Bermuda Holiday Session 5

Princess Guard - The New Era 2016/22/12 	 Charm Titan Pulsar Wolf Harlequin 28

Fae Princess Liner
After the tanker incident the next thirty-six hours passes without any eruptions of danger and violence. Although not uneventfully. Ronin reached out to Titan about the Steel twins, and Charm caught a brief sighting of Palanir. Now... Palanir is not sufficiently skilled in glamor to hold together an illusion that can defeat Second Sight. Which rather implies someone else is also in the picture.

Charm puts in a call to the embassy to inform them of the sighting - and that some master of glamor or some other sort of trickery must be involved. Her grandmother, surely, will have more idea who might be capable of such a feat.

Titan makes a point of going to the Steel twins to let them know they've been spotted. "You two need to be more cautious. Sometimes, that means swallowing your pride a bit."

The Steel twins hang their heads. "Yes, Sir. We know. But they were winning. We held back at the start. It was when they started taunting our team..."

Titan nods. "I understand. It's tough to continue to hold back. But you were recognized for what you are." He pauses, considering. "A mercenary recognized you. He contacted me, of all people, about your presence. But he could have contacted any number of others."

Pulsar has been enjoying the time aboard the cruise. Its an appreciated reprieve from his duties as Lead Land Surveyor for an agency back in his home town, and of course another 16hrs of world-wide patrolling at near light speed. He of course has no reason to be paranoid having no idea who this Palanir character is.

So as Ben he's sitting on the main promenade getting some sun and enjoying the view of the ocean all around him. Oddly, this is something he hasn't done since getting in his powers, just take in the beauty of things.

His strong sense of civic responsibility immediately put him in the role of saving lives and so that should be no surprise.

It's about an hour later that Charm gets a reply, encoded in a old 'secret decoder ring' cipher that Ghost and she used when Charm was a child. The message is from Princess Linandere, 'Charm, your report is of great concern to me. There are few who have such skill, and I know them all. They are friends. It seems impossible that one of them is betraying us. But I've asked Ghost to check on the location of everyone known to be capable of such glamour. As soon as Ghost has a result I will contact you again.'"

Charm shares this information with the group. .oO(It may be we are dealing with non-fae magic - or the magic of the fae from the ancient home. Or not magic at all, but some technological means of disguise, I suppose.)Oo.

The Steel twins promise Titan they'll be good for the rest of the holiday. And plead with him not to tell Peter."

Titan agrees to not tell Peter. At least for the time being.

Sasha looks over his copy of the London Financial Times at whatever special kids are presently in his view while he responds over the comm .oO(Well, it could be goblin magicks as well, but given his biases, I imagine not. I can slowly scan the ship to see what magicks I can find, I suppose.)Oo.

Charm does a bit of web browsing, which she's just about getting the hang of by now, looking for news reports, company blurb, and so forth, relating to the Fae Princess.

Wolf will start at the opposite end of the ship from where Sasha begins. He can smell where Fae have *been*, but, until we know what Palanir smells like,. . . he can only at best narrow it down. And this will take time.

It's mid-day on the following day when the great liner comes into dock at Hamilton Port in Bermuda. Special booths have been set up to process the passengers speedily and soon there's an exodus of tourists heading into Hamilton City. There are organised tours, one to the Royal Golf course for those who cannot miss any opportunity to play. The kids are scheduled to tour the famous Crystal caves the day after tomorrow. As passengers disembark the ships crew warn that the night life can be more rowdy than is the case in the US.

Titan tries to get some clarification as to what 'rowdy' means in this case.

Wolf and Sasha's efforts come up empty. Likely someone good enough to foil Second Sight will have covered scent and mystic scrying as well.

The crewperson seeing the passengers off advises Titan to avoid the east and dock side areas of the city.

Charm keeps a close eye on the crowd as people disembark. She hopes that some action might give Palanir away even if the glamour is perfect. After all, he is presumably no more familiar with Earth than she is, give or take.

Almost none of the crew go into the city. While the passengers are enjoying themselves the crew are doing maintainence work, re-stocking, and getting ready for the next leg of the cruise.

Sasha keeps an eye on the kids under the cover of keeping an eye on his 'son' Leonid. How such a cheerful kid as Leonid has such a uptight looking dad as Steven is wonder for the ages.

Charm decides she'd better pay attention to the babysitting duties, under the circumstances. No doubt being on shore will provide new opportunities to get into trouble!

The kid's teacher, Mr Kirk, is still in his cabin after violent sea sickness. Leaving the kids unsupervised by any one except your group. Peter goes to see Steven (Sasha) and asks permission to keep an open mind link to Steven while the kid group is ashore.

"That sounds like a fine idea, Peter. But do not overly tax yourself. If you need a break, just let me know. We can re-establish afterwards," murmurs the severe looking man.

Charm comments, .oO(I"ve just had an idea. Probably not a good one. If Palanir is unaware of other fae on the ship I might be able to draw him out - he would be curious to see evidence of another fae, no doubt. Of course, that would give away my presence....)Oo.

Ben decides to stick near the uncostumed heroes when the ship comes ashore. That being said, it seems there will be babysitting duties invovled. Ben's interest is keeping the ship and its passengers safe at any port and considering their connections, he figures he can better do that nearby than seeing the rougher nightlife.

There are a good number of fading fae scents all over the ship. All quite old and probably from the fae designers and decorators who were employed during construction. There are no fresh scents. Except by the door where Charm spotted Palanir. But that scent starts and ends there. Starts when the glamour was broken by contact with the mis-thrown cold iron horseshoe, and ends - probably when another glamour was cast.

.oO(I'm not certain how good an idea that might be, Mistress Charm. We've no idea if, or how many, allies Palanir may have aboard ship. It might be better to hold off on trying to bait him until we've a bit more knowledge,)Oo. murmurs Sasha over the link.

Titan does his best to try to keep an eye on the kids, especially the Steel twins. .oO( Can anyone think of a reason he might be here? )Oo.

Charm says, .oO(None. But he seems to have more connections across more worlds than any living fae - perhaps more than anyone. And perhaps has had schemes involving many worlds for centuries.)Oo.

All Ashore on Bermuda
Astonishingly the kids are on best behavior the first afternoon and the start of the evening. The same cannot be said of some of the adult passengers. The local police are ferrying intoxicated tourists back to the liner in a steady stream. The kids start as usual with the local ice cream and candy stores. Then onto a beach for a couple of hours. Heading back to a restaurant high up on a tower block where the view across the city and port basin is magnificent.

Sasha thinks to himself .oO(Well, they got their dose of meta excitement early this trip. Maybe that'll be all of it.)Oo. He then throws a little salt over his shoulder at dinner and makes certain to knock on some wood.

Titan snorts, .oO( Not likely. I know how these trips go. )Oo.

(Mind link to Steven from Peter: Steven! Someone is being kidnapped. It's happening in the street right outside the Hamilton Tower Restaurant.)

Sasha states over the link to the Princess' Guard: .oO(Kidnapping in progress on the street outside restaurant where kids are. Will go check on it!)Oo.

Over the link to Peter he says, .oO(I will check on it, Peter! You all stay here, understood?)Oo.

And matching actions to words, Sasha heads out towards the bathroom then takes a shortcut, once out of sight to civilans, via teleport spell to the street.

Charm starts that direction too, without benefit of teleportation.

Mind Link to Steven: Yes, Steven -- leakage from verbal speech 'No. Steven says we should stay here.')

Titan says over the link, .oO( If it's Ronin involved, he's on a bounty hunting mission for a company. )Oo.

By the time Sasha arrives, fast although his mode of travel is, the incident is over. There's chaos in the street. Some vehicles have stopped, a couple of fender benders, others are heading away as fast as is safe... or faster. It's evening. No shortage of witnesses in the street.

Steven asks around about what happened: who was it? what happened? was anyone hurt? He applies all the charm he usually never does as Steven.

Wolf and Ceci will stay to watch the kids if all the other PCs are all going to investigate

Pulsar sees the commotion as he returns from a patrol trip while everyone ate.

He hovers overhead, having seen the end of the issue. But one man stands out, Steven asking about what happened here.

The Holographic Hero darts for the man to lend his own assistance so he can find out what happened while he was gone for the last few minutes.

Titan makes his way to the location in question as well, though a bit slower than the others.

There's a number of accounts differing in some details. Eye witnesses aren't that reliable. But the basics are consistant. A woman was walking toward the Tower Restaurant when a black van made a tire screeching halt beside her. The van doors were thrown open and three figures jumped out. One was scaley and had long claws. Another had the head of a lion with great teeth. The third was short and thick and wasn't hurt when a out of control car hit him. He didn't even move. The woman was youngish, the most notable feature being her bright red hair.

Sasha relays all of this over the link as he gets it to the others. .oO(Does any of you know who the woman might be?)Oo.

He then adds, .oO(And can any fliers among us try to get up and spot the van. Unlikely I know, but worth a chance.)Oo.

In the meantime, he tries to rack his mind for any metas who match the partial descriptions.

Titan says over the link, .oO( Based on the description, it could be the woman who's been hanging out with me on board the ship. I'll head up to take a look. )Oo.

As soon as Pulsar gets a good 'solid' description of the vehicle in question, he looks to 'Steven' and says, "I'll scour the city, hopefully they're still on the road." And with that- he takes off for the sky.

Titan takes off into the air to see if he can spot the vehicle, though he knows it's a long shot.

(Mink Link from Peter: Steven, Graham recorded it all on his PDA. It's not very clear. It was a long way down from the top of the tower.)

Pulsar spots a black van driving recklassly fast heading to the airport.

Over the mind link to Peter, Sasha says, .oO(Forward the vid to 555-555-5555, Peter. I'll look at it.)Oo.

Spotting the suspicious van, he gives pursuit while glowing brighter and brighter until he is like a giant flare in the sky. He's hoping the members of the Princess Guard will get the message.

Peter tells Graham to forward the vid. And a few seconds later it appears in Steven's PDA video messages folder. Peter was right, the quality is poor, through a double glazed window and angled down steeply. But it shows the van and the three obvious metas, and Amanda Reinheart struggling as she pushed into the back of the van.

Titan says over the link, .oO( I think I see Pulsar over by the airport. He seems to have spotted something. )Oo.

The van matches the description, but there are two local gang types in the van. One driving and the other in the passenger seat. There's no partition so Pulsar can see into the back of the van.'

Charm says, .oO(I don't have a way to get there quickly.)Oo.

Steven stops his questioning, finds an appropriately empty area, and opens a Gate to Airport. .oO(Harlequin point-to-point transportaion service now open in the alley behind the hotel. Now serving all customers. All aboard!)Oo.

Pulsar isn't hiding at all, so he flies lwoer to get a good look at the driver and passenger. Seeing typical gang-affiliated thugs he reorients himself to see into the back of the van. Being this low he hopes the others will still be able to spot him.

Charm hurries to the gate.

The gang locals in the van spot Pulsar and pull over to the side of the road coming to a halt.

Sasha has recognized the metas from their descriptions. He relays the information about the Beasts over the PG link. .oO(The kidnappers are all part of the Beasts villain group. The three seen, so far, are Claw, Fang, and Stomp. Other known members are Sting and Chimera. Chimera is so called as he combines the abilities of all the other members.)Oo.

Titan flies off after Pulsar, hoping to catch up before things get to a fight.

Charm remarks, .oO(A better name than Captain Derivative, anyway.)Oo.

Having pulled to a stop at the side of the road the two gang members in the van light up reefers and sit back inhaling.

Sasha waits until Charm has arrives to murmur over the link, .oO(Mistress Charm and myself will step through a Gate between the airport and the van. With luck, we'll even be on the right street.)Oo.

Charm says, "Preferably not right in front of the van...."

Sasha murmurs, "Well, not by preference, no. But precision is not, I fear, my strongest suit with regards to Gates, Mistress Charm." He then opens up the Gate.

Charm steps through, ready to jump back if necessary. "I wish I had the trick of seeing where portals lead."

Sasha bows Charm through the Gate and takes a moment to put on his Harlequin face.

Inside the halted van the two local gang types are smoking their reefers and laughing as they point out the windows at the arriving heroes.

Charm gets her bearings. She wasn't expecting the van to be stopped. She looks about for any sign that the villains may have abandoned the van and taken to foot, or the sky.

Pulsar flies over to the front of the van. "Please step out of the van and put out that marijuana. This is a serious issue- kidnapping is a serious offense." Pulsar says as he hovers directly in front of the van. He's turned down his glow so that the gangbangers can see him clearly.

Pulsar crosses his arms in front of his chest and tries to look authoritative.

The gang members open the van doors and step out. They don't stop smoking though. They don't stop laughing either.

Titan lands near Pulsar and looks inside the van, seeing who else is inside, if anyone.

Harlequin steps through the Gate after Charm then walks down the street towards the van. He calls out, "Any sign of the Beasts, Titan, Pulsar?"

The interior of the van is empty.

Charm goes to check out the van too. Just in case second sight will reveal something.

"Beasts?" Pulsar says, turning aroound to see who just called out to him. Recognizing Harlequin, he waves and shouts back, "Nope just some potheads." Pulsar phases through the van to make sure he's not missing anything- from the hood to the back door.

On the other side he says, "Is that what we're calling them? Beasts?"

Even second sight reveals nothing more. Well, maybe a little. There are some scratches in the floor of the van.

Titan raises a brow and looks to one of the gang members. "Where is she?"

Harlequin shakes his head. "Well, it is a pity. Shall we simply assume these rastas are in league with the Beasts meta team? And if so, as it /is/ a hot pursuit, that Mistress Charm can turn their so-called brain inside out to confirm it?" His tone is an odd mix of jovial and cold.

Harlequin conjures what seems to be a cold blue flame into his hands. "Or I can, one supposes."

The local blows a cloud of reefer smoke, "She, dude? I'ares don't know about any she. We got paid two hunda greens to drive like hell toward the airport."

Titan narrows his eyes, "Paid...by whom? They kidnapped a woman.

The other local sobers up a bit, "Hey, dude. Chill, man. We'es telling you the straight."

"200 dollars to get high, drive like idiots & spend the night in jail? Doesn't seem like a fair deal to me." Pulsar says to the two delinquents as he comes from the rearend of the van.

When Harlequin talks of ripping minds asunders Pulsar looks the other way. He isn't sure how he feels on the subject, but he knows someone needs his help. He'll let those with those abilties to deal with the ethics of using them.

One of the locals is starting to look sober, and scared. "Hey, man, like we'es really don't know about any kidnapping. Look, these vans, you put your head in the right place and it's like an ear trumptet you know. I heard the guy who paid us say they were going back to their ship."

Titan looks to Harlequin, "Can you locate her remotely by looking for her mind or something? Assuming she's who I think she is, I'd have some kind of link to her."

Harlequin nods to Titan. "I can try. But it is ritual magick so it will take some time."

Titan says, "It's either that or start scanning ships. If they said 'ship', it's large. It's not going to be a sailboat or something."

Harlequin nods as he looks over at Titan. "I don't suppose you have a map of Berumda or the harbor and, hmm, a token of some sort from the young lady? One or both wouild be very helpful." He glances over at the rastas. "Well, go on, shoo, before I decide I need ganja tainted blood as well."

Pulsar listens to the two PG members strategize. He seems eager to learn- but its clear he has no idea how to proceed other than flying through every ship in the ship yard/harbor.

The two local gang type take off down the down back to Hamilton. They don't try to take the van. They are feeling lucky enough just being let go.

Titan shakes his head, "We weren't as close as that. We had dinner a few times."

One item Harlequin wants is conveniently to hand. There's a old fashioned road map of Bermuda in the cab of the van.

Harlequin looks down at the map as he asks, "Do you know her cabin number on the ship, Titan? If not, I can ask one of the kids to gte it."

Titan nods. "That I know." He gives Harlequin hte cabin number.

Pulsar makes his hand glow and raisies it above the map for Harlequin to see better.

Harlequin nods. "Hmm, well, let's try...Hmm, alright, when I tell you Titan, could you spill a drop or two of your blood onto the map?" He asks this as he sets the map down on the ground and kneels next to it. "It will take, oh, five minutes or so. When the, ahh, circle around the map pulses red, Titan." The mage bends over the map and starts to mutters to himself. Slowly, a ghostly circle of whie flames rises around the mage and the map.

Titan sighs, "Cut myself, huh? Couldn't have made this simpler?" He looks for a piece of metal to try to cut his skin with. "Coudln't we use like an eyelash or something? Might be easier."

At one point, after a few minutes, Harlequin takes a knife out from under his cloak, cuts his hand and draws some symbols on the edge of the map before they burn into more white flames.

Titan squeezes a sharp piece of metal from the truck, and it crumples. He sighs.

Harlequin g;ances over as the metal crumples. "Titan? You are as tough as yourself. Bite your own cheek perhaps?" He then turns back to the map.

Titan nods. "Worth a try, I guess." He bites the inside of his cheek, which does manage to draw a tiny bit of blood. Not much, but then only a drop or two was necessary. He drips the blood where Harlequin wanted it.

When the drops of Titan's blood fall on the map, they join together then start to slowly trace across the map towards...

Charm looks on, frowning slightly.

The blood leaves no stains on the map. The drop slowly moves to the cargo port and then on out to sea, almost stopping about five miles off shore. Almost stopping. It's creeping slowly further out to sea.

Harlequin says, "Ah, well, there it is. The ship. Everyone bring their swim fins?" says Harlequin as he wipes sweat from neck."

Pulsar does too, though not frowning. He's actually got a look a quiet excitement on his face as he witness magic performed right in his face for the first time. He watches the blood move with extreme interest.

"I suppose if you're going to be a bad guy, off shore near or in international waters is probably the best place to be." He says nodding.

Titan smiles. "Nice job, Harlequin. Thanks."