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Message: <blockquote data-quote="gideonpepys" data-source="post: 7400438" data-attributes="member: 79141">Session 49, Part One - the Chessboard ForestThe unit finds itself on a battlefield between two rival fey forces: formorians and elven cavalry on one side; satyrs and centaurs on the other. Uru recognises their banners as those of the Unseen Court and the rebellious Hedgehog Court.Andrei wakes and gives a grunt of approval on realising he is no longer possessed by Nicodemus. His very next thought is for Isobel: her safety was predicated on his continued co-operation. What now?As missiles rain down from both sides, it becomes apparent that they are in immediate danger. Leon creates an illusion to conceal them. Korrigan and Quratulain defend the unconscious. Andrei is hit by a formorian spear and immediately falls ‘dead’ again, only wake up a moment later, snap the spear in half and pull it out. “Where the hell are we?” he demands.In the Dreaming! Leon tries long-range teleportation to a place they have visited before – the Birch Queen’s Fair. It doesn’t work.Uru tries in vain to summon the creeping fey to his defence. (He is loosely affiliated with the Unseen Court, but has also established a court of his own, the Unheard Court, which in this case carries an ironic, unintended meaning.)  He flies up on Little Jack to escape the missiles.Leon opens a dimension door through the trees into a clearing to the south.  Andrei is hit again! He follows the others through the portal when he reawakens. They carry Sly and Gupta, who remain unconscious.In the wide, square clearing – with unnaturally straight forests on all four sides – the unit is beckoned by and approach a red-haired fey youth who introduces himself as Rambylon.  He has no shoes and his feet are on backwards (and he has evidently been robbing the dead). Rambylon offers to lead them off the battlefield for nothing more than a half-elf kiss.(Everyone looks at Gupta, who shrugs.)Leon sends up Rahu Ketu and confirms that the battlefield is an enormous chessboard pattern, four-hundred feet to each square, alternately forest and plain.  In the distance they can hear the sounds of battle, the blaring of a horn and the baying of hounds.At this point, Gupta shakes and wakes.  Andrei recognises the handiwork of his father and describes it as a ‘curse’, which is not the way Gupta feels about it.They agree to Rambylon’s offer and he leads them through the squares to the south-east. They pass through a lot of skirmishes before a pixie limns them in faerie fire and they become the target of the Great Hunt! A gremlin riding a dire fox, working in concert with the pixie, lures the Hunt towards them. Leon can see Ascodel in the lead - Ascodel, Herald of the Great Hunt, who once joined him on his quest to rid the Dreaming of Tatzel’s blight.Once again, Leon’s teleport powers save the day as they handily escape being trampled and skewered.  He creates an illusion of the unit behind them just in case.  (Uru suggests leaving Rambylon behind but he is ignored.)On a hill overlooking the chessboard battlefield, they see a cluster of onlookers, who turn out to be a group of minor fey nobles enjoying a picnic.  The organiser, Clausvald – a pudgy yellow caterpillar the size of a horse, attended by several black swanmays and waited upon by a bad-tempered ettercap in an angora sweater – greets them with some enthusiasm.As they approach Korrigan says that he is concerned about the safety of his son, here in the realm of the fey, for the hag Jenny Greenteeth still lays claim to him. Leon offers to put them in the absurdist web, but Korrigan prefers to keep his wits about him for now.  Kai is feted and clucked over by the minor fey, who can see he is a ‘magical mortal child with a wisp of fey about him’.  Korrigan remains distant and preoccupied, considering his options.Though they gingerly wield a pair of new-fangled ‘binoculars’ for the purpose of observing the battlefield, the fey object to the presence of Quratulain and force her to remain at a distance. (Little Jack folds up, inactive, in Uru’s cloak.)Mista Nyves the ettercap begrudgingly offers them drinks.  Then he disappears into a large ball of webs in the crook of a nearby tree and returns moments later with whatever was ordered.  Leon recognises this as the Webway – a network of extraplanar tunnels used by crawling fey.  Uru is intrigued.Clausvald asks them which side they are fighting for and when they look confused he fills them in on the situation: Fey monarch Thisraldion and rebel leader Olazdor each accuse the other of being responsible for the murder of Rock Rackus – consort of Thisraldion, but equally beloved of both sides.  Clausvald is clearly of the opinion that Thisraldion is to blame, and tried to pin the murder on Olazdor. His servant Mista Nyves disagrees and says it was the other way around.  He was told as much by his good friend Copperhat the Headless.  (This kicks off a lot of complaints from the other fey about Copperhat, who is viewed as an unpopular trickster.)  It doesn’t help matters that Rock had his head cut off and an arrow through his heart – the modus operandi of both leaders.So, in accordance with fey tradition, it is up to their followers to sort the matter out in formalised, ritual combat.  Clausvald thinks that the conflict will soon spill out of these confines and eventually the leaders will get involved.Gupta ingratiates herself with the spectators by providing a detailed commentary on the battle.  She learns that they are quite close to the fey capital, Clover (a mirror image of the Risuri capital of Slate).  She then mines the fey for rumours and learns a lot about what has been going on locally:  stolen magical eggs; gremlin recruitment; the banishment of Lady Beshela’s court prophet; herds of ungulates running rampant in the Weftlands, unchecked by the Great Hunt.  They also learn that travel back to the Waking is currently impossible – but maybe the most powerful fey can help.At this point they are finally recognised from the lyrics of one of Rock Rackus’ songs.  The fey nobles are starstruck and Clausvald offers to buy their items to sell as memorabilia. Leon plays along to see what will happen. He doesn’t need Mista Nyves' help to recognise fool’s gold when he sees it, but Mista Nyves chips in nonetheless (“Are you paying with real gold, or with the fake stuff?) and is fired by Clausvald for his pains.The newly unemployed Nyves offers himself as a guide.  Unlike Rambylon he doesn’t want ‘nothing weird like kisses’ as payment, only gold - real gold. Uru is particularly keen to engage Mista Nyves, but the others prefer Rambylon, so Uru engages Mista Nyve’s services himself.The fighting comes to an abrupt end in the early afternoon and the combatents return to the city en masse.Having two guides proves advantageous almost at once, when Korrigan decides that he is unwilling to continue any further ‘out in the open’ without first scouting out the lay of the land.  In any case, Sly Marbo is in dire need of rest.  Rambylon says he knows of a secret place they can hide out for the time being, and sets off with Korrigan, Kai, Sly and Quratulain (for support in case they are discovered, and because her presence seems to irritate the fey). Korrigan tells the others to go on to Clover and see what they can find out about Rock’s murder.  “Rock’s not dead,” says Leon as they part.</blockquote>

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