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Message: <blockquote data-quote="gideonpepys" data-source="post: 7401907" data-attributes="member: 79141">Zeitgeist Zuesdays Session 49, Part Two - CloverMista Nyves led them on to Clover. The road reached a ford (no bridges as they attract trolls) where a ‘traffic jam’ of fey soldiers bartered for beeswax to plug their ears so they could pass a ‘blighted spot’ without discomfort. The spot was caused by a flour mill in the Waking.When they reached the city they decided to track down Copperhat the Headless.  Mista Nyves took them to the Headless Human, where they found Copperhat drowning his sorrows in the company of the horrible Borenbog – an obscure and flatulent folk terror from the High Bayou. Copperhat invited the unit to join them.  He was beside himself with grief over the death of Rock.Copperhat offered them the following theory about the murder: whoever killed Rock had to have powerful magic to avoid all the divinations both sides have been casting. That meant someone in one of the courts - probably Olazdor or Thisraldion. In Copperhat’s opinion, Olazdor wasn’t smart enough to lie about something like this. But Thisraldion was a jealous lover. Emphasis on lover. Copperhat, weeping at the memory of his friend, said he couldn’t let go. He nodded to the one-handed patrons here and said that they still longed for what they lost.  (Their hands were now attached to the belt of the Borenbog.) Copperhat felt certain that Thisraldion would have wanted some keepsake or other. Rumour was that Rock was found naked. Who knew what Thisraldion might have taken?Copperhat said he was afraid Thisraldion would kill him too, which is why he’d been lying to everyone who's will listen, singing the monarch’s praises. But if he were braver, he’d go and look for clues. “It’s what Rock would have done.” He asked the unit if they planned to investigate and when they said yes, Copperhat asked to be present whenever they brought the killer to justice.They asked Copperhat if he knew any way for them to get home, but he said he didn’t.  None of the old routes were open.  Not for the first time, Andrei suggested that they simply join one side, help them to win and claim passage home as their reward.  But is that what the leaders of the courts would want?  And were they capable of sending them home in the first place?They set off for Thistle Palace to find out, leaving Copperhat to his cups.  On the way they swung by a ‘whirligig ship’ – the sight of a great blight from the Waking - but Uru could find no way of interfering with the vessel from this side. Even if he could, would that earn sufficient favour to earn passage home?Their route to Thistle Palace was circuitous and long. Gupta was vaguely familiar with Slate and said that she thought they were going round in circles. Mista Nyves shrugged and denied the implication, but their route at once became more direct.At the palace, a camp of wounded soldiers sprawled across the grounds.  Visitors to Torfeld Palace would enter by the main entrance at the centre of the building, but here they headed for the east wing, first washing their hands at the Foreigner’s Fountain (an act that cleansed them from head to toe) before entering through ranks of rangale – armoured, human-faced stags, elks and gazelles wielding spears and bows with the power of their minds.Word of their arrival had preceded them and they were greeted by an effusive brownie named Binniwich who led them to an audience with Thisraldion.  On the way they encountered the imperious Lady Atsla of Ice, the impetuous Lord Karrest of Fire and a gigantic, robed mound known as Furg, the toadstool sage.  Each of these figures was only visible due to their mask and robes.  Atsla departed to avoid Karrest; Karrest stormed off after issuing threats; Furg was more friendly and took them on a short detour to the Titan Shrine.Recognising Leon as a valued fey emissary, Furg offered him the Book of Kelland, a tome that told the story of how the first King of Risur defeated the fey titans.  Leon accepted (both the book, and the fey bargain it implied).While they talked with Furg, a floating mask approached over the palace lawn. Where the others saw nothing else, Leon saw a naked dryad – the same lithe figure he alone had seen tending to the injured in the camp when they arrived.  An ash tree outside the window rustled and lifted the dryad up into its branches, bearing her through the window, which yielded before it, as did the walls and doors of the palace. This was Sallin, another member of the court.  She seemed wise but kindly, chiding them gently for their ‘many weapons’.  She had tried to guide ‘poor Rock’, she said, and hoped to provide them with better counsel.Furg and Sallin led them to the Chamber of the Unseen Court, where they found Thisraldion engaged in idle swordplay with a blade that went ‘snickersnack’ with every flourish. Atsla and Karrest were already there. Each lord sat in a large high-backed chair, save for Thisraldion, who swooned melodramatically into an ornate throne.  A sixth chair stood empty; once, it was occupied by the renegade Ekossigan. The Court welcomed Leon in particular, but acknowledged the whole unit as servants of the King of Risur.Thisraldion was disconsolate, still in mourning over the death of Rock. But his conversation was vague, proposing rambling feasts and poetry competitions to mark their arrival, until Andrei grew exasperated and demanded to know if he could help them back to the real world.  Thisraldion ordered that dinner be served amid the wounded on the grand lawn and, while they ate, promised that he would send the unit back to Risur on one condition: that they prove Olazdor and the Hedgehog Court were responsible for the murder of Rock Rackus. Rock talked about the unit a lot, and Thisraldion knew them to be wise and accomplished investigators. “Never has a fey monarch loved a mortal so intensely. And the folk of the Dreaming loved him too. If there is to be a new king in Risur, there are few acts that could earn more favour among the fey than to bring Rock’s killer to justice.”Leon said he felt strongly that Rackus was still alive.  Thisraldion dismissed the notion: Rock’s head and body had been taken to the mortuary and buried!Thisraldion then changed the subject to that of their famous leader, Marshal Korrigan. He was well aware of the claim Jenny Greenteeth laid to his son and declared that Kai would be safe while he remained in the city.  “She was once a member of the Hedgehog Court, but is now a renegade, banished. Neither she nor her servants may enter Clover.”Sallin then spoke up.  She reminded the court of a prophecy that told of a half-fey child that would one day unify the two realms of Waking and Dreaming and take up a seat in the Unseen Court. She and Furg both believed that Kai was that child. “But he is still too young for such a role. And so, though you are mortal, we offer the seat to you, Leon Veilleux, to hold for him until he comes of age.” This, they said, was in recognition of his many services to the court – not the least of which was the recent ejection of the colossus from their realm. Leon had also been instrumental in dealing with Ekossigan – the very lord he was to replace. And – if rumours were to be believed – his appointment might also serve to strengthen the bond between the fey and their allies in Elfaivar…Leon said nothing in direct reply to this last insinuation (though he felt a pang of loss at this first mention of Kasvarina).  Instead, he accepted their offer and agreed to join the Court.They would make the necessary arrangements over the next few days.  In the meantime, Leon could play no further part in the murder investigation.End of Session</blockquote>

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