A Midsummer Knight's Dreaming
After spending the morning in their first round of tourney fighting, Erendil,
Jenny, and Franklin take a brief respite before meeting their new opponents. As they
are relaxing in the tourney field, they notice a commotion at the table of the Master
of the Lists. It seems that Toby wants to play too. Sir Armand, the Master of the
Lists, tells him to shoo. Toby is persistent, however, and does not obey. As Armand
gets more and more annoyed, Edward takes the opportunity to steal the book of the
Lists and runs off with it, apparently undetected. He finds a concealed hollow in
a far-away tree and leaves it there. Toby finally backs down after Armand tells him
to seek Lady Tourmaline, who is conducting a childling's tourney the next day. Armand
then notices that the book is missing.
He searches all around, but can't find it. When he notices Erendil hanging about,
he accuses Erendil of stealing the book. This pisses Erendil off. He denies the theft,
though he did see Edward take the book (he does not, of course, tell Armand this.)
When Armand presses, Erendil is close to calling him out. Armand backs off and goes
to find his boss, Count Tormentil, who will presumably bring these unseelie thieves
to heel.
The next round of combat begins. Jenny is slated to fight Nikolas, a satyr wielding
a club. Although the charming satyr looks to be a competent warrior, he cannot help
slipping and falling in several passes against Jenny. Trying to salvage what grace
he can from the situation, he concedes and withdraws, kissing Jenny's hand.
Erendil faces a sidhe knight named Lady Wildomere, who fights with both sword and
dagger. They seem evenly matched but Erendil (barely) prevails. Franklin faces an
attractive female troll with a mace. They deal each other great blows of damage,
which they both shrug off. Finally, Franklin scores decisively and wins the bout.
Chamone tries to find Count Tormentil, to explain to him why she hasn't contacted
him lately. She finds him with Queen Aeron of Pacifica, a morose, lackluster lady
who seems barely interested in her surroundings or companions. Chamone is introduced
to her and seems to make an impression.
Pensius turns his attention to the childling's scavenger hunt he is running the next
day. In addition to the usual items one looks for in a scavenger hunt, Pensius includes
directions like "Find a sidhe knight with a blond pageboy haircut, in red and
silver, with a jeweled sword". This is a fairly accurate description of Sir
Armand. Since Armand wears his sword only for show and is a lousy duelist, his sword
is unnamed. Pensius figures that having loads of little kids run up asking him the
name of his sword will be irritating. Especially when the answer is "Nothing!".
When Pensius finds out about the missing book, he takes out the part about the sword
(too obvious, he thinks) and he adds instead these items:
- The names of the winners of the Chimera Hunt.
- The names of the two individuals LISTED to have the first
competition in the Book of Lists.
- The names of the two individuals who actually participate in the
first childrens' combat.
Since it is well known that Sir Armand is the Master of the Lists, this should send
many little children running to him asking to see it. Pensius figures that that should
annoy Armand even more than his previous idea. He really doesn't like Armand.
While the others are at the tourney trying to sheath their swords in each other,
Pensius stays in his tent and practices sheathing his dagger in Uma. She is quite
taken with him. They stay in the tent a long time. Meanwhile, the kids get hungry.
Edward makes sandwiches for Toby and Chamone. For some reason the GM can't remember,
Toby tries to crawl into the ice chest and stay there. Edward pulls something out
of his backpack in order to pack Toby down into the chest and seal it, just for fun.
Unfortunately, the Acme backpack gives him a flamenco dancer, who dances upon the
lid ineffectively and wanders off.
Later in the afternoon, Erendil holds a rehearsal for A Midsummer's Nights Dream.
Everybody practices their lines. Most do OK, they Hollywood types do well, as one
would expect. Pensius, playing Theseus to Uma's Hyppolita, does extremely well. One
of the mortals Erendil recruited to play the mechanicals can't remember any lines
and is tossed out. In the middle of the rehearsal, Count Tormentil arrives with Armand
in tow. He asks Erendil if he knows what has become of the Book of Lists. Erendil
denies all knowledge. Pensius also denies that he knows anything, and Tormentil seems
to take him at his word. They leave with Armand still convinced that Erendil's to
blame.
Pensius, figuring out that one of his troublesome household must have been involved,
starts asking questions. Toby, who has been quiet until now, points at Edward and
says "Doggie! Doggie did it!" Pensius demanded that Edward tell him if
he had done the deed or not. Edward, of course, denied it, but Pensius did not believe
him. Saying that he must discuss this privately with Edward, he took the Pooka aside
and exerted his full (extremely great) force of personality behind an apparently
angry demand that Edward tell him the truth. Erendil, wanting to get back at Edward
for a slight the night before, casts a dictum on Edward to tell the truth. Just as
Edward is about to speak, Chamone, fearing Pensius is going to do something nasty
because of his anger, tries to intercede on Edward's
behalf but she is held back by a combination of Pensius' order to keep out of the
conversation and "her good friend" Erendil's plea to stay out of it. Pensius
turns back to Edward who is visibly sweating with the effort of trying to lie. When
he find that he can't, Edward attempts to smile and admits his crime through clenched
teeth. Pensius rises up in a fury over Edward, his Sidhe presence literally laying
the ears back on a frightened Edward. "Oh," said Pensius, immediately
regaining complete composure, "thank you, Edward," and turned away leaving
the Pooka blinking in confusion and with his mouth hanging open. When the others
asks what had happend, Pensius merely says that he had asked Edward if he had done
the deed and Edward had answered and that they all should
get back to the rehersal, which had been interrupted.
After dinner, the group decides to participate in Countess Felinah's famous Chimera
Hunt. They travel up to the hunting site and get ready to go. Pensius, dressed in
his best hunting gear, Uma in a lovely English huntresses costume by his side, holds
the leashes of his hounds, Edward (in coyote form) and Toby (in Toby form) as they
strain to take up the chase. Nearby, Erendil and Jenny are astride Giselle the Bongo,
weapons drawn and ready. Most of the nobility of Pacifica is gathered with them to
ride to the hunt. Chamone, considered to young and delicate to ride with the rest,
watches from the sidelines dressed as Sheena, Queen of the Jungle. The scent (both
real and glamorous) is given, the quarry sighted, and the hunt is on!
The beast seems to be made of many parts, colors, sounds, and scents, that change
as the hunt goes on. When they first catch a glimpse of the creature, it resembles
the front part of an ostrich and the rear of a baboon, patterned in pink and yellow
polkadots and smelling like peppermint and motor oil. Some of the huntsmen pull ahead
and begin to catch up to the beast. Just when they think they have it in their sights,
it metamorphs into an entirely different creature and a beast resembling a cross
between a rottweiler and an emu bounds away.
Every time the creature changes, it scent does too. Some of the hunters fall off,
unable to track the beast as it roars across the countryside. Several knights corner
it at one point, only to be hit by some sticky substance shooting from the rear of
the now rhino-like creature. The hunters have by now been greatly reduced in number
as those who have not lost the scent have fallen to the slashing tail/ravaging claws/sharp
teeth of the beast. Pensius’s group and Erendil and Jenny have managed to stay with
the vanguard and do their best to deal it some damage. Finally, thanks to thunderous
blows by Duke Valerian, the Duke of Angelus, and Franklin, the beast gives up a mighty
sigh and expires. A cheer goes up as the beast’s body magically transforms into a
pile of candy and trinkets for the evening’s festivities. Those who helped kill the
beast (including our heroes) will be the guests of honor at tonight’s party.
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