Log:Conclave at the Seal's Head Pub

2020/12/17 Radical Grimm Harlequin Magda 1

Grimm hit the streets and some contacts to learn more about Krul, talking to aliens in the city and learning way more than she expected. She sent out a discrete call to spread the news, with few takers aside from those who know the sort of threat Krul is. After getting contacted by Harlequin, she gets talked into having the update take place at an irish pub. In Ireland. Because why not when talking about mystics who can traverse space, dimensions, and in one case, time. Gabrielle opens a dark portal to the city, only a block off from her target, and steps through.

Radical shows up a moment later, stepping over from another dimension entirely. It's the only way he can cover that amount of ground quickly.

The oldest recognized pub in Ireland is the Brazen Head In Dublin said to have been open since 1198...You are not going to the Brazen Head. You are headed to the small village of Kilcannon on the northwest coast of Ireland. There in the small fishing village is a pub, that is known to some as the truly oldest pub Ireland, where it's said selkies still come to drink. It's the Seal's Head Pub. Dark, smoky, with a clientele that keeps mostly to themselves but is still friendly to outsiders.

Harlequin said he's get a private room for you all. And indeed, he has.

The room is long and narrow with a table down the center and benches along the sides. A fireplace provides warmth to the room and it's lit by lanterns as there was a power failure earlier tonight.

Radical steps into the place and looks around, making his way over to the private room that has been set aside.

Grimm walks into the pub, dressed like any gothrock normal, and asks directions before heading to the private room. "Well, this place certainly is a -mood-, Harley," Grimm chuckles as she rubs her hands together and steps towards the fireplace to warm up.

Magda hasn't been here before -- there are a lot of places she has yet to go -- but she can read a map as well as anyone. Descending from the sky with an aura of electric blue, she floats until she spots the liveliness and settles to the street Already in skirt, blouse, and jacket, ahe steps in out of the December weather and into the warmth of the pub.

Harlequin sits at the shadowy end of the table. The table has a few trays on it already of pub nibbles as well a tray of Guiness and a single bottle of chilled wine with glasses. There is enough for 8 people, so more than enough.

The mage remarks to Grimm. "I found this place quite by chance when I lived, well, just an island over"

Radical chuckles as he takes a seat, "So...one island over, huh? Iceland? Isle of Man?"

Harlequin murmurs gently as he removes his gloves and pushes back the hood on his cloak, "The isle of Britain, actually, Radical. When I lived in Edinburgh."

"I feel like a grave crime has been committed," Gabrielle intones direly as she walks to the table. After dramatic pause, she points out unsanctimoniously, "There's no Irish whiskey on the table."

Soon enough, the gypsy is opening the door to the private room. "A bit distant," Magda observes.

Harlequin murmurs, "Whiskey is for after, Ms Grimm. Once matters are settled." His tone is gently teasing then he nods as Magda arrives. "Welcome." he says in a, well, welcoming tone. "Help yourselves. While I'm not the host, I chose the spot so it's my stand, agreed?"

And with that, Harlequin reaches up and removes his mask to reveal his actual face.

Radical nods. "Well...thank you. That's kind of you." He raises his mask far enough to be able to drink or eat, and he takes one of the glasses.

Grimm reaches for a guiness, then gasps as Harlequin removes his mask. "Harl, what..!"

Harlequin

This youth stands about six feet tall and has a wiry, gymnast's build. His hair is dyed a raven black with a burst of red in the front. He has a warm clear complexion with a slight scar on his upper lip under the center of his nose. His eyes are a pale glacial blue subtly outlined with black mascara. Overall, his physical attributes make him as pleasing to the eye as most professional models.

The figure is dressed in a floor length hooded black cloak that covers a scarlet tunic with long sleeves and loose fitting pants. All the clothing seems to made of some silken material. Black leather gloves cover his hands. The pants are tucked into a pair of calf high leather high boots.

The figure seems very confident in his mannerisms and stance. His gaze does not seem to linger long on any one person or object.

Harlequin murmurs gently, "I grow tired of my various masks, Ms Grimm. So, when I feel..safe enough..I choose to discard them when I can." He takes one of the Guinesses and removes the ha'penny rsting on the foam. "Besides, I've looked into most metas in Colonial Bay and decdied which ones to trust with my, hmm, mug. And it's not as if my picture can be taken in any case."

"And last, easier to eat and drink without a mask. When I use the maks that moves it, hmm, freaks people out."

"I have seen stranger things," Magda states, "but that is an oddity." Her own identity is more than ten years compromised, and she has been living openly in Colonial Bay for some time.

Grimm keeps quiet on that, as it's to late to warn Sasha. She instead sips her beer while simultaneously grabbing for some finger food.

Harlequin looks over at Radical, then Magda, then back to Grimm. "Well, I've provided the nibbles and drinks, Ms Grimm. Care to share your intel with us?" He touches the mask for a moment after he speaks. "Mind if, hmm, record?"

Of COURSE Grimm has reason for concern; Magda is involved, and you can never quite tell which way the gypsy will jump. But she floats the ha'penny off the foam, takes a sip, and waits.

Radical takes a sip of his drink and looks to Grimm to see what she has found out.

Grimm sits down and shrugs. "Whatever floats your boat. So...I did some asking around about this Krul, in this dimension and a number of others. Seems a lot of aliens here knew of him, but he's not really known in other dimensions as having the capability of dimensional travel. Yet. But now he probably has reason to pursue it," she begins. "As for what aliens had to say about him, it's pretty much what we've seen. He's a galactic conquerer, doing it for the sake of it. Kind of a galactic Genghis Khan. Though all the stories are a bit...conflicting. Some say he's a ruthless, harsh killer. Others a great ruler whose imposing peace in his empire. Brutal tyrant, scholar, philosopher. For whatever reason, people are drawn to him and his henchmen and troops are unfailingly loyal to him."

Grimm takes another sip of beer. "I checked in with Starguard, and they're pretty concerned. That ship passed through all Starguard's monitoring systems without being detected until it was at the fringe of our atmosphere. They have no idea how they did it, or how they could track anyone with such pinpoint precision."

"Could be innate charisma on his part. The, hmm, being does have a presence, a gravitas," murmurs Harlequin.

Grimm nods and shrugs. "He has a standing armor of about a thousand well-armed troops, and a buttload more of those Orc-Brutes. They're apparently some dwarf-devolved orcs with barely above animal intelligence. One scared alien told me they were...how did he put it? 'Bred in darkness and savagery, they know nothing except conflict and hunger. They swarm over defenders by sheer numbers using only teeth and claws'," she quotes.

Radical takes another sip of his drink as he mulls the information over, but he remains quiet.

Magda nods slowly. "Charismatic," she muses. "Hmm. I wonder how much of a plan he has."

Harlequin murmurs, "So, he has his conventional forces, the armed ones and the brute squad. He also has meta level operatives it seems. Any idea of the number and abilities of those?"

Grimm takes a long sip. "He has some superpowered henchmen. Those two tough guys we were up against? They fit the descriptions of two of them. The big guy was Trollan. His resilience to energy and physical forces is said to be legendary. But he's just the Muscle. Usually he backs up one of the other henchmen. Like the skinny guy, Kinsis. Kinsis is a master of telekinesis. Certainly ranked among the most powerful and versatile telekinetics in the known Universe."

She leans back and lists off the others. "Since they failed, they may bring some of their other heavy hitters. Constellation supposedly looks like a human with extensive cybernetic enhancements. Silvery-blue metal scale-mail tunic and divided skirt. She's an extraordinary hand to hand figther. Sla'ghh, an alien lizard thing. Sort of a big fire salamander or something that usually has to stay in a suit not to melt others. I don't know if they were exaggerating, but they said his skin is close to the temperature of a star, and his breath can melt metal like fire melts ice." She takes a sip before continuing...

"Darkside is a tiny female with dark red skin, black eyes, and a light blue hooded robe. About 3'4", and is a master magician wielding dark, evil powers. And then there's the Unknown. I...think that's its actual name. A highly skilled shapeshifter and powerful mentalist who deals with illusions and memory manipulation. Not even sure what gender it is. It's like a deep undercover operative," Gabrielle finishes.

Radical glances up at that. "Seems like this Unknown is likely to be in charge of the second attempt, I think. Based on what I'd do."

Grimm blinks at Radical. "What would you do?"

Radical shrugs, "Direct demands didn't work. They know we're expecting full force. A subtle infiltration would make more sense from their perspective now. It's not as obvious."

"I'd combine the two with the overt attempt being a diversion...if I were deviously minded," murmurs Harlequin after taking another quaff of Guiness.

Grimm frowns at the idea of covert. "Like..another invasion to get us distracted, with The Unknown getting close to Radical to trick him and kidnap him?"

Radical nods slowly, "It's possible. I'm not sure exactly how much those various underlings get to use their skills for Krul. Who does he favor?"

Harlequin gazes at the ceiling for a moment then murmurs, "I'd use an overt attack as a way to replace someone close to Radical with the Unknown. Then let the Unknown take things at its own pace to figure out how to obtain the cosmic gem. Then, if necessary, bring in the overt forces again to force the, hmm, revelation of the Tine stone if necessary," murmurs Harlequin absently. "But, that may be more...Byzantine then Lord Krul acts. Not enough intel to determine."

"If necessary," Magda agrees. "A warlord would give the failed lieutenant the opportunity to redeem himself -- but with a backup in place."

Grimm shrugs. "I'm not sure. I could ask around for more, but I think those handful -are- his favored out of all his forces." She looks to Harlequin and worries about that. "I dunno...if Krul's cruel, he may just want the Unknown or someone else to torture the answers out of him rather than be softhanded." She hopes.

Harlequin takes another quaff of Guiness and a bite of cheese before he speaks. "Cruelty, kindness, force, diplomacy, whichever tool is best to use at any given time is the one a true tyrant uses. This could account for the different views of Lord Krul from different sources. Force or fear of force is an easy tool to use and it distracts people's thoughts from any subtle actions one may also take. The best way to win is to get inside your enemies head even before you engage."

Radical chuckles. "Well, THAT's working." He takes another sip. "I would expect he wouldn't try the same method a second time, honestly. Not exactly the same, anyway."

Grimm sips her beer quietly. "So who would he try to replace to get close to you if he chose the Unknown, do you think?" she asks Radical. "Maybe sneak in as Amelia? Halfdemon's done it before. Or was that another version?" She silently worries about Randal.

Radical thinks about it. "Amelia. You. My blood relatives. Those are the people likely to get close enough. The trick would be acting like the person in question. I'm curious how this Unknown would be able to do htat. Maybe they don't change into someone specific. So, like...a janitor. Or a random business man or something."

Grimm is a little surprised he mentions her, at least at first. She just never thought of someone trying to impersonate her, but if they could, she guesses it would make sense. "The Unknown is a mentalist. They might be able to just make you think they're acting normally. Manipulate your memories so you don't see what's wrong."

Magda smiles a little, taking another sip of the Guiness; it's clear it isn't her drink, though she's at least being courteous about it. "Consider the real target." She gestures to the air above the table, where a gemstone (electric blue, naturally) appears, slowly rotating. "Who knows exactly where it is, and how to get it?" A hazy sphere appears around the gemstone, and Radical's heroic image appears there.

Harlequin murmurs, "If they are a mentalist they can 'get inside' the person they are imitating's head, I would imagine. And if a powerful enough mentalist, they may be albe to maintain a link to the person and, thus, makes the masquerade stronger." He picks up some fried bread, examines it, and pops it in his mouth.

Magda looks at Harlequin with some interest. "We all have conversations in our head," she agrees with the mystic.

Grimm keeps tight-lipped at Magda's questions. At least the details. "We already know that."