Log:Undermoon Wedding, Scene 2

Undermoon Wedding 2014/09/18 	 Ghost Lily Lorelei Ten Vanatherion Q        Harlequin

2

Atop the rocky cliff near the end of the bridge stands the tiny "fairy tale" castle that serves as the Undermoon embassy. It's no larger than a large house, and its great front gate (with drawbridge to cross a decorative moat) is only the size of a normal door. Its slender towers are topped with graceful spires from which fly pennants of many colours and designs, but chiefly of purple and silver. Over the main gate hangs a rectangular flag of the same colour.

That's the outside. As soon as one passes through the gate it's another story - the castle is vast, the walls tall, the spires tower above the courtyard! Various buildings of the same graceful architectural style are found among the gardens of exotic flora, and the place is busy with staff, both human and fae.

Duke Vanatherion paces along the battlement of the castle, becoming more and more impatient. Again, this is perhaps a bit uncharacteristic of the Duke, as he's been up to this point fairly level-headed. Several of the guests for the wedding are congregating in the courtyard below.

Ghost asks everyone to meet her in a room in the castle after checking that her instructions that the Duke is not to be allowed contact with Princess Stephanie are still in place.

Guards have been posted to keep track of the Duke, though he's being allowed outside. He's a high ranking noble after all, and not exactly under house arrest.

Quinn, out of his depth when it comes to dealing with magical spells, curses, and goblins, heads to the meeting room to see what assistance he can offer.

Lily was just a guest, but, as hero she can't stand idly by, so she joins the meeting to see if there's anything she can do.

Lorelei appears at the meeting - with the bodyguards who have been following her about for months, so it's not exactly inconspicuous.

Lily

A very cute young woman with fair skin, perhaps in her early twenties. She stands about 5'2" (157.5cm) tall with an average, verging on slender, build. Her voluminous dirty blond hair frames her face and hands to the middle of her back. Her eyes are a pale green, with cat-like pupils.

She's wearing a blue and white loose sleeveless dress with a panel of black above her breasts, and a white spread collar, along with a short red necktie. On her arms are loose flowing blue detached sleeves, secured around her biceps by silver bands. She's wearing white gloves. On her legs she's wearing thigh-high opaque black stockings, and on her feet folded-over low-heeled blue and white fabric boots.

(picture: http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z330/alicesara/Characters/lily2_zps19c1ab22.jpg~original)

Q

At roughly six and a half feet tall Q wears a battle suit of advanced design. Sleek and aerodynamic his armor is a highly polished black with a silver faceplate. Twin eye slits glow with a bright blue light within the highly reflective faceplate giving the armor at least minimal facial characteristics when the faceplate is not retracted.

The armor is in the basic design of a classical hardsuit as opposed to being designed of a flexible material though its articulation seems to allow for excellent mobility. Centered in the middle of the chest is what seems to be almost a circular window which gives view to an eerie sight, the Q-Drive. Energy swirls within the Q-Drive in patterns that cause the eyes to hurt if you stare at them for too long and seems to brighten and dim like some sort of pulse. Surrounding the Q-Drive is a broken circle which glows with a bright blue light and contains the emitters for the shockwave blast and thunderclap charge as well as the holographic projector and spotlight. Feeding outward from the ring are lines which clearly carry energy throughout the suit, energizing the various systems and glowing with the same blue light.

Small circular emitters sit on the back of each gauntlet containing the circuitry for the neural blast systems. The gauntlets themselves are slightly oversized with a slight bubble shape along their backs and snap open at a mental command to reveal the smartwave missiles inside. Larger emitters sit in the palms of each gauntlet housing the emitters for the force bolts, utility lasers, and his often used quantum bolts.

Ghost

On a first casual glance Ghost looks like a scrawny undernourished girl of about sixteen years of age. She's dressed in Fae casual style, a silk jacket over a quilted sleeveless vest, snug fitting crimson tights held up by a wide golden colored belt, polished black leather boots, with her long metallic silver dyed hair pulled back in a pony-tail.

She has the colorful sash of a war-leader worn diagonally across her chest. There is a mysterious flat dark grey parallelogram shape adhering to the back of her right hand. It has the look of a weapon but not one common to Earth.

Then look into her eyes. Eyes with an oriental slant that are an icy blue and as cold as space. Notice the ears, too, no larger than human but pointed like a cat's and mobile, twitching to zone in on whatever sound occurs nearby. The face is thin, her chin narrow, lips hardly existent.

Lorelei

Lorelei's a gorgous young blonde woman of unearthly beauty. No part of her shapely 5'6" body is not alluring, but more striking still that almost her every movement seems an enticing pose such as photographers might spend hours coaxing out of a model. Wild shoulder-length hair frames her face, with its high cheekbones, pouty lips and dark sparkling eyes.

She might be seen in any number of outfits, but her "superhero costume" is a skintight shimmering green bodysuit partially cut away, leaving her left arm and shoulder are bare but for her glove, and her right leg but for her boot, with a light blue sash tied about her waist.

Harlequin is there as well, practicing some card tricks while he waits. Playing cards disappear and reappear in rapid succession.

Lorelei sits in the head chair in accordance with fae custom, but greets the heroes familiarly, in Engish. Then she looks expectantly at Ghost.

Ghost waits until it seems that everyone who is coming has arrived. Then she asks Sasha to cast his privacy spell. She greets Lorelei on bended knee and others with a bow. "Thank you for coming. Highness. Everyone. Harlequin has detected a spell on his grace the Duke. I cannot detect it, neither can Princess Linandre or Masters of the Arcane Art. Which means either Harlequin is mistaken or the spell has been crafted to be undetectable by fae. I know which I would put money on. Her highness Princess Linandre has authorised the dispelling of the spell on the Duke. But in a fashion most uncharacteristic of his normal behavious patterns he refuses to accept there is a spell on him nor will he volunteer to have it dispelled."

Lorelei frowns. "That makes no sense! If there's no spell there can be no harm in attempting to dispel it!"

Ghost continues, "I agree, your Highness. Thus we are left with the option of allowing his grace to be in contact with Princess Stephanie with the spell still in place, an option that I strongly oppose, or dispelling it witout his grace's co-operation and potentially with his active resistance."

Harlequin nods. "The counterspell should be fairly instantaneous, assuming I succeed in casting it quickly. So...if we can distract him sufficiently, the only resistance will be after the fact. Or the political fallout of there not being anything. Though I'm sure there is a spell there."

Lorelei says, "This is.. tricky. Vanatherion is a duke, and strictly speaking to dispel his enchantments without his permission - well, even the King could get in trouble for that. But I'm sure he wouldn't refuse to have the spell removed if it wasn't an effect of the spell!"

Lorelei smiles. "Of course, if, as the experts say - and as he says - there is no spell, it can hardly be assault to remove the nonexistent spell.

Lily hmmms, "But if Sasha does it, he's not a fae right? Or under fae authority, so he can just do it, can't he?"

Quinn sits quietly as the others talk, pondering for a bit. "If I may..." he begins when there is a momentary lull in the conversation.

Ghost nods to Lorelei and then Harlequin. "I will attempt to distract the Duke. When I do so, if I do distract him, Harlequin can try to cast the spell. I would rather like the rest of you close by, excepting yourself of course, Highness, in case the Duke reacts violently to either the dispelling of the spell or the attempt to do so if Harlequin cannoit get the dispell off. The Duke is a extremely accompanished swordsman. I'd rather not be a pin-cushion. I will take full responsibilty if needed."

Ghost looks at Q, "Apologies for interupting. You were about to say...?"

[To Lily] Lorelei says, "I can't give my permission for any of this, you understand. But then, I can hardly be expected to control the actions of strangers to our lands who don't know the law."

"I can understand why someone in the Duke's position might want to refuse to be dispelled," Quinn says. "It would naturally be an opportune time for someone to cast a harmful spell on him. Sort of like telling someone they need to drink an antidote when you hand them a bottle of poison. Now I doubt that is what the Duke is thinking in this case, but it is why someone in his position might refuse such a thing. What I'm wondering right now is what is Harlequin's official position with the Princess' Guard. He is a member of it, correct?"

Ghost nods to Q, "That is correct."

Harlequin nods in agreement with Ghost.

Quinn returns the nod to Ghost and then turns to Lorelei. "Now obviously I'm no expert on the fae culture," he says, "but I'm guessing that there is some sort of responsibility you have for actions that members of the Princess' Guard takes, aren't you? You can't just wash your hands and say that he didn't know the law because his actions still reflect on you directly, don't they?"

Ghost speaks before Lorelei can...

Quinn returns the nod to Ghost and then turns to Lorelei. "Now obviously I'm no expert on the fae culture," he says, "but I'm guessing that there is some sort of responsibility you have for actions that members of the Princess' Guard takes, isn't there? You can't just wash your hands and say that he didn't know the law because his actions still reflect on you directly, don't they?"

Quinn returns the nod to Ghost and then turns to Lorelei. "Now obviously I'm no expert on the fae culture," he says, "but I'm guessing that there is some sort of responsibility you have for actions that members of the Princess' Guard takes, isn't there? You can't just wash your hands and say that he didn't know the law because his actions still reflect on you directly, can you?"

Ghost says, "I am the team leader of the Princesses' Guard, Q. I will instruct Harlequin to dispell the spell on the Duke. I will not ask Princess Stephanie for permission to proceed with this. It will be on my head, nor Harlequin's or her Highness." She looks around at everyone, "I know the Duke. That is not the Duke in command of himself in the castle at this time. I do nort expect his grace to be angry after the fact. If he is, then I will assume and accept full responsibility.""

Titan steps into the room quietly and closes the door. He waves to those here, but keeps quiet as he tries to get up to speed.

Lily says, "What role would you like to play in this, then?"

Quinn nods to Ghost. "Fair enough," he says, "but even if you don't ask for permission I think she might be held responsible for your actions." He shrugs his shoulders. "Again, I'm not really sure. I don't know very much about fae culture, but there are certainly other cultures where that kind of thing is true and what I'm wondering is if you can't just sidestep the issue by having me do it?"

Ghost says, "Two fold, Lily. First, please stop him from killing me if I'm wrong and he is angry. Secondly, if Harlequin fails to get the spell off the first time restrain the Duke so Harlequin can try again. Once we start we cannot stop until the spell has been dispelled."

Ghost looks at Q. "You have hidden your skill amazingly well. I hadn't realised you were a mage."

[To Q] Lorelei says, "Even if I am held responsible - it's then a matter between myself and Vanatherion. The only way it's likely to be a real issue is if someone else from the house of Argoleus were to find out and take offence. But unless someone is careless enough to mention the plans that shouldn't be an issue."

Lily hmmms, "What if, say, an unstoppable, invincible, person was mind-controlled into attacking the Duke, and Harlequin, acting as a good member of the Princess Guard attempted to remove the mind control while she was grappling with the Duke, and inadvertantly hit both of them?"

Quinn shakes his head to Ghost and smiles a bit. "Oh, of course I'm not a mage," he says, "but I'm certain that I could learn to deploy some sort of 'point and click' device. If Harlequin were to make a magic coin or something that enabled me to dispel an enchantment I could probably make use of that."

Ghost smiles at Lily, "I'll be sure to save the idea for another occasion. However the Duke would not be taken in by that as he already knows we wish to cast a dispell on him. I would rather be as honest as we can with him, especially when our lie would be obvious."

Lily giggles, "OK~!"

Harlequin slowly shakes his head, "I...don't think I could do so on sort notice."

Lorelei says, "Besides, I doubt you could lay a hand on him!"

Ghost turns to Q, "I appreciate your offer, Q. But this is my task, my duty to her Highness and her House and the realm of Undermoon. I cannot refuse to accept the consequences, whatever they may be."

Quinn shrugs a shoulder slightly to Lorelei. "I was wondering if I would even have to," he says, "but if Harlequin isn't sure he could create such a thing then I suppose the point is moot. I was simply looking for an alternative that might spare you and the guard from further complications."

Ghost says, "Honestly, I do not expect there to be complications once we succeed. I expect the Duke to be grateful."

Lorelei nods. "Delay is the greatest likely cause of complications - more people may hear of the plan."

Ghost nods.

"The one other concern I would voice," Quinn says, "is that when you dispel whatever the enchantment is the people who put it there will just go to an alternate plan, assuming they don't have alternate plans already in place. Knowing what the nature of the enchantment is might tell you what other avenues of attack are most likely."

Ghost says, "This is my plan to distract his grace. I'll ask hoim to look at some illusions of goblin face to see if any where among those who attacked his group. The image I'll use is on the Goblin stronghold of Coldwater castle from a viewpoint of a hundred feet above it. With nothing under his feet. That, in a non-flying culture, ought to distract him I'd think."

Lorelei says, "I would think so! As far as I know he's never flown...."

Titan glances over at Lorelei, and then looks back to Ghost as she lays out the plan.

Ghost says, "That, of course, will be the time when Harlequin will cast the dispell. Of course the Duke will quickly see though the illusion. I'm countion of an instinctive fear of falling to kick in quicker than his eyes and brain can tell him it's just an illsuion."

Harlequin murmurs gently, "Just out of curiosity, is it a crime to cast a non-damaging spell on someone in Undermoon without their permission? Or simply a breech of protocol to do so to a social superior?"

Lorelei says, "That depends on the particular spell, to be honest. In this case, protocol is more the issue, since dispelling a supposedly non-existent spell can't be a problem."

Lorelei says, "Or that's my take. I'm not a lawyer!"

Ghost says, "Harlequin, you will be carrying out the instructions of the Princess Guard team leader. That's me. As such you will be asloved from responsibility. That will be on my shoulders and mine alone."

Harlequin flicks a card into the air, catches it between the two haves of the deck, and then sets the deck down. "Semantics, but ones I can live with. I will organzie a jail break for you shold end up imprisoned, Captain." His tone in tinged with humor. "When shall this merry escapade begin?"

Ghost smiles, "Now. As good a time as any."

Titan nods. "Best get this over with before more folks find out."

Ghost nods. "Let's go. The Duke was up on the battlements the last report I heard.

Lorelei says, "Good luck. I, obviously, need to be elsewhere."

Lily grins, "Don't worry Ghost, I'll protect you, and I don't die even if I'm killed!"

Ghost bows to Lorelei, "Indeed, Highhness."

The Duke indeed is still on the battlements when the heroes emerge from inside, taking in the air and looking out over the city. There are guards stationed nearby, but giving him plenty of room to feel like he's not a prisoner.

Lorelei returns to her chambers.

Ghost goes up to the Duke, bowing in accordence with Fae customs. "Your grace, I would beg a favour from you. If I show you some goblins faces could you look at them and see if any were present during the attack on your travelling party?"

Lily wanders along the battlements, taking in the sights.

Vanatherion takes a deep breath in through his nose and then nods to Ghost, "Very well." He turns away from the view to face Ghost directly.

Ten is in the courtyard below. She's been vaguely keeping an eye on the duke, from a distance, during the meeting.

Harlequin waits to take his cue from Ghost. He situates himself so as to block the guard's view of the Duke from one side.

Titan remains near where Ten is for the time being, not really wanting to spook the noble.

Ghost moves around so the Duke is facing away from Harlequin when facing her... and casts the holographic illusion of being suspended in mid-air a hundred feet above the goblin castle courtyard of Coldwater with goblins practicing below.

With a twitch of his fingers, a silver-blue pulse of 'light' leaps from Harlequin's hand to strike the Duke low in the back over where one of a human's chakra points would be. In truth, he is aiming for the spell on the Duke.

Vanatherion freezes for a moment, gasping as the ground seems to disappear. Harlequin's spell of unweaving goes off...and in a matter of a moment, Vanatherion is gone, only to be replaced by a different Duke entirely. Palanir is standing where Vanatherion once was. He blinks a couple of times, looking down at himself, clearly realizing what just happened. He starts to back up, and then notices the other heroes around the courtyard.

Harlequin claps after the spell goes off. "Well, I must admit that is no what I expected to happen. Pleasant surprise though."

Ghost is as shocked as anyone. But she recovers fast. "Well.. well.. well.. Titan really has been looking forward to his next meeting with you, Duke Palanir."

Titan's eyes narrow as he sees Palanir. He doesn't move to go crush the Duke just yet, though.

Ten sees the change, but doesn't really know what it portends. So she waits for a cue from someone else.

Lily doesn't know exactly what's going, but gets the genera idea. She strolls toward the ex-Duke. "Hi!"

Palanir purses his lips, considering his options. He glances down at Titan and then the other heroes. Clearly he doesn't like his odds. "Very well. I surrender." He pulls the sword from his belt, still in the scabbard and offers it to Ghost. And he actually smiles.

About the only thing Quinn knows right off hand is that apparently the Duke isn't really the Duke. Clearly this is a case of someone pretending to be the Duke, but who this new person is is completely unknown to him.

"Now why can't most bad guys be reasonable and surrender as soon as we show up?" Quinn asks.

Ghost goes to take the sword. "Clearly you assume you are in a position to bargain for your survival and freedom. What do you have to offer?" she says to ex-Duke Palanir.

Harlequin murmurs softly, "I would imagine it is the continued safety and safe return of the groom-to-be."

Ghost thinks. o O (I expect that to be the case but let's not give him any fresh ideas.)

Palanir gives up the sword without complaint. He grins, "I not only know the whereabouts of Duke Vanatherion. I'm also the only one who can actually take you there."

Lily smiles, "I'll give you a kiss if you tell us!"

"This is going to have something to do with Forests of Despair, Swamps of Misery, and Shopping Malls of Insufficient Parking, isn't it?" Quinn asks.

Ten decides it's clearly time to join the others, anyway. A quick extension and contraction of the staff and she's on the battlements.

Lily

A very cute young woman with fair skin, perhaps in her early twenties. She stands about 5'2" (157.5cm) tall with an average, verging on slender, build. Her voluminous dirty blond hair frames her face and hands to the middle of her back. Her eyes are a pale green, with cat-like pupils.

She's wearing a blue and white loose sleeveless dress with a panel of black above her breasts, and a white spread collar, along with a short red necktie. On her arms are loose flowing blue detached sleeves, secured around her biceps by silver bands. She's wearing white gloves. On her legs she's wearing thigh-high opaque black stockings, and on her feet folded-over low-heeled blue and white fabric boots.

(picture: http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z330/alicesara/Characters/lily2_zps19c1ab22.jpg~original)

Ghost says, "Another world. The worth of ash and darkness, Warmaster Palanir?"

Interestingly, Palanir doesn't seem to completely brush aside Lily's offer. He looks her over slowly. He becomes distracted when Ghost speaks again, though. "Mm...yes. That's correct. And it is far more than ash and darkness." He leans closer and smiles. "It is one of the homelands of the Fae...burnt by dragons in an age gone by."

Ghost says, "You discovered a way to one of the Lost Realms? Warmaster Palanir, that would probably have earned you a pardon. Did you even consider that? You embrace change. The devices of Earth. You appear to be a most accomplished world walker and explorer. It's truly a shame you are dark of heart. You could have been a great benefactor to and influence on the Fae culture."

Harlequin tilts his head to one side as he listens. He thinks. o O(Must remember to ask Lady Ednelhes if she knows of this world.)

Palanir has the same haughty look that a lot of the Fae nobles have, only he clearly doesn't have the air of nobility that Vanatherion had, even the disguised version that was actually Palanir. He smiles, "Oh...I would not be satisfied with merely that. It's easy to be a puppet for someone else. It's much more intriguing to be the one pulling the strings."

Ten wonders if this is the sort of speechifying that comes before a lot of hitting people with things, or something else. She hopes for the former, almost. At least then she'd low what to do.

Lily smiles gently, "But now you're neither the puppet nor the puppeteer. Is that what you really wanted?"

Ghost sighs. She looks at Titan, "Johnathan?" is all she says but there's a volume unspoken in that single word.

Titan looks up at the battlement, and comes up the stairs toward the others. "What is it?"

Palanir smiles slightly to Lily, "One does not succeed unless one ventures." He turns back to Ghost, "I can show you the way. So that you may free Vanatherion from their queen. I will do this if you grant me my freedom after that."

Ghost points out Palanir to Titan. "He says he is the only one who knows where Duke Vantherion is held and is the only one who can take us there. And all he wants in exchange is his life and his freedom. I cannot agree unless you also do, Johnathan."

Titan walks up to Palanir, looking at him closely. He clenches his fists a couple of times, causing the knuckles to crack. Palanir, for his part, smirks like he knows he holds the cards.

Titan sighs slowly and says to Ghost, "Very well. I'll agree to it. It's more important to recover the Duke."

Ten looks between Titan and Ghost, wondering why this should be Titan's decision.

Ghost lifts up on tip-toe and if Titan allows she plants a kiss on his cheek. "You are a good man, Johnathan." Then turning to Palanir, "Agreed. If you tell us all you know of the world and its inhabitants and the difficulties that we will face in freeing the Duke, and aid us to the best of your abilities in freeing him. If you do that you shall have your freedom."

Ten says, "Um - and also don't strand us in this other world, wherever the heck it is."

Titan doesn't try to stop Ghost from kissing his cheek. He still looks like he wants to slug Palanir, but he refrains from it.

Ghost thinks. o O (I'm not looking forward to explaining this to the King.)

Palanir starts to respond to Ghost and then grins at Ten's comment, "So noted. I give my word that I shall not strand you. Perhaps this one..." He motions to Titan, "...should remain with me on this side of the Way to make sure that I keep my word? Assuming that would alleviate the suspicion that my word isn't worth as much as I say it is?"

Palanir then continues. "This is one of several Lost Worlds. The fae that live there...are the fae that were left behind during the migration following the Dragon Wars. They became separated from the main host, and have...evolved independently since that time."

Harlequin murmurs softly as he turns his gaze on Palanir. "Evolved? Or been altered by, hmm, outside forces, your Grace?"

Ghost looks at Palanir, "Do you give your word?" she says directly, with a strange tone to her voice.

Palanir grins at Harlequin's words, "If you're implying that I had a hand in changing them, you're mistaken. But what is evolution, but the end result of outside forces? They needed to deal with dragons, and changed to suit the environment." He turns to Ghost, tilting his head. He considers what she said for long moment...and how she said it. Finally, he speaks. "I give my word. I shall not close the Way before you return."

Ghost says to Titan, "I trust his word. But your suggestion of staying behind is good. Someone needs to be on this side to lead the rescue party if we fail to return in good time."

Titan nods to Ghost, "Alright, I'll remain on this side then."

Palanir smiles and nods. "The Forsaken were just intending to hold him...and question him about what they've missed in their time in exile. But...I don't know what means they were going to use in that questioning. So, if you wish to recover him in time, we should move quickly."

Ghost says, "We should prepare for the journey. Pack supplies, etc. And I..." she sighs, "must go and explain to the Princesses why I'm going to let public enemy nuimber one go free after he's helped us.""

Lily smiles, "I'll help rescue the real Duke, but I need to send a message to my momma first."

Harlequin looks over to Ghost the to Palanir. "Did you cast the disguise upon yourself, your Grace? Or did the Forsaken?"

Palanir nods to Harlequin. His eyes narrow slightly, "You were the one who noticed. I am...impressed. And I do not say such things lightly." He shakes his head, "I did not cast it. It was one of the Forsaken who did so."

Ten nods. "What do you think we'll need for supplies?"

Ghost points to Palanir, "He's the expert. And I think we casn trust him to some extent." she says and grins at Palanir, "If we don't get back because we didn't have something we should have packed he's going to be waiting at the Way for a long time even in Fae terms."

Lily says, "Food and water? And toiletries. If it takes more than a few hours to get to where the Duke is being held, and back again."

Palanir shakes his head, "I can open the Way to right outside their castle. So, you needn't travel far to get there. You still may wish to have food and drink, though."

Ghost heads off to tell the two Princesses what has happened and what has been agreed.

Ghost fastens Stormcast to her belt, drawing the blade to whisper a greeting to Silver Lady before sheathing it again.

Harlequin hmms. "Their subtle magicks have no touch of the Fae to them any longer. Curious." He heads out to get supplies. And to talk to a certain Lady.

Lily heads off to write her A-Momma a letter.