Cerebral Paladin
First Post
An extra-length update to make up for the missed days:
“He tried to get access to my room?”
“Oh, yes. And he wasn’t the only one. They knew I had a key, you see. But I never gave it to anyone, and they never figured out where I kept it.”
“Thank you for keeping it safe. But you see, I never did turn against you. And your death would be so hard.” Mommy Cupcake squirmed a little at Alistair’s pleadings, and he decided to use the next tool. “And I’m going to need you, as well. You know that I need to marry and have a potential heir quickly to safeguard the succession. If things go according to plan, I might have a child within a year’s time. And then I’ll need someone to take care of it.”
Mommy Cupcake brightened at this thought. “And you would want me? I had thought you would find a new nurse… but then, that was based on what Luva said…”
“Of course I would want you. Who else?” Alistair thought for a moment. “Of course, we’ll need to hire you an assistant. I don’t think you could perform wet-nurse duties.”
The hobbit matron chuckled at that. “I should say not. It’s been far too many years since my last child.” She nodded to herself as she thought about resuming service as the family’s nurse. “I will have to get to work immediately. The nursery will need entirely new drapes and to have all of its furniture reupholstered, and I don’t even want to think about the cleaning…”
“You won’t leave us then?”
“When you want me to take care of your child? How could I?” Mommy Cupcakes thought. “And will you want to put your child in your old room eventually? We should clean and prepare it as well, then.”
“I think so. Speaking of my room… we’ll need to figure out why they wanted to get into it. You said you still have the key?”
Mommy Cupcake drew the key on its old, frayed cord out of her bodice. “Here you go, dear.”
“Thank you. Oh, and I also wanted to ask you another thing. Do you know anything about a crystal fan that the Eldar gave to my family many generations ago? From what we can tell, it is a powerful artifact, but I can’t recall ever seeing or hearing about it, and an unofficial agent of my Grandmother had had it.”
“Oh!” Mommy Cupcakes looked around conspiratorially. “Shhhh! That’s the sign of the Archduchy’s spymistress. Don’t tell anyone!”
“Don’t worry,” Alistair said with a smile. “The secret’s safe with me.”
The Council gathered again.
“Mommy Cupcake has agreed not to kill herself.”
“Oh, good,” said Kit. “I was worried…”
Alistair nodded with a smile, “Me, too. It’s a huge relief. But she also mentioned a couple of other things. First, that fan is the symbol of the Archducal spymistress.”
“So that’s who she was… that makes her notes even more important,” said Kit. “I had thought that Dame Esmerelda filled that role as well… I guess there was a distinction between the Mouth and the chief of field work. I’ve also found out a little about what the fan does. It’s very powerful. It’s a strongly enchanted magic weapon that can be used to parry well, with a variety of powers designed to make its wielder better at stealthy things, and the ability to hold psionic energy as well. It will be very handy…” [In game terms: Fan of the Assassin: +4 Dex; +10 Hide bonus (circumstance); +3 War fan as long as at least 1 PP of energy in it; can store up to 20 PP total; particularly effective at parrying (can add as much as entire to-hit bonus as a parry, you do not need to declare in advance); grants user without martial arts experience the equivalent of a 2nd level monk, or a +5 level bonus to a monk]
“Mommy Cupcake also told me some other information we need to act on. People tried to turn her against me, using my brother Luva, and tried to get access to my old room and my father’s old room. I don’t know what they were looking for, but…”
“But we need to know and find it. I’ll have my people check out the rooms.”
“Make sure they have magical detection ability as well,” Dame Brionna.
Kit looked back at her, “What, you think we’re a bunch of amateurs? Of course.”
“He tried to get access to my room?”
“Oh, yes. And he wasn’t the only one. They knew I had a key, you see. But I never gave it to anyone, and they never figured out where I kept it.”
“Thank you for keeping it safe. But you see, I never did turn against you. And your death would be so hard.” Mommy Cupcake squirmed a little at Alistair’s pleadings, and he decided to use the next tool. “And I’m going to need you, as well. You know that I need to marry and have a potential heir quickly to safeguard the succession. If things go according to plan, I might have a child within a year’s time. And then I’ll need someone to take care of it.”
Mommy Cupcake brightened at this thought. “And you would want me? I had thought you would find a new nurse… but then, that was based on what Luva said…”
“Of course I would want you. Who else?” Alistair thought for a moment. “Of course, we’ll need to hire you an assistant. I don’t think you could perform wet-nurse duties.”
The hobbit matron chuckled at that. “I should say not. It’s been far too many years since my last child.” She nodded to herself as she thought about resuming service as the family’s nurse. “I will have to get to work immediately. The nursery will need entirely new drapes and to have all of its furniture reupholstered, and I don’t even want to think about the cleaning…”
“You won’t leave us then?”
“When you want me to take care of your child? How could I?” Mommy Cupcakes thought. “And will you want to put your child in your old room eventually? We should clean and prepare it as well, then.”
“I think so. Speaking of my room… we’ll need to figure out why they wanted to get into it. You said you still have the key?”
Mommy Cupcake drew the key on its old, frayed cord out of her bodice. “Here you go, dear.”
“Thank you. Oh, and I also wanted to ask you another thing. Do you know anything about a crystal fan that the Eldar gave to my family many generations ago? From what we can tell, it is a powerful artifact, but I can’t recall ever seeing or hearing about it, and an unofficial agent of my Grandmother had had it.”
“Oh!” Mommy Cupcakes looked around conspiratorially. “Shhhh! That’s the sign of the Archduchy’s spymistress. Don’t tell anyone!”
“Don’t worry,” Alistair said with a smile. “The secret’s safe with me.”
The Council gathered again.
“Mommy Cupcake has agreed not to kill herself.”
“Oh, good,” said Kit. “I was worried…”
Alistair nodded with a smile, “Me, too. It’s a huge relief. But she also mentioned a couple of other things. First, that fan is the symbol of the Archducal spymistress.”
“So that’s who she was… that makes her notes even more important,” said Kit. “I had thought that Dame Esmerelda filled that role as well… I guess there was a distinction between the Mouth and the chief of field work. I’ve also found out a little about what the fan does. It’s very powerful. It’s a strongly enchanted magic weapon that can be used to parry well, with a variety of powers designed to make its wielder better at stealthy things, and the ability to hold psionic energy as well. It will be very handy…” [In game terms: Fan of the Assassin: +4 Dex; +10 Hide bonus (circumstance); +3 War fan as long as at least 1 PP of energy in it; can store up to 20 PP total; particularly effective at parrying (can add as much as entire to-hit bonus as a parry, you do not need to declare in advance); grants user without martial arts experience the equivalent of a 2nd level monk, or a +5 level bonus to a monk]
“Mommy Cupcake also told me some other information we need to act on. People tried to turn her against me, using my brother Luva, and tried to get access to my old room and my father’s old room. I don’t know what they were looking for, but…”
“But we need to know and find it. I’ll have my people check out the rooms.”
“Make sure they have magical detection ability as well,” Dame Brionna.
Kit looked back at her, “What, you think we’re a bunch of amateurs? Of course.”