe of elves migrate from one side to the other, it didn't shake a hair's breadth."
* Franceska catches up to them afterwards.
<Julia> "Who knew that grass could be so strong?" Julia muses. "Anyway, you wished to know more about us as well? I myself am the child of the Astins, my father a knight and my mother a healer, they both worked hard during our nation's troubles to aid others and alleviate their suffering. I learned at the foot of my mother and can consider myself to be a skilled healer for most mundane troubles,
<Julia> though the magic of it eludes me."
<El-Cideon> It's actually quite a long bridge--for several minutes river sounds are all you hear around you, until birdsong resumes on the other side.
<El-Cideon> "Oh yes?" Marina says, sounding impressed. "Helping others is a most noble calling, don't you think?"
<Stephanie> "Mmhmm, mmhmm!"
<El-Cideon> "Ah, I spend most of my days at the temple, doing the same work as Julia," Rosemund adds, for her part. "Only with magic, so it feels less like work...I have not spent much time outside of my aunt's house otherwise, to be honest."
<Julia> "It is nice, and I find the inner workings of our bodies to be fascinating all on its own, so I can fully say that I find my work to be rewarding. This excursion here with Rosemund and her friends is rather a break from the norm, but it's been exciting so far," the gloomy necromancer-slash-healer says with a serene smile.
<Franceska> "I spend most of my days in the same place as well," Franceska says. "Researching, usually, and studying as well. Sometimes I'm forced to leave and go to court, but Darrin is very good about being my proxy in everything that usually requires travel."
<El-Cideon> Across the river, flowers quickly become more common. All varieties and all colors in a wild riot of disorganized plant growth, they dominate the landscape ahead as forest gives way to rolling hills.
<El-Cideon> "'Court?'" Marina echoes with interest. "Royal, or legal?"
<Franceska> "The latter. You would not believe how many people are horrible and deserve to be sued or put away!"
<Stephanie> "Yeah, you really wouldn't!"
<Julia> "So do you win most of your cases, Franceska?" Julia asks curiously.
<El-Cideon> "No, I suppose I would not," she says. "I meet so few of them. Well, it sounds to me as though you all are overdue for a nice walk in the country, so I am pleased to be your guide. That there--" she points to a gnarled old tree thrusting up from a bed of grass ringed by rose bushes, "--is the sort of thing that we're looking for. Only without the tree, I'm told that means the fairy has passed on or vacated her realm. We want an empty ring."
<Stephanie> Stephanie laughs. "I'm traveling most days," she confides. "But it never gets old, ever. There's always something new over the hill."
<El-Cideon> "Of course she does," Rosemund insists. "Is there anyone you have met who is more stubborn?"
<Franceska> "Yes, as matter of fact," she responds to Julia. "Since I choose which case to take, I would not say it reflects particularly on any skills I might have." Franceska rolls her eyes at Rosemund's words. "Or yes, you could just call it stubbornness. I will take that as a compliment, Rosemund?"
<El-Cideon> "It can be one," she allows.
<Julia> "Ah, about that?" Julia perks up at Marina's explanation. "Does that mean if there is a tree it would still lead to a fairy realm, just an empty one?"
<El-Cideon> "Well, I don't know," she admits. "To tell the truth, I have never tried. I was always strongly cautioned not to deal with them more than necessary."
<Julia> "Ah. Better not to risk it frivolously, then."
<Stephanie> "Y-yeah, better not do that," echoes Stephanie.
<El-Cideon> The ground below you is now a steady carpet of flowers. This area is unsurprisingly a haven for bees, which repeatedly batter themselves silly against Rosemund's armor as she walks in the lead.
* Stephanie takes a moment to pick a multi-hued flower out, and sets it in her hat.
* Franceska regrets not thinking of casting a spell that repels local animals and insects.
<El-Cideon> "I'd like to repeat that you should be very careful what you choose to say to them," Marina adds. "An errant word may lead them to fancies wholly unanticipated. I find it best not to think of them as locals, really. More like...visiting neighbors."
<Stephanie> "Umm. What do we need to be careful of, precisely? Should we just say exactly what we mean?"
<Julia> "A good thing we have a lawyer who can make sure our words are precisely and legally clear in every sense so as to avoid misunderstanding!" Julia says with a beaming smile at Franceska.
<El-Cideon> To Stephanie: "Well, at best, you may find them utterly carried away by whatever idea has taken root in their heads, and henceforth unlikely to entertain further queries...or if you're rather too entertaining they may take a liking to you and decide you should stay with them for a short time, which by fairy standards can mean anything at all."
<Franceska> "I will try to ensure that your trust in me is not misplaced," Fraceska responds with a smile of her own.
<Stephanie> "Oh, I see, I see... they're like drunk people? Except they're drunk all the time?"
<El-Cideon> Marina only laughs brightly in confirmation.
<Stephanie> "Listen, Franzy, I've got your back for this one! I can deal with drunk people," says Stephanie, patting Franceska on the back and generally invading her personal space. "If you need a distraction, just say 'Sundown' and I'll get in there!"
<Franceska> "I will keep that in mind," she says dryly. "And you are too close. Far too close."
<El-Cideon> Noontime comes and goes, lunch with it and sometime late in the afternoon Marina stops the group atop a high hill. "Ah, there we are," she says, pointing to a hill a mile or so distant that looks crowned by stone structures of some kind. "When two or more fairy lords hold court, this is often the meeting site. We may find someone there. Or...if memory serves, Blackbird's ring should be another few miles east of here. Though I gather he's vacated the premises by now."
<Stephanie> "You know, maybe we should visit it first?" suggests Stephanie. "See if he left anything or anyone behind?"
<Franceska> "As you are the resident expert on drunk people, I am quite willing to follow your suggestion. Shall we, then?"
<Julia> "That sounds a good idea - we may find information that would put further weight to our words when it comes to negotiations with other fairies if nothing else," Julia agrees.
<El-Cideon> Marina nods, and the group veers due east. After another hour or so, and some rather inexact searching on Marina's part, you come upon a ring of dandelions on a mound of earth slightly raised above its surroundings. Within is just empty grass.
<Julia> "Well..." Julia trails off and shrugs before hopping over the dandelions and on top of the mound.
* Franceska observes Marina to try and copy her actions so that she doesn't make a fool of herself.
<El-Cideon> Inside the ring, nothing changes. Outside of it *everything* changes. The sun above here is locked in a sunset of heartbreaking beauty and you cannot imagine that crimson orb ever deigning to shift from its current position. A mournful wind rustles through waist-high grass, brilliantly gold. Immediately before you is a castle, of sorts, a simple stone roundtower that wears its years poorly and looks ready to crumble at any second.
<El-Cideon> Marina follows Julia without hesitation.
* Franceska is right behind her, then!
* Stephanie can't possibly be left behind in those circumstances, and soon marches in after them. "W-woah! This is some prime real estate," she gushes, peering up at the castle. "Or maybe not," she admits. "Nice view, though. Really nice view."
<El-Cideon> Marina eyes the castle curiously. "Yes, it does make me wonder--how long does the realm persist without its master?"
<Franceska> "It would be nice, if only the castle could be brought back home...."
<Julia> "It's beautiful," Julia says sincerely at the sight of the castle standing on the very precipice of ruin.
<Stephanie> "Long enough for us to go looksies, I'm hoping," replies Stephanie, starting towards the tower.
<El-Cideon> "I do not think there is room in Stephanie's bag for that," Rosemund assumes.
<El-Cideon> The only visible entry is through a great wooden double-door, resting uneasily on its hinges. A dandelion sigil is carved upon it.
<Stephanie> Stephanie finds herself peering closely at the door, to make sure no awful surprises were left behind.
<Stephanie> roll 1d20+10 trapsearchgo
* Hatbot --> "Stephanie rolls 1d20+10 trapsearchgo and gets 29."12 [1d20=19]
<Stephanie> "This door is trapped! Unintentionally," muses Stephanie, pushing it carefully open. "It may possibly fall off and hit someone."
* Julia stands well back until it's fully open.
* Franceska ensures that Rosemund is nowhere near the path the treacherous door could take if it does fall.
<El-Cideon> The hinges creak ominously! But nothing untoward happens. Within is a great banquet hall, tinged ocher from the perpetual sunset. It is curiously devoid of furniture, save for a long wooden table covered with what looks to be the remains of some long-expired feast and some fine chandeliers up above. Opposite the front door, stairs wind upward.
<Stephanie> He's not going to be needing it now, and so Stephanie will be taking a moment to avail herself of any particularly nice-looking pieces of silverware...
<Julia> Entering now it seems safe, Julia takes a look around before advancing up the stairs. "Perhaps if we find his private chambers there will be something informative left behind?" she says hopefully.
* Franceska has Darrin take flight and examine the chandeliers. While her familiar keeps an eye out for them from above, Franceska will merely do her best to keep Rosemund safe from whatever the morally-loose locals might have left behind.
<El-Cideon> Darrin finds the chandeliers maintaining a very tenuous hold on the ceiling. It would not be wise for him to perch upon them, and it would be best not to walk under them.
<Franceska> He flies back to whisper it in Franceska's ear, whereupon she gives them a wary look. "It might be for the best to avoid anything hanging from the ceiling, and give it a wide berth," she voices.
* Julia pays heed to those words!
<Stephanie> "You're on! Or maybe a study? Or a gallery, a gallery would be it," reflects Stephanie, following after Julia.
<El-Cideon> Upstairs is a broad circular room that you cannot help but feel reaches boundaries wider than the castle's visible exterior should allow. Whatever purpose it once served, it has been purged of furnishings now. A fine white grit crunches beneath your feet here and there, incongruous with the castle's surroundings. The stairs also continue upward.
<El-Cideon> roll 1d20+10
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d20+10 and gets 21."12 [1d20=11]
<Stephanie> Stephanie picks up some of the grit to see if she can identify the substance.
<El-Cideon> OOC: KP
<Stephanie> OOC: not happening
<Julia> Julia does much the same, wondering if it's crushed bone...
<Julia> roll 1d20+11 planes
* Hatbot --> "Julia rolls 1d20+11 planes and gets 18."12 [1d20=7]
<El-Cideon> Marina toes through the sand and frowns thoughtfully.
<Julia> "Oh, it's just sand, I think from the desert layer of Arborea?" Julia shrugs, dropping it. "Does that mean our Lord was there previously?"
<El-Cideon> "It could be?" Marina says, apparently having the same thought.
<Julia> "It could be worth investigating if we hit a dead end later on," Julia says before continuing up the stairs.
<El-Cideon> Beyond the stairs is the roof. Again, the castle feels wider up here than it possibly could be, more like a grand city plaza in scale. Grass grows freely through the stones, and scattered around the tower roof are structures: they look like modest houses woven of branches. While the construction is quaint and rather picturesque, you cannot help but be reminded of bars by the way the branches twine together. There are seven of them altogether, arranged in a circle with broad openings facing the interior of the circle, and a marble path proceeds in a loop just within the ring of huts.
<Stephanie> It's time to search them one by one, starting from the closest and going counterclockwise!
<Julia> "Is this the famous gallery?" Julia wonders aloud, trailing behind Stephanie.;
<Franceska> "It doesn't look very glamorous, does it?" Franceska quietly asks Rosemund.
<El-Cideon> While none of them retain furnishings per se, and all contain traces of the same white grit, a couple have other mementos of past occupants: one has a pool of crystal water set inside; a scattering of gears litters the floor of another; carved on the stone of the floor in another is a single word in a forbidding, alien script.
<Stephanie> "What's that say?" asks Stephanie, squinting at it.
<El-Cideon> Rosemund looks up, and around. The occupants would, at the least, have had a fantastic view lit by that ever-vibrant sunset.
<El-Cideon> The language is not one that Stephanie knows intimately. (OOC: unless you have any way of deciphering unknown languages?)
<Franceska> As it seems quite safe for Rosemund, Franceska decides to help Stephanie decypher her findings upon hearing her question.
* Julia examines the crystal water to see if she can figure out its origin...
<Stephanie> OOC: Yes, in fact!
<Stephanie> roll 1d20+13 linguistics is a skill
* Hatbot (~Hatbot@cpe-72-182-99-123.austin.res.rr.com) Quit (eraniss.tx.us.lunarnet.org rpgcafe.ca.us.lunarnet.org)
* Rei-chan (~mars@cpc9-sgyl30-2-0-cust73.sgyl.cable.virginmedia.com) has joined #astronomy
<El-Cideon> OOC: try again, Steph? Also KN if you have it, Julia
<Stephanie> roll 1d20+13
<Rei-chan> 6,0Stephanie rolled :6,0 1d20+13 --> 6,0[ 1d20=8 ]4,0{21}
<Julia> Unable to figure anything out about the water, Julia goes to the remaining clue of the gears. Maybe there's a maker's stamp or something easy to see on them?
<Stephanie> "Huh. It's gith, I think. Githzerai," mutters Stephanie. "It means something about toughing it out, I think."
<El-Cideon> Julia finds nothing that specific, but she can tell just at a glance this is amateur work. Or perhaps uncoordinated work. There are fragments, shells of things that look like they could've been intended to be...dolls? Little people, other things.
<Julia> "Someone here was a dollmaker. Do you think the Lord of Midnight Feathers let him work in his cell? Why didn't he make something to help escape with?" Julia wonders aloud.
<Stephanie> "Even if he gets out the cell, he's still gotta get out the castle! There were probably guards and things!"
<El-Cideon> "I don't know," Marina says. "This whole place has the feel of an empty cage about it."
<Franceska> "Is there a cage that held a human, you think?" Franceska asks Julia and Stephanie.
<Julia> "The dollmaker might have been human? I don't know what to make of the crystallised water in that one," she points it out, "But the rest are completely empty. Could've easily been several humans."
<El-Cideon> (OOC: to be clear, "crystal" just meant the water was perfectly clear. >.>)
<Julia> OOC: ahhhh
<El-Cideon> OOC: belated, but roll perception, anyone who checked the cells
<Stephanie> roll 1d20+10
<Rei-chan> 6,0Stephanie rolled :6,0 1d20+10 --> 6,0[ 1d20=1 ]4,0{11}
<Julia> roll 1d20+2 Julia, Thing doesn't care
<Rei-chan> 6,0Julia rolled :6,0 1d20+2 1,0Julia, Thing doesn't care --> 6,0[ 1d20=20 ]4,0{22}
<El-Cideon> roll 1d20+10
<Rei-chan> 6,0El-Cideon rolled :6,0 1d20+10 --> 6,0[ 1d20=17 ]4,0{27}
<Franceska> roll 1d20+28 Darrin cares in my stead
<Rei-chan> 6,0Franceska rolled :6,0 1d20+28 1,0Darrin cares in my stead --> 6,0[ 1d20=13 ]4,0{41}
<Julia> "Oh!" Julia gasps and reaches into one cell, pulling out a severed pinky finger. "A human finger!" she holds it close and sniffs before eyeing the base, "Pinky... the owner wasn't alive when it was severed, either. And there's paint on it? A painter?"
<El-Cideon> Marina makes her own pass around the circle, stopping at the pool of water. "I think this was a nymph's pond," she says. "Rarely elsewhere do you find water so perfectly pure."
<Stephanie> "Some gallery," mutters Stephanie, leaving the huts and moving to look over the castle balcony.
<El-Cideon> It's eerie how far down it looks to be from here. The dimensions make no sense at all based on what you saw from outside. You could not imagine someone surviving a fall.
<Stephanie> "I wonder if the castle lost a few stories since he left?"
<El-Cideon> "Julia, from you voice I cannot help but think you have found yourself a prize," Rosemund says, both amused and bemused.
<Julia> "A clue, Rosemund, a clue," Julia retorts. "One that may lead us to our prize in the future... though in truth I'm unsure how..."
<El-Cideon> "I haven't a knack for scrying," Marina admits, "else we could use that to find its owner."
<Stephanie> "You think he'd want it back?"
<Julia> "Well, he could be a zombie or vampire rather than a simple corpse... or she, I suppose."
<El-Cideon> "Well--" she hesitates. "Well, if it could be reattached, I would certainly want my finger back. But I admit it doesn't look as though its owner is in a state to want anything."
<Franceska> "His next of kin might be interested in keeping the remains together," Franceska muses.
* Julia pockets the finger just in case. "Is there anything else, then? For that matter how do we leave here? Just step into the circle again?"
<El-Cideon> "That is my understanding," Marina says. "Although I admit this is the first time I've been to such a place. My parents warned me about visiting strange fairies. And they're all strange."
<Stephanie> "There's no fairy here, so technically we never visited one!"
<Franceska> "You show promise as a barrister!" Franceska says in approval.
<Stephanie> Stephanie shivers.
<El-Cideon> Exiting the fairy realm is as simple as entering it. The sun has begun its descent back outside, but there's still light to travel by. "Well, where to now?" Marina asks. "We could check the meeting site, or Lady Silverbark's realm is some miles north."
<Julia> "Lets try the meeting site first?" Julia suggests.
<Stephanie> "It's closer, right?"
<El-Cideon> "Of course," Marina says, leading the way. Another hour's walk sees you climbing the hill glimpsed from earlier. Stone monoliths ring the summit, ancient weathered fangs of rock jutting from the ground in a circle some hundred feet in diameter. It is in fact populated at this time, and rather noisy--
<El-Cideon> Three figures feature prominently in the tableaux before you, all of them with features of an elfin cast but somehow more exotic and alien:
<El-Cideon> Central to the gathering is a woman of prodigious height and graceful curves, dressed in a snug red gown that glitters as though coated in crushed rubies. A long mane of the glossiest buttery blond hair any of you has ever seen falls behind her, and the set of stag's antlers thrusting up from her skull only adds to an altogether fearsome mien. Her expression is stoutly imperious and without humor; when she speaks it is with absolute conviction that the universe will bend to suit her fancy. She stands behind a polished mahogany desk and holds upright in one hand a wooden hammer fit for battering down doors. (more)
<El-Cideon> Pacing the grass before her and speaking in turn are two other women:
<El-Cideon> One wears a voluminous green dress, loose and airy and floating with the breeze when she walks, and when the wind stills it seems to ripple all on its own. The hue of the fabric itself shifts as she moves to perfectly mimic the surrounding grass and flowers, an admirable effort at camouflage thoroughly spoiled by her magnificent black and orange butterfly wings (which, one cannot help but think, must make traversing the average doorway an awful chore). A cloud of chestnut brown hair floats behind her in its own private current. Tiny bursts of lightning can be seen among it, arcing between twisting locks. Her features are coldly beautiful, elegant and sharp enough to carve ice. She radiates calm and perfect self-assurance.(more)
<El-Cideon> The third woman is short, slender, and dressed in decidedly more boyish fashion: jacket, waistcoat and leggings fit for an aristocratic dandy gadded up for a public duel, all of it a somber blue shading into gray and bedecked with a showy amount of lace ruffles. Silvery gray hair is cut shoulder-length, and a mouse's long tail twitches behind her whenever she stops speaking. She has a high and somewhat fragile voice.(more)
<El-Cideon> Elsewhere in the circle are two other individuals:
<El-Cideon> Standing in the shadow of the imposing blonde is a human man, young, tall and fit, dressed in a finely-tailored black suit with hair of a matching hue. His beard and mustache are somewhat in need of a trim and he wears fatigue like a shroud.(more)
<El-Cideon> The remaining notable participant in this affair sits in a high-backed wooden chair substantially too large for her diminutive frame. A fairy of childlike stature dressed in a simple sleeveless gown, with near-white blond hair, a pixie's diaphanous wings, and her hands clutched in her lap as she watches the proceedings with evident anxiety.(more)
<El-Cideon> Observing all of this is a gaggle of gaily-dressed fairies seated on raised earth benches, most looking quite bored and distracted any time they are not directly addressed by one of the three women.
<Julia> "Hmm... is there a protocol in how we approach this?" Julia wonders, a bit uncertain in the face of what seems already a fairly fractious meeting.
<El-Cideon> "I confess to be at a loss," Marina says. "One of them would be easier to approach." She narrows her eyes. "I didn't expect them to be holding court quite so literally."
<Franceska> "Would it be alright to approach and silently watch the proceedings, you think?"
<El-Cideon> "I would imagine so?" she guesses.
<Franceska> With a nod, Franceska decides to do just that.
<El-Cideon> Most of the gathering fails to take any notice of you as you watch from the sidelines. The human man, looking profoundly disinterested in the gathering itself, seems to have noticed you from across the clearing, and the fairy with butterfly wings (Lady Bullfinch, Marina points out) makes no secret of sizing you all up even while she continues addressing the crowd without a break. The defendant is clearly guilty, she maintains (pointing to the pixie), as will be consistently demonstrated by eyewitness testimony!
<Julia> "The pixie over there, could she be the one the little prince mentioned?" Julia murmurs, pointing out the anxious looking fairy. "Moonstruck over Lady Silverbark he said, didn't he?"
<Stephanie> "Oooh, it's a trial," notes Stephanie, giving Bullfinch a little wave.
<El-Cideon> "I'm not personally familiar with her myself," Marina says. "The tall one is Lady Silverbark. The mousy little woman is Lady Horseshoe."
<Julia> "Well, it's not going well for her, then..."
<El-Cideon> "State your name for the record," Bullfinch says after drawing forth one of the dozen fairies sitting on the bench. "You know my name, I said so last time you called me up," he insists. Bullfinch repeats herself coolly and calmly, prompting: "Viceroy Fizzlebottom, ma'am, and may lightning strike me twice if I lie."
<Stephanie> "Fizzlebottom?" echoes Stephanie.
* Franceska silently curses herself for not preparing a lightning-summoning spell in the morning. It sounds like a valid tactic in these strange courts....
<El-Cideon> Bullfinch proceeds to ascertain whether the witness was present at the party at which the event in question occurred (yes), whether he witnessed the event of which the defendant is accused (oh, sure, we all did, you were there, remember?) and whether he could describe it for the court (of course I could!) Insistent prompting produces a tale of wanton property destruction that causes the evidently villainous pixie to sob dramatically into her hands.
<El-Cideon> Horseshoe takes her turn, questioning the witness thoroughly about his consumption throughout the evening and speculating that the testimony of an acknowledged inebriate could not possibly be reliable, to which is responded that she should know well enough since she was so soused she spent the night in the dog pens. After this productive exchange, the witness is returned to what is evidently the jury box.
<Julia> "They all seem very familiar to each other. Shouldn't there be some detachment in a legal case?" Julia wonders as she observes.
<Franceska> "This is ridiculous," Franceska agrees quietly. "And the way the jury doubles as witnesses? Bias is too mild a word for that."
<El-Cideon> "Perhaps we should approach someone after all?" Marina suggests. "They could talk for days if they wished."
<Stephanie> "I like it. They're not even pretending it's not all bullshit," muses Stephanie. "At last, honesty in court!"
<El-Cideon> It does not take a lawyer of Franceska's training to note that the observance of due process at work here is dubious at best.
<Julia> "Should we raise an objection, then?"
<Stephanie> "On what grounds? That the court's a tea party?"
<Julia> "Yes, but I'm sure Franceska could dress it up in enough legalisms to prove they have no ground to stand on before her," Julia nods confidently.
<Stephanie> "Maybe she could argue that she's the only one with a law license, and so only her word matters!"
<El-Cideon> In time, a witness's past testimony is called into question and Silverbark calls for "Bailiff Howerdale" (evidently the human man, standing by with pen and ink) to consult the court record. He makes a show of flipping through some papers and then confirms that no, this is exactly what the witness said last time he was called.
<El-Cideon> At which point "Howerdale" feels it necessary to shuffle off some ways and roll up a cigarette.
<Franceska> And at which point Franceska makes her way towards the human man!
<El-Cideon> A spark from his finger lights up his cigarette and he exhales with evident relief. He nods tiredly in greeting. "I'd offer you a smoke, but tobacco's hard to get in these parts," he says, oozing exhaustion. "I save it for when I really need it."
<Franceska> "Perfectly understandable. I would start smoking myself if I had to be part of that court," Franceska responds, commiserating with him. "Is it too much to hope that there is a terrible penalty for being found guilty?"
<El-Cideon> No one involved in the trial itself seems to notice that a participant has slipped away, again save Bullfinch, who seems to have an ear cocked in your direction even as she questions witnesses.
<El-Cideon> "Well, lemme see here," he says, shuffling through his papers before shaking his head and reminding himself that he's not actually keeping notes at all, just scribbling drawings of animals. "I think it was something like, 'A thousand lashings with the hawthorn branch!' That's about her style."
<Franceska> How bloodthirsty. "Oh, I see. And what did she actually do to piss off... Lady Bullfinch, was it?"
<El-Cideon> "Well, she broke this vase somebody gave Silverbark some centuries past, some mortal lover or something," he says. "But really we're just here 'cause her Ladyship found some old lawbook in a library she got in a deal with a wizard and she got it in her head it'd be fun to have a trial."
<Franceska> Slowly but surely, things are starting to make sense! "Do you know a Lord Blackbird, by any chance?" she decides to ask the sole human present who might have a clue. "As well as where he might be?"
<El-Cideon> "Well, I've seen him around," he says, taking a drag and loosing a cloud of smoke off to one side. He has a notably rural Solati drawl. "There was some ruckus a week or so ago, the eladrin came stormin' through here lookin' for him, Silverbark said she didn't know anything. She does, we got a messenger from Lord Blackpants a couple days past, but I couldn't tell you what he said."
<Franceska> "Oh, how unfortunate. I don't suppose anyone else in her court might know?"
<El-Cideon> "I'd guess Bullfinch--that's the prosecutor, with the wings? She probably knows, if he was tellin' his old friends somethin' 'bout where he shipped off to. Hyacinth there, the accused? She hears most things thing Silverbark does. Horseshoe, with the tail, well..."
<El-Cideon> "Horseshoe's not always on the up and up." He looks speculative. "Farm I grew up on, our bitch whelped some four seasons or so past. Big litter, one more than she could feed. There was this little spotty runt, always gettin' pushed out of the way by his brothers and sisters. I took care of him, fed him with a rag soaked in milk. Nicest dog you ever met, but he woulda starved in a day without someone to look out for him. Hope he's still alive when I get back." He takes another drag. "Sometimes Horseshoe reminds me of that dog."
<Franceska> "I... see." Franceska blinks. "Right, then." Since Bullfind seems to be listening in on them, she muses out loud, "Would the prosecution be interested in some help with making its case in exchange for the information that I am after?"
<El-Cideon> Sixteen fairy heads turn to focus on Franceska and everything is suddenly silent. "Oh my, is this a surprise witness?" Bullfinch says with delight. To the judge: "The prosecution requests a recess to review our case," she says smoothly, walking off with absolute assurance that this will occur simply by virtue of her no longer being present (to strained protests from Horseshoe, cut off mid-sentence).
<El-Cideon> "Are we really going to help her win?" Rosemund whispers to Franceska. "That little fairy will be whipped!"
<Julia> Worried in case Lady Bullfinch will eat Franceska like Prince Gecki warned, Julia glides closer to her lawyer friend to keep an eye on things. "It does seem a shame," she agrees with Rosemund.
<Franceska> "We can commute her sentence," Franceska whispers back, opting not to say that the little fairy surely deserves it. "But if you would like to use this chance and approach the accused while the court is in recess...."
<El-Cideon> "Oh, perhaps so!" she says, brightening up, looking around to see if anyone wishes to join her.
<El-Cideon> Bullfinch strides out of the circle, safely out of anyone else's hearing. Within the circle, Horseshoe is busily protesting to to the judge, who appears profoundly unmoved.
* Julia is happy to join Rosemund in visiting the defendant.
<Stephanie> "Sounds good to me!" adds Stephanie.
<El-Cideon> Hyacinth sits quietly and obediently in her oversized chair, wings flittering now and again with agitation. She looks up as you approach. "Hello?" she says, as friendly as she can manage given circumstances.
<Stephanie> "Hello! So, did you do it?"
<Julia> "Don't say yes!" Julia quickly interrupts.
<El-Cideon> "Oh! Well--well, I--" she blushes and looks dejectedly at the ground.
* Franceska meets with the prosecutor in the meantime, following her earlier example by keeping an ear on the others. That helpful ear is, of course, Darrin.
<Julia> "Don't worry, little one, we'll help you," Julia smiles and reaches over to pat the little fairy on the head. "My name is Julia and these are my friends Stephanie and Rosemund."
<El-Cideon> "And what is it that you desire?" Bullfinch asks Franceska, in a voice like liquid smoke.
<El-Cideon> "But what can you do?" Hyacinth protests. "Everyone was there, everyone saw it!"
<Franceska> "A very simple matter. I want to view Lord Blackbird's gallery, with the intent of purchasing some of the art, if it matches my expectations. It is inconvenient to have him disappear like this just as I came to visit, you understand."
<El-Cideon> OOC: bluff, Franceska? Well, unless you're genuinely planning to try and *buy* Marcus.
<Julia> "Witnesses are so troublesome... if it was only one or two..." Julia shakes her head and lets that thought rest. "Listen, it doesn't matter. Deny everything! Don't say anything that the prosecution can get their hooks into."
<Franceska> roll 1d20+14-4
<Rei-chan> 6,0Franceska rolled :6,0 1d20+14-4 --> 6,0[ 1d20=12 ]4,0{22}
<Stephanie> "And even if they do convict you, it will be okay! Big sis Steph will come save you," whispers Stephanie, leaning in. "And if you can help us with a teensy thing in return, that would be just great!"
<El-Cideon> "But they made me swear an oath on every god I could name!" Hyacinth says. "And there are ever so many! Besides, I could say nothing at all and everyone else would just repeat whatever She wants them to!" To Stephanie: "Well, I don't know what I could for you while I am on trial, but...it cannot hurt for you to ask!"
<Stephanie> "Well, there's one more thing! You were drunk, right?"
<Julia> "Someone maliciously spiked your drink, didn't they?" Julia suggests leadingly. "After all, it's not as if you'd had that much to drink, had you? You were a patsy in someone else's scheme, poor girl."
<El-Cideon> "Slavery, as I understand the institution, is quite frowned upon in these parts," Bullfinch replies. "But, who am I to judge what transactions people choose to undertake when I am not present? Of course I know where he is. What is it you think you can offer me in return?"
<Stephanie> "Exactly! Besides, the alcohol all belonged to the host, I'll bet," adds Stephanie. "It's really her job to check the drinks! Now, about this help we need... do you know what's going on with Lord Blackbird? We realllllly need to find him!"
<El-Cideon> "Oh, but how did you know--well, that is difficult to prove, is it not?" Hyacinth says. "Oh, Blackbird? He, he hid himself away. I am not supposed to talk about it!"
<Julia> "That doesn't matter," Julia insists, "It's up to them to prove your guilt. You just have to throw every bit of doubt you can on that proof so that it's impossible to prove your guilt beyond reasonable doubt. Did anyone else act strangely that night? More drunk than they should have been?" she asks hopefully. Even if it's happenstance, every bit helps!
<Stephanie> "It's alright! You just need reasonable doubt that it's your fault, which I think here means you just need someone reasonable to doubt your guilt," mutters Stephanie. "And that can be me! Now... you've got to ask yourself this," adds Stephanie. "And it won't hurt! We just need to talk to him. We won't tell those eladrin anything!" She winks.
<Franceska> "The best prosecution is a team," Franceska says confidently. "And by team I mean, of course, two people working together towards the same goal and not a brilliant prosecutor and her yesmen. How else might you spot something you overlooked, or a quicker way to bring the case to a close instead of days or weeks of deliberations? That is what I offer you, if you are interested. Serving on your
<Franceska> team with the intent of helping convict the defendant."
<El-Cideon> "Ah, well, everyone was drinking," Hyacinth says. "That is what happens at a party! Look, you--you promise you're not going to cause any trouble? She was very insistent, anyone important should have received their own invitation, she said. You have no idea what she'll do to me if she finds out!" she adds in a tiny voice.
<El-Cideon> OOC: diplo again, Fran?
<Stephanie> "It's okay! We won't tell if you won't," replies Stephanie.
<Franceska> roll 1d20+14-4
<Rei-chan> 6,0Franceska rolled :6,0 1d20+14-4 --> 6,0[ 1d20=2 ]4,0{12}
<Julia> "We just want to help you," Julia asserts soothingly.
<El-Cideon> "The trial will end when Silverbark grows tired of it," Bullfinch says, sounding unconvinced. "Perhaps you could talk her into bringing things to a close sooner, but her little farce is but a passing diversion to me. I have a more interesting proposal. You have the look of travelers about you, and my interests range far--I wonder if you would consent to retrieving something for me if you happen to encounter it in your travels?"
<Franceska> "What would that be?" Franceska asks curiously, not committing to anything just yet.
<El-Cideon> OOC: I'm inclined to ask for a similar role for Steph/Julia, since she's reluctant to talk. One can roll/one aid?
<Stephanie> roll 1d20+10 diplomacy because I'm not even sure if I'm bluffing
<Rei-chan> 6,0Stephanie rolled :6,0 1d20+10 1,0diplomacy because I'm not even sure if I'm bluffing --> 6,0[ 1d20=16 ]4,0{26}
<Julia> roll 1d20+4 diplo aid, bluffing will happen in the trial itself
<Rei-chan> 6,0Julia rolled :6,0 1d20+4 1,0diplo aid, bluffing will happen in the trial itself --> 6,0[ 1d20=20 ]4,0{24}
<El-Cideon> "I have some interest in alchemy," Bullfinch says. "Some rare substances I desire cannot be found in my usual haunts--Gloomcap, Maiden's Bane, Liar's Lament. Promise to bring me any one of those things within a year and a day, and I shall tell you what you wish. More than one and I may find myself overcome by the spirit of generosity."
<El-Cideon> (OOC: K:P on this stuff if you want)
<Franceska> roll 1d20+9
<Rei-chan> 6,0Franceska rolled :6,0 1d20+9 --> 6,0[ 1d20=11 ]4,0{20}
<Franceska> "Could I trouble you into giving me a brief overview of what these substances are?" Franceska requests. "I'm afraid that alchemy is not one of my specialties."
<El-Cideon> "O-okay," Hyacinth says, in a barely audible whisper. "He's on Mithardir, the third layer of Arborea. He moved his whole gallery down this well!"
<Stephanie> "A well?"
<Julia> "So the sand must have transposed his collection when it moved, as if swapped?" Julia wonders aloud, realising she had the order wrong earlier.
<El-Cideon> "Gloomcaps grow on Pandemonium. They are mushrooms said to convey all the flavors of madness. Maiden's Bane is a violently red fungus native to the Abyss. I trust you can imagine it's proper shape. Liar's Lament is a bitter weed that grows in the prison plane of Carceri. Of course, there are no doubt enterprising entrepreneurs who may be able to supply these substances for coin, sparing you the trip. All I can say is that none, regrettably, dwell within Arborea."
<El-Cideon> "Yes!" Hyacinth says. "It's a, a ''wailing well,' the brochure said." She concentrates and tries to draw something up from her memory: "Skull of Ormist, two days northeast...east from the shrine, one more day...that should be it."
<Stephanie> "Two days northeast from the, ah, skull of ormist, and then east from the shrine for a day... ok, ok. Got it."
<Julia> "Oh, thank you you wonderful little fairy," Julia beams. "Now, to your trial... if the spiked drink doesn't work, what about an enchantment? Perhaps someone enchanted you into stumbling, or pushed you with a telekinetic spell? In fact, who's to say they didn't push over the vase while you were merely standing near it?"
<Franceska> "Ah, I see now," Franceska says thoughtfully. She is about to speak when Darrin lands upon her shoulder and whispers something in her ear. "I am not certain when I would be visiting those planes, Lady Bullfinch, so it would be quite irresponsible of me to commit to a deal. I will, however, most certainly keep an eye out and shall endeavour to return if and when I come across such rarities."
<El-Cideon> "Ah," Bullfinch says, friendliness and interest draining away as she turns to stroll back to the trial, "how disappointing."
<El-Cideon> ~