The Cereal Box:Log/Session 43
Session 43
We pick up our session at the end of the breakfast meeting. Nikolai considered how trustworthy the powerful changelings of the freehold were, and a chart was created:
Level of Power / Amount I Trust Them
Jeremiah - Moderately / Not
Roper - - Obscene / Mostly
Lyrissa - Moderately / Not
Smith - Minor / Pretty Reasonably
Jack - Moderate / Very
Johnny - Obscene / Mostly
Billy - Very / NOT -- also less of a threat
Granny Lovett - MOST / AFRAID
Hestia brought Jack into the kitchen and told him to be careful and let her know if anything weird happened.
Nikolai was formulating a plan for infiltrating Chalkos' facility. Current plan is to distraction and infiltrate elsewhere. Sephie proposed training the kittens for surveillance and guard duty.
Sephie decided that she would shop for a birthday gift for Cadence. Sephie called Cadence to see if they were on for the night. Light powder blue is her favorite color. Cadence's favorite flower is Iris and Hydrangia. Sephie decided that she wanted to plant hydrangias at the house.
Alana trained Smith and discussed the possibility of cheating on the challenge with Smith. It turns out, April is creeped right the heck out by Smith and his lack of visible organs (brain, skull - he's just completely uniform in his opacity, like a block of parrafin wax) and the fact that she couldn't see the food going down his throat when he ate just went to amplify that. Smith explained that he can see and hear spirits, and interact with them slightly, but he couldn't really control them or cajole them. He suggested that as a possible source of an edge. He also mentioned vampire blood, sorcery, "super soldier drugs", using pledges to lend him skill or litearlly any other way of gaining his edge. "My priorities are to live and keep my crown, in that order."
QUEST: Pledge Smith skills (optional)
QUEST: Cripple Chalkos (optional)
QUEST: Make Chalkos fail to make it to the duel (optional)
QUEST: Get Smith super drugs (optional)
QUEST: Get Smith spirit power (optional)
QUEST: Get Smith magic (optional)
QUEST: Get Smith vampire blood (optional)
Nikolai got 2 full drug cocktails from Freddie by way of an order taken by Aaron.
Sephie and the girls went to pick out jewelry for Cadence. Sephie settled on an aquamarine necklace. April browsed and found a set of chakra earrings that she expressed loving desire for, tried on, but ultimately put back.
That evening, Sephie had dinner with her daughter, who had requested that she be called Songbird exclusively. Songbird went whole hog on appetizers getting steamed soybeans and cheese sticks, while Sephie had meatloaf and mashed potatoes. Songbird explained that she wasn't a vegetarian, but that she was trying to cut back on fried food and meat ("cut back... not necessarily quit" as she ate a cheese stick) She explained that Firestarter and her are NOT dating, but that they had a thing and, Idk, she didn't want to put a label on it. She went to a Taylor Smith concert with Aeson and they both LOVE the song Today Was a Fairy Tale. Aeson had never heard Taylor Swift before the concert, but Songbird was glad she introduced it. Then, during the meal, a wispy old man with a skull mask appeared and said to return the magic item she stolen on pain of death. Apparently undeterred, she and her mother finished dinner and, when Sephie offered her a necklace as a gift, she freaked out and left.
Nikolai left his wallet and gun in the cab after a dramatic failure. He arrived at 6:03 PM, but Granny's grandfather clock said 8:45 (with the second hand going backwards). She offered him goblin hands to eat, which he refused (because they were not offered in good faith). She told him that she had concerns about the Kinderfanger and, beyond that, about the Chronophage - a fae that she said she had a vision of the future portending Nikolai dealing with him. She called him out, and suggested that she should probably just kill Nikolai to prevent him from dealing with this dread being. He countered that if not him then someone else and, furthermore, that he would try to defeat the fae, regardless of his relation to them. Granny demanded he pledge with her for the protection of the freehold.
Granny's Pledge Year and a Day - Banishment Greater Favor (Cookie Jar) - Poisoned Boon (See the vision) Greater Forbiddence (Nikolai may not endager the freehold) Maag Brunt's Catch: If you are PREVENTING an equal or greater threat to the freehold, you may endanger the Freehold to any degree whatsoever. EVEN if you engineered the threat, as long as you didn't ACTUALLY bring the threat. E.g. if you set it up for two fae to enter the Freehold and remove one of them, that would be sufficient.
Nikolai saw a vision of the Chronophage, a great True Fae comprised of an infinite number of overlapping possibilities, with two arms that reach into the past, two that reach into the present, and two that reach into the future. The Fae brought Nikolai into Arcadia for forever; he was unable to leave.
Ernie was intent on getting a hold of Callista Moore, a paralegal who works for Arianna Lassar.
Saturday, May 22
Ernie contacted Callista Moore, who explained that her boss Arianna wished to stand as Loyal Opposition to push the Freehold toward a liberal approach to newcomers.
Billy called and explained that he would be holding a coronation the next day for the Court of Strange Days the next day to allow them to control the Freehold on their given days. No one liked this idea which was, by Billy's own admission, terrible. Session 44: Hunting the Snark
Hestia decided she needed to do second interviews with Harpreet, Celia and Elissa.
Harpreet and Celia can, Elissa cannot, open on Monday. Hestia decided that this would be a semi-working interview - to see how they would behave under practical positions and make sure it's the best fit. Elissa would interview on the 25th. (The current head waiter is a man named Sam Namier.)
Celia's performance was less effective, but she seems to have potential. She explains she prefers 2nd shifts.
Harpreet did well, and his off-putting nature seemed to be a limitation to his effectiveness, but otherwise he was very technically skilled. Harpreet prefers 3rd shifts.
Hestia decided that she wanted to write up a mock schedule putting them on 2nds and 3rds respectively, but decided not to sell herself on anything permanent or call anyone back until she interviews Elissa.
Sephie plays with her kitties and works on training them (2 successes), and anticipated that they would be the size of a small housecat - the size of a small house. Alana, however, demonstrated her exceptional skill with training cats.
Ernie is checking in with his changeling network to determine if his Changeling Network is doing well (3), which it is for the most part. Jacqueline Yamamoto is cataloguing and sorting the changelings of the freehold in this respect. Isaac Oldman is working towards ensuring universal employment. Regina offered to help.
Nikolai wasted the day, as people do from time to time.
Alana dreamed of her time in the jungle, being pursued by hunters, and experiences being hit with a poison dart and dragged back to a house.
May 23rd, 24th, 30th, 31st
9 AM hedge of the neutral grounds, with each of the changelings wearing good suits to make a good impression. Ernie got 4 successes on Pre+Com to make an impression. The majority of the Freehold were present.
Billy, dressed as a cowboy, passed on the crownn to Janglejaw, whose crown was one of of mangled barbed wire interspersed with thorned and wrapped in tinsel and garland. Janglejaw, in turn, grew man-sized, symmetrical and almost human, but still decidedly goblin (and, possibly, mistakable for a changeling).
Janglejaw explained that the defining event of his rule should be a Snark hunt, and explained that the Snark was a questing beast. He recited several lines from The Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carroll.
"He remarked to me then," said that mildest of men, " 'If your Snark be a Snark, that is right: Fetch it home by all means—you may serve it with greens, And it's handy for striking a light.
"'You may seek it with thimbles—and seek it with care; You may hunt it with forks and hope; You may threaten its life with a railway-share; You may charm it with smiles and soap'"
The motleys involved were issued forks and an envelope containing a map that they would "know when to consult." The motleys were directed to a set of footprints they were told was the Snark's trail (still warm) and they were warned to avoid the vicious mucus that it spews from its udders and its gnashing teeth. (They were also warned to avoid Jubjub birds, Jabberwocks and Bandersnatches) The Snarks was described as a bluish-orange cowbunny with spider eyes and udders.
The motley travelled until they tracks crossed a lake (still visible upon the surface) with a massive riverboat captained by a goblin upon it. The goblin demanded payment for passage. Ernie offered it the fork as "A nasal cleansing device" and was able to barter passage for 2. They offered the goblin hyperglycemia but he already had it. Alana was able to persuade him, by way of knock knock joke, that he was expected to bring a gift. April gave him the knowledge of a food that was so sweet she wouldn't eat it. He took this and immediately dropped dead from hyperglycemia, allowing them to take the ferry.
They make their way accross the lake and it inverted so they were underwater, bringing a sudden night upon them. Alana hissed at an albatross that had alighted upon their boat.
The sun was shining on the sea, Shining with all his might: He did his very best to make The billows smooth and bright-- And this was odd, because it was The middle of the night.
They crossed the lake and found themselves disembarking in the morning after eating what they can.
They came upon an old, abandoned campsite with a dilapidated tent, followed by additional tents arranged like a forest thereof. The tents increasingly look like parts of the landscape with a tree that appears to grow bags of food suspended from it. They realized that they arrived in Snipe territory, and realized that hunting a snipe might give them a competative hunt.
Roper's motley crashed into the area and Roper's grabby arm Extenda-Saurus Rex token was used to bring several baskets down from the tree for the eating. The motley engaged in a snipe hunt and captured one of the rare creatures, which they placed in a bag.
They continued to a hill that went uphill both ways and then to a grouping of bridges that went down into a chasm. The motley was able to climb down, while Nikolai simply walked to the lowest bridge and Hestia, noting this, follwed him. They then bunped into motorcycle climbing a tree on eight spidery legs. Jillian Cripps. In return for a story (Gert and Ernie) Jillian drove them back.
After doubling back, they returned to the snark tracks, which brought them near a lighthouse. With a startling blast, the snipe exploded from sniper fire, which lured out the Snark. While the motley faced the snark, Hestia and Nikolai tried to take down Chalkos and his men in the lighthouse, but were injured seriously and subdued with flashbangs. They did, however, succeed in injuring one of Chalkos' men.
The rest of the motley worked to, against form, tame the questing beast and, after some truly remarkable work by Alana, the creature was tamed. The goblin appreciated the changelings valuing the lives of one of their own, and everyone present gained a point of Wyrd, with Billy becoming downright frightening in the alien beauty of his fae mien.
May 25
The motley took a moment to take stock of Who was not at the coronation (Granny Lovett, Johnny Starlight and Craig Weston were not there, aside from Regina, of course). It was suggested that because Chalkos and several of his men were there, they would be absent in a week, and perhaps vulnerable.