The Reluctant Heiress
The next morning, Toby and Mel started the day by trying to club each other
over the head.(Secret History #1) Mel decided he
wanted to make a "redcap trap" and needed some redcap blood to complete
the project. Toby resisted giving it to him in spite of Mel's pair of rather nasty
boltcutters. Franklin broke up the fight, as usual. and Pensius suggested to Mel
that perhaps he should build a sluagh trap instead, since they may need one soon
for Little Alex. Edward spent the morning looking for dross and found some in the
form of a few arrowheads and a used bic lighter. Jenny called Felix at Elysian Fields
to set up a performance time for later that night. Mel worked on his sluagh trap,
taking time out to try to build a rat stomach pump for Socrates, who hadn't yet recovered
from the night before. He was vomiting greenish glowing stuff and bitching loudly
about his hangover. (Secret History #2)
Sir Armand visited Pensius to "encourage" him. He put pressure on Pensius
to find Ariel by the Carnival and reminded him of the consequences if he does not
recover her.
That night Edward took Chamone with him downtown. He had decided to use her as bait
to get into Moria. (Secret History #3)
Jenny went to her gig at Elysian Fields, taking the bus downtown intending to transfer
to a Hillcrest route. She ran into a strange old homeless woman obsessively counting
pennies on the ground and fell under the influence of the old woman's banality. Jenny
suddenly didn't remember why she was there, and what she was planning to do, but
began to feel that none of it mattered much. Luckily for her, Edward and Chamone
drove by and noticed her wandering aimlessly around. Edward magiced up a boombox
from his backpack and blasted some good Celtic music at her, bringing her out of
her forgetfulness. She thanked them and hurried on to Hillcrest.
Edward and Chamone arrived at the Museum of Death. Jack showed them the path to Moria
in exchange for some peyote. Chamone was able to use her Arts to follow the path
to Moria which, rather than being literally under Cambria, was actually a fairie
freehold elsewhere in the Dreaming.(Secret History #4)
They reached the gates of Moria and knocked for entrance. Edward convinced the rat
pooka and female redcap who answered the door that he should be escorted to Black
Annis, as he had a nice tasty morsel for her (Chamone). They agreed to guide him,
leading Edward and Chamone through the rather icky, smelly, and tasteless domain
of Moria until they reached Black Annis's lair.
Chamone was terrified but kept her cool by pretending to be a Brave Secret Agent.
When the smell in Moria almost made her vomit, Edward gave her a cigarette to help
mask the stench and she used it as a prop to pretend that she was James Bond. Meanwhile
Edward spent the journey trying to bluff and bullshit the female redcap with his
number about being a garou Native American. She didn't buy it. Eventually, they reached
Black Annis' lair.
Black Annis was a cannibal hag (female ogre), a being thought too terrible to exist
outside of Arcadia. Edward's story to Black Annis was that Little Alex was claiming
that Black Annis was collecting female sidhe childlings and wilders. Edward suggested
that Little Alex be asked about this, and helped scare the piss (literally) out of
Little Alex when he was brought in; then he asked if Black Annis minded his taking
Little Alex away with him, and she didn't.
They learned that Ariel might be in the clutches of an unseelie satyr tragos that
has a freehold in Florida canyon and regularly ravages glamour in Balboa Park. The
leader of the trago, Elektra, is unlikely to give back Ariel willingly, if indeed
Ariel herself wants to escape. In exchange for this information, Edward was geased
to deliver Count Tormentil's magic mirror to Black Annis if he ever finds it in his
hands. He made sure to tell Sir Pensius about this when he recounted the story. Edward
and Chamone were released from Moria and returned to the Temple with Little Alex
in tow.
Edward and Chamone had a merry time getting the little worm back, too; at one point
Edward reached into his backpack for something to hit Little Alex with, took out
a safe, and promptly dropped it onto Little Alex's legs inside the van, which certainly
slowed the kid down. Chamone sat on his chest holding a Glamourous cigarette lighter
that Edward gives her, so she could burn the sluagh's face if he tried to wriggle
out from under the safe. Little Alex gave Chamone some nasty attitude and when she
dissed him in return, he acted as if she were sweet-talking him ("Ewww, mushy
stuff! I don't like girls!")
In the meantime, Jenny went to Elysian Fields to play her gig. Her performance was
well received. She stayed to talk to (and sleep with) the satyr owner Felix, who
filled her in with some of the Little Alex information. (Secret
History #5) She also pumped him (heh heh) for info on the "man in
brown" and was told a little about the visiting knight from High King David's
court named Lorien. When she asked Felix how to get ahold of the guy, Felix said,
"He gets ahold of you." Then she asked for a referral to a good painter
to help with her dress for the Midwinter Festival. This had proved a dead end with
everyone else she had asked, but Felix told her about Zenobia, an eshu in Kensington
who does decorative ceramics and textile designs, and Jenny planned to pay her a
visit.
When Edward's truck returned to the Temple, Franklin removed the safe and seized
the prisoner while Edward made explanations to Pensius. Pensius then interrogated
Little Alex, who was kept safely in Franklin's grip The interrogation was graceful
and chilling, and Jenny got her first look at the Unseelie side of Pensius.
Pensius said, in a voice smooth as silk, cold as stone, courteous, reasonable, and
terrifying:
"Now I have no desire in the world to hurt you, Alex, but you must understand
that we are running out of time in this matter. If I can't be sure you are
telling the truth, I will simply have to take measures to make sure of it.
I believe Toby here understands the urgency of this matter and is eager to help me.
Aren't you, Toby?"
GNASH SLAVER DROOL HEH HEH. (Secret History #6)
"Further, there is the matter of my liege lord, Count Tormentil. His heir is
missing, and he is understandably upset about this. If the girl is not found,
he will be most displeased with me, and will express that displeasure in
some extremely painful ways. Now, I am a knight of the Sidhe, and his sworn vassal.
Just imagine what he would do to a little Unseelie Sluagh boy who is responsible
for the disappearance. I understand he has Cold Iron weapons. Isn't that right, Franklin?"
"Indisputably, my lord."
"Now if I can't get Lady Ariel back, the best I can do is hand over to my liege
the person responsible for her disappearance. You do understand, don't you, Little
Alex? Good, good. You seem so eager to cooperate now that you comprehend the situation..."
1. There was discussion of how to chain up Toby, i.e. what
kind of bonds he could or would not eat through. Bill and Jim suggested a rope spun
from "the footfalls of cats, the beards of women, and the roots of mountains.
Janet, speaking as Toby, said "Footfalls of cats--yuck!"
2. Socrates was in a foul temper due to his hangover. After it
puked, Jim said, "Rat's don't vomit. They can't". Allison pointed
out, "Rats don't talk, either, and this one does." He shrugged and
said "This must be a Glamorous rat." "Not at the moment!" said
Allison.
3. Before Edward took off on his own, the characters were discussing
ways to make an assault on Moria. Jim said,"Pensius sure hopes it won't come
down to a physical contest." Bill-as-Edward said, "Don't look at me."
Jim said, "Yeah, if I look, you can't shapeshift." Allison said, "Jenny
might be ok with some physical contests," and Bill added, "All of Black
Annis' bodyguards died of sexual exhaustion."
4. During her trip to Moria with Edward, Jenny-as-Chamone (filling
in for Carol) cling to the pretense that she was a secret agent to help her to stay
brave. She got so into it that the rest of the players started singing:
5. Bill commented that Jenny's interest in Franklin less urgent now
that she's been "satyrized." Janet said, "Satyrized for her own protection?"
and Carol suggested, "She could wear a ribbon that said that around her hips."
6. Jim-as-Pensius said, "Now, now Toby, you know the rules
about eating people." Janet chimed in, "If you eat him now, you have to
wait two hours before you can go swimming."
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