Dragon Hunt Session 2

Princess Guard - The New Era 2016/09/22 	 Titan Charm Caleb Daemon Harlequin 21

Westmarch Castle
As the heroes are discussing what needs to be done with Princess Stephanie and the Duke at Westmarch castle a hawk, or so it seems to those without second sight, flies down to the courtyard and transforms into an exhausted fae guardsman. "I've..." he has to pause for a breath, "spoken to the Dwarves of Getstone. A miner is setting out for the mine. He'll be getting there in.." puff and pant, "a couple of hours."

"That's a nice trick..." Daemon says pointing a flicked finger towards the guardsmen. "Can he do chicken?" He asks flippantly.

Titan remains quiet, though perhaps he's somewhat relieved that Daemon is here. After all the other man seems destined to draw more ire than he is.

Charm frowns at Daemon.

Charm assumes an explanation about the role of the dwarves is coming, and accordingly waits for it. The guardsman continues speaking after another pause to breath deeply. "The King of Getstone is calling a Moot. He's going to call for assistance from the dwarven keeps. But that's going to take days, your grace."

Harlequin smiles slightly behind his mask at Daemon's comments then murmurs gently, "Probably, Daemon, but then Princess Liandere could glamour /you/ into a chicken as well. She is quite talented with transformations." He then nods politely at Princess Stephanie and the Duke. "Do we know if the grey elves stayed with the dragon? And is the dragon one of the feral ones or one of ones who can still speak and reason?'

The Duke is the one who answers, "Magus, nobody has got close enough to the dragon to know. Except for the gray elves. But since they have been either torn apart or burnt to charcoal we cannot ask them. Our belief is the gray elves opened a way to our lands and the dragon followed them through before they could close it again."

Harlequin hmms. "Well, yes, that does make it difficult to ask them." After a beat, he adds, "Not impossible. Just...troublesome." He then reaches into the leather messenger bag at his side. To those who can sense sch things, he reaches into a pocket dimension. To mere sight, he reaches elbow deep into the messenger back as he mutters to himself then pulls out what looks like a wooden folding chess set. "Well, shall we go and find out the details then?"

Nexus nods. "Sounds good to me." He considers planting a chicken in Harlequin's bag through the back, just for laughs, but decides to be serious for once.

Charm asks Harlequin, "Can you speak to the spirits of the dead, then?"

Titan nods to Harlequin, "I'm ready whenever everyone else is."

The Duke says, "The Firebird carriage can take you to close to the mine entrance."

Harlequin looks over at Charm. "I can at times. It depends on a variety of factors. The body having an intact head and mouth are the primary ones. Time is another factor." He lifts his head and looks about. "And, well, I've never attempted it in the Faerie Realms. It is possible the rules are different. We'll have to find out."

Charm says, "Is it known if magic is effective against the dragon at all? Or does it consume all magic before it can affect it?"

Daemon is oddly quiet after Harlequin's warning of the Princess' power of transmogrification.

'Firebird?' He wonders. "So who's driving the old Trans AM? I call shotgun." He says. His attempt to remain quiet did not last long. All this magic talk makes him quite uncomfortable and that makes it all too easy to fall into old habits.

Harlequin murmurs as he begins to walk towards the Firebird carriage. "Direct magicks are simply absorbed. But indirect effects, say, collapsing a roof on the dragon would be efficacious. And it can, hmm, 'smell' magicks from quite a distance. I can, however, cloak out magickal emanations But will not be able to attack or defend myself while doing so."

Nexus smiles to Daemon. "Wow. Now _there's_ an obscure reference." To Harlequin's comment he adds "Well. I'm guessing we aren't planning on being especially stealthy. And for the record, I've got a couple of magic telltales on me, too."

Charm says, "Then again, this land if full of magic. We won't be as conspicuous as we would be on Earth."

Harlequin adds, "And certainly not a mana desert like the Grey Realms from which it comes."

Nexus says, "So we'll be like a few extra meatballs at the buffet table, then?" He pauses. "Um. Probably not the best analogy. Anyway. It doesn't sound like we know enough to do much meaningful planning. Do we want to do some scouting first, see what we can find? Or just dive in and see what happens?"

Harlequin murmurs, "Once we get there, yes, my preference would be to scout out the situation. But, it will be whatever Captain Titan decides in the end."

Charm says, "Harlequin asking the dead, if he can, seems the best way to get information."

Titan nods to Harlequin, "We aren't going in guns blazing. I need to know more."

Nexus nods. Then he looks at Harlequin more seriously, then shakes his head and says nothing.

"Old? My Grand-daddy still drives an old one around. He says its a treasure- I say its a carbon-bomb and some kind of undying polluter. That car's well over 60 years old now." Dameon says returning Nexus' smile before considering what to do next.

He decides it doesn't matter, because so far he's been flying by the seat of his onesie anyways.

Near the Mal Tokac Dwarven Mine
The Firebird carriage takes you all speedily to a spot about a mile from the mine entrance, suitable concealed behind a hill.

Harlequin opens the door to the Firebird carriage and holds it open for everyone. "Ladies first, gentlemen second, then scoundrels last," he intones.

Nexus waits quietly until everyone else disembarks.

Charm exits first, then.

"The gray fae's bodies are closer to the mine." the goblin driver of the carriage tells you. He seems rather eager to depart.

Nexus starts to scan the area remotely (penetrative telescopic vision) to see what he can see.

Harlequin looks up at the goblin driver, "Thank you, good sir. As always the trip was terrifying and exhilarating at the same time. Be safe." He takes in a deep breath as the carriage departs. "Ah, the scents of Nature. How I prefer cities."

Titan gets out of the carriage, and starts walking toward the mine. "I'd leap in that direction, but might as well take stock of what's between here and there, right?"

Daemon waits til last, because - well it should be obvious and he has a rep to live up to.

Nexus nods to Titan. "On it, boss." He opens up a viewing portal so everyone can see what he's scanning, most of which is boring.

It takes a while to locate the points of interest. Although following to logical option of scanning from your current location towards the mine cuts the time needed down. The first point of interest is where the gray elves were slaughtered. The bodies are as have been described, either torn limb from limb, or burnt to charred husks.

Charm stays alert, knowing humans lack second sight, generally. She may be of use if there are threats besides the dragon.

Nexus takes a moment to memorize a port-spot near the charred bodies before continuing.

Titan continues walking forward, if nothing else than to draw any fire from unseen attackers if there are any.

Tracking the dragon's progress is not hard at all. Great claw marks ripped into the rocky earth along with a trail of scraped and packed earth from the dragon's scaly body tearing up the soil make the direction it traveled very obvious.

The second item of interest Nexus spots is a young human girl child of about six or seven years of age. She's sitting on a low branch in a tree near the mine entrance playing a set of pan pipes.

Nexus blinks. "Do we know who she is?"

Harlequin tilts his head to one side for a moment when the girl playing the pan pipes is revealed. He then says, "Well, fancy that," in a surprised tone of voice.

Nexus says, "I can get us sound, if we want. It's a bit of a pain but not much."

Harlequin murmurs gently. "Oh, no need. It's a quite enchanting tune she plays...most of the time."

Charm looks to see if the girl looks the same to second sight. If that works through the portal.

Nexus says, "Er. Do you mean you like it, or do you mean..." he raises his arms in front of him and makes zombie noises"

"Oh perfect. I was just hoping there'd be a creepy little girl playing songs amongst the dead." Daemon says just behind Harlequin as his image begins to burn out and he becomes invisible.

"Now all we're missing is a clown..." he says before wishing he hadn't said that aloud.

Charm asks Harlequin, "Do you know who she is (or they are) then?"

Harlequin glances back at Daemon then back as he murmurs, "A harlequin is a type of clown." His gaze then turns to Charm. "She is a self-proclaimed goddess by the name of Astrel. She is quite benevolent. But she has not been born yet. She is...insuring her birth by travelling in time. Or she was the last time we met."

The mage's tone is surprisingly bland for imparting such odd info.

Nexus nods slowly. "Riiiight. OK. Unborn self-proclaimed goddess. So... is it worth recruiting her assistance with this dragon thing?"

Harlequin murmurs after a moment, "Probably once we get to the mine entrance. But she is goodly distance from the grey elves remains. If she's curious enough she'll seek us out there. Otherwise, we can wait to meet her." He then shrugs. "Like most gods, she tends to advise rather than act directly. But, she is young, so who knows, Nexus?"

Harlequin starts to follow Titan down the trail.

Nexus shrugs. Distance is kind of irrelevant to him, but it sounds like she's not someone to interrupt. He follows the leader, continuing to scan the area as he goes.

The next point of interest for Caleb is the mine entrance itself. People might remember, this was a dwarven mine. Low ceiling. Not any more. The rock around the entrance and as far into the mine as is visible has been clawed out enlarging the passage to a size that a great dragon can squeeze through.

Nexus laughs grimly. "So, um, yeah. Guess the dragon's there," he points out. "Not that we didn't already know that."

Daemon groans without worry of being heard after activating his sound dampening system.

All this walking is boring the crap out of Daemon. You'd think he'd be pretty stoked to see another dimension, or world or whatever this is. But his mind keeps bouncing to his network connectivity - which of course is non-existent and that makes him homesick.

Its at that moment that he realizes 'off-world' travel doesn't interest him at all and that more apropos to the situation at hand- Titan's big wide shoulders look like a great perch to spend the rest of this hike.

He fights the urge to ride the Immortal Man by clinging to his back/shoulders and/or head. Daemon is about 52% certain Titan would not appreciate that.

As he looks into Caleb's viewing window he wonders aloud (after disabling the sound dampener) "Wouldn't it just be easier to bring down the mountain on this thing's head?" It is a sensible question - if you're a Daemon.

Nexus shrugs. "Would that do the trick? Or would it just lay eggs in the rubble?"

It's not that long before the heroes reach the grisly scene where the gray elves were slaughtered to the last elf.

Harlequin takes in the scene of death for a long moment then moves forward to look more closely at the various bodies. As he does, he reaches into a sleeve and pulls out a cloth which he holds over the lower part of his face covering mask.

Harlequin answers Nexus' question. "Since we don't know where exactly the dragon is in the mine. Or rather mine and mining town in all likelihood, it would be troublesome. Not to mention it might not kill it. It seems to be able to claw it way through stone after all."

Nexus nods. "Finding it, I can do. But yeah, the killing is the thing."

"So," he continues. "Are the dead elves feeling chatty?"

Daemon fights the urge to gasp as they come upon the grisly scene in real life. Behind his mask he chews on his bottom lip nervously.

Once again, Harlequin's answer unfounds his confidence. "Oh - even better. So what we've got here is a giant magic eating land-shark?" His tone is not petulant or even incredulous. Instead it carries a worried note to it.

Without saying another word, he slows down to check a couple of the more 'whole' corpses for anything of use or value. It seems Daemon had the same question on the Dead Elves- but is going about answering that question in a more mundane style.

Titan makes a note of the destruction and the trail in evidence, and he continues toward the mine.

The mage examines each of the bodies in turn and in the end stands between two who seems to have head and mouths intact. He hesitates, then selects, the female body. He goes to woods, selects a branch then begins to scrape a near prefect circle around the body then starts to inscribe symbols in the earth outside of it. All of this takes a handful of minutes. The mage then says, "Well, I am ready to begin," as he takes a silver bladed athame from his messenger bag. Harlequin then swipes the blade across the palm of his right hand. As the blood pools, he carefully steps over the circle and the symbols and smears the blood on the corpse's mouth before stepping back across.

Nexus follows Titan, albeit uncertainly.

A quiet whispering begins to fill the area where Harlequin and the corpse are located. A low but dense fog rises from the ground as the already death scented air stills and grows cold. "Speak to me, sister. Come back and speak to me. Let us speak of death." He is not speaking in English or Fae but each of you can understand him nonetheless.

The dead body of the female gray elf stirs and twists as if in pain as she emits a groan from dead lips.

Harlequin murmurs gently, "Taste the gift of life on your lips. It will ease the the pain, sister. Speak to me." His voice is more entreating than commanding.

The dead gray elf whispers in a faint hollow sounding voice, "Correct our mistake. We did not intend to doom this land."

Daemon spins on his heels as the whispers start. The eyes of his mask go wide as his eyes do the same. He drops the leather bag when he sees what Harlequin is doing is actually making progress.

'Grimm is never going to believe this...' He thinks to himself as elf food rations spill from the dropped bag.

So far that's the only thing of value he's discovered. He's discarded various vials of poisons and antidotes. Tossed away the weak grey daggers in favor of those that lay at the tips of his fingers. He watches awe-struck in silence as the female elf speaks.

'...I'm not sure I believe this. I must have had a stroke or something.'

"You did not bring the dragon with intent, sister? What happened? You can rest soon." murmurs Harlequin in a coaxing tone.

The dead gray elf whispers, "We came by command of our queen to kill the king of this land and the nobles of his court. The dragon came upon us without warning and followed us through the way before our worldwalker could close the path."

Charm appears remarkably unmoved by the talking dead. It might not be a sort of magic the fae use much, but nor is it unheard of.

"And how many were in your party, sister? Did your worldwalker come through with you?" he says in a quiet tone. Anyone close to him would see that his hands are starting to tremble. Probably with fatigue.

"We were twelve. The worldwalker came with us. He was the last through the way and the first to die." comes the faint whisper.

Harlequin nods slightly. "Thank you, sister. We will save this world from the dragon. Rest now. Go with my thanks." The mage then makes a cutting stroke between his right hand and the body of the grey elf woman.

The gray elf female slumps bonelessly back onto the rocky ground as the un-life leaves her.

Daemon bends down to scoop up rations and the leather bag. He puts his salvaged food stuffs into the bag as he watches the clown speak with the dead. pretty sure this is exactly the kind of creepy stuff he was referring to earlier.

As the body of the grey elf woman settles back into the stillness of death, the chill and the fog begin to burn away. Harlequin takes a deep breathe then lets it out slowly. "Well, that was...informative. I need a moment or three to get my wind back." He shuffles forward to start brushing out the symbols he scarped in the ground. Meanwhile Titan and Caleb are getting close to the mine entrance. And even closer to the young girl. She is looking at them as she finishes her playing with a trill of musical notes, and then brings the pan pipes down from her lips as she waves to the duo of heroes.

Charm speaks a few words over the dead elf's body, in language so ancient even the fae have to learn it by rote.

Titan waves to the girl as he continues walking, "Have you seen a dragon go past?"

"So... you would be Astrel, then?" Caleb offers, returning the wave. "Nice flute."

The girl smiles, "I didn't see her. But I saw where she passed." is her answer in a voice that is as musical as the sound of the pipes she was playing.

She nods to Caleb, "Yes, I'm Astrel. My father told you my name I suppose?"

"Beautiful words..." Daemon says. "I can only hope words like that are spoken over my remains." he adds before offering Harlequin one of the elfling food rations.

Titan raises a brow, "Is Harlequin your father, then?"

Nexus blinks. "Your... father? Well, maybe. Is he a magic user, wears a clown mask, less of a -- yeah, what he said."

Charm says sadly, "I wish I could remember her in song for her help. But we don't even know her name."

Astrel grins, "That's him."

The girl corrects herself, "Well... he will be. When I get born."

Harlequin gratefully takes the food rations then takes off his mask. (Hey, it's Sasha under there. Not that either of you have met him I don't think." His face is sweaty and he wipes it before starting to wolf down the rations. "Thank you, Daemon. And she is best remembered as an assassin who did /not/ want to kill a world. Better as an allegory and example."

Titan raises a brow, "Uh...huh. Okay. Well, can you tell us anything about the dragon that we should know?"

Nexus nods. "Or for that matter that we would benefit from knowing, even if we shouldn't?"

The girl nods, "Of course I can. That's one of the reasons I'm here." she says in a strangely serious tone for someone who appears so young. "It's not her fault. She cannot help being as she is. You should feel sorry for them despite the damage they've done. They know what will happen and are helpless to prevent it." She frowns, "I'm going to get into so much trouble for this but I'm going to change that."

Titan nods slowly, "What are you going to change, exactly?"

Nexus listens carefully to the answer.

The girl reaches out to Titan, "Aren't you going to help me down?" she asks him first. Then continues, "The great dragons consume mana to live. But they have no control over their consumption. Without enough mana they die. And if they consume enough mana to live they grow and grow, until their circulation isn't sufficient to supply their brains with oxygen. So they become unintelligent and turn feral." She sighs, "If left to grow and breed she will doom the Twilit Worlds and then move to Earth now the fae have made contact there and doom your world, my world, too. With your help I intend to give her control over her consumption."

Titan reaches up and takes a hold of the girl. He then set her down on the ground.

Astrel says, "Thank you."

Titan nods. "Seems like a suitable solution, if it will work."

Nexus says, "So... instead of killing the dragon, we put her on a weight management program? OK, fine. How?"

Astrel nods to Caleb, "Well... that's the difficult part. She's not going to co-operate. And it's a delicate process, changing things in somebody's brain. So, to do this you'll have to knock her out for me."

Titan chuckles, "Sure, no problem. I think we can manage that."

Nexus nods. "Or, well, not, but it's not exactly a new project. Any advice on, like, strengths and weaknesses?"

Astrel nods, "She hates water. It doesn't harm her. She just doesn't like it. She's very strong. Stronger than you." Astrel says looking at Titan. "She's very tough too. I don't think you could permanently injure her even if you tried so don't hold back. And as a personal favour, please keep my father from getting killed. I need him in order to be born."

"Well. Since you asked so nicely," Caleb replies. "We'll try to keep him alive, at least long enough to -- ah, well, never mind."

Titan shrugs, "I've fought folks that were stronger than me before. Cobalt, for one. Still not worried about it. And I'm sure he'll be fine. I've seen enough of those time travel movies. Whatever you do in the past ensures that the future happens. It's a loop."