Post by alysen on Sept 17, 2007 21:49:45 GMT -5
Archive for Session Four: 9-14-07
Arrival of the PCs:
The exiles who were banished from the Seelie court managed to use a bit of human magic to get to the Fae Lands. Finding an old “faerie ring” in the outskirts of a forested area, Althea led the other ex-Seelie to the area.
After much discussion, they all decided to focus their minds on a specific spot in the Seelie court and jump through the gate. Tagging along was a human named Jonathan - - he seemed to associate himself with Hope, the Centaur for much of the night.
Everyone managed to make it through the faerie ring with little problem except Hope. She did bring her now, full-grown horse with her, but on the other side, in the Fae Lands, Hope appeared before everyone as a complete Centaur and she had an obviously pregnant belly.
They were approached at the door by Bright High King Faelin’s Herald, Brandywine, and she announced their names and arrival as they stepped inside. There was some whispering among the court, but in general, they were received with a cautious hospitality, while the court waited to hear from their King.
The ex-Unseelie (along with Sterling who was accompanying Ilario Lapwing, Una’s ex-Frumentaari) gathered together prior to the party with Lord Keening. Lord Keening revealed that he had a token which would hide them all as Seelie Sidhe so they could attend the Harvest Ball without being harassed.
Again, Brandywine welcomed the newcomers and announced them to the crowd as they entered one by one.
The final PCs to arrive on the scene were Muan De’Ernesto and Gormlaith. Arriving at the front door to the Seelie court on the back of a giant shadow elephant with several tentacle-like trunks, Brandywine was speechless from fear. Muan and Gormlaith jumped from the great beast and Muan, whose head was wrapped in a bloody cloth, took out a small iron flask and their mount dissolved to black shadow and was sucked into the flask. The couple then approached Brandywine and asked to be announced as Muan De’Ernesto, Goblin Warrior and Gormlaith, daughter of Maol-Maoldhog.
Reveal of the Unseelie PCs:
After some general mingling, Lord Keening is approached by Bright High King Faelin and during his introduction he handed the King a small gold token and said, “A gift from Long Dark Queene Una.” As the token changed hands, a wave of Fae magic swept the entire building and the ex-Unseelie characters who were scattered among the partygoers were suddenly revealed for who they really were. Gasps, titters, and at least one small shriek echoed through the halls of the Glittering Throng.
Faelin’s Speech:
Bright High King Faelin made a speech from his podium welcoming everyone to yet another Seelie Harvest Ball. He acknowledged the presence of the exiles, Seelie and Unseelie alike. Blaming their presence on Long Dark Queene Una, he entreated his people to not allow her or her ex-subjects to ruin their celebration. In response, he officially offered them his hospitality…his Seelie hospitality. Applause broke out among the crowd and many fae commented on Bright High King Faelin’s limitless generosity.
King’s Private Meeting:
Almost immediately after the King’s speech to the partygoers, he told his personal guard, Ashoka Paridas to begin rounding up the exiles for a private meeting with him in his library. After making them wait, Bright High King Faelin entered the library.
Bright High King Faelin told the PCs gathered that Queene Una is mad. He, on the other hand, just wants to be honest and up front with them. As a sign of His honesty and desire to see the exiles take down the Unseelie court, he offered to give them the Prophecy as it was told to him by his Oracles.
The Prophecy was read as follows:
“Outcasts huddle against the cold, but the seasons can divide.
Corrupted courts are forced to change, or simply fade and die.
Destiny’s a wounded bird, and prophets often lie.
Their Oath lies rotting ‘neath the mists, your exiles help it die.”
A discussion then broke out among the exiles and Faelin about the invitation they received. They showed Faelin both pages of the invitation and while the King was trying to piece together why the exiles were sent the additional page with the enchantment on it, the King’s Librarian spoke up from the corner.
The Librarian claimed that she sent the invitations *and* enchanted the extra page. She expressed this all with great anger and she began arguing with the King in front of the PCs. She claimed that her reason for doing this without his knowledge was to punish him for refusing to let her send an invitation to Queene Una. The PCs grew silent and looked at each other knowingly as the King and his librarian continued their argument.
Eventually, Bright High King Faelin had enough and dismissed the PCs so he could “deal with his librarian”. Everyone left the library immediately and the Sphinx listened outside the doorway. In the middle of their argument, the librarian seemed to stop speaking in the middle of a sentence and her voice was replaced with the sound of old pages being turned.
Bewildered, no one returned to the library.
Nuala’s Mirror:
Wishing to somehow help the bewitched Nuala that Althea had seen in her chamber so many months ago, she gathered a small group of exiles and headed for the stairs. Luckily for Althea, the Fae guarding the hallway was Ashoka (who revealed his love for Miss Althea earlier that evening).
Althea used his love for her and manipulated him into allowing herself and a few other PCs upstairs to "check on Nuala's health". They were followed secretly by Lord Mathon ap Llyrion and Conn who were just generally curious about what the exiles were doing. Althea got the door open and the Nuala-Mirror was revealed.
Lord Mathon (who has turned out to be Nuala’s father) burst forward into the room after the PCs were starting to piece together that the mirror WAS Nuala. Lord Mathon touched the mirror and bewildered, spoke his daughter's name. Nuala's reflection appeared in the mirror and she began to speak, but looked sharply to the doorway and hissed, "Run!" The PCs then heard the King's footsteps coming up the stairs below.
Lord Mathon burst through the window and transformed himself into a giant wave of water as he fell at the same time that Conn (Nuala’s brother) grabbed the mirror and pushed it out the window as well.
The Nuala-Mirror landed on the ground safely although Lord Mathon was injured as a result of giving his protection there.
Ashoka, finally realizing what was happening, pulled his sword and began fighting Conn.
The PCs, now trapped between the swordfight and the King managed to either sneak past the King with the use of the Sphinx's time dilation or scamper past the fight and out the window with only a few cuts and bruises.
Donal, Derek's PC happened to be outside when this happened and he used his illusionary birthright to hide the Nuala-Mirror. Shortly after creating this illusion, however, the mirror disappeared even from his view and no one was quite certain what had happened to her at all.
A large fight broke out as Bright High King Faelin swooped out of the upstairs window and Lord Mathon began to attempt in earnest to destroy the King for what he had done to his only daughter. Though the fight was short, it was quite deadly and eventually the remains of Lord Mathon slipped away to the mists.
Soverign’s Regrets:
Through the night, all of the leaders of the independent courts sent some form of message that their Soverign would be unable to attend. The Goblin court, ruled by Maol-Maoldhog, sent two large ogres with the message that Maol would be unable to attend. The Windsinger Paralda sent a small bouquet of flowers with no note which King Faelin put up on a shelf in his private quarters. Una’s refusal to attend was of course, absent.
Donal’s Wings:
Donal re-entered the Seelie Great Room, bloodied, injured, and looking for Althea. She had just sent a will-o-wisp to find Donal for her and as he entered the room, the Will O Wisp stopped in mid-air, hovering before him. Those who were close enough to them can see that the Will O Wisp appeared to smell the air near Donal.
Suddenly, flying at top speed toward Donal, the Will O Wisp landed in one of his deep gashes with a wet smack. Donal’s eyes widened as the small beam of light-creature burrowed deeper into his flesh. Immediately, his wounds began to knit before their eyes and his once pale skin began to flush.
Wounds healed, all of those standing around watching this…situation were stunned momentarily into silence. No one had ever seen a Will O Wisp do anything like that before.
Before anyone could even voice their questions or concerns, there was a great tearing noise from Donal’s back and a giant, wet pair of glittering dragonfly wings burst dripping from his back.
No one appeared more surprised than Donal himself and as the Siren reached a finger out to touch the edge of a beautiful shimmering wing, Donal turned around awkwardly in the hall and walked away from the Great Room.
Sholeth’s Message:
Finally, at the end of the evening, when many were gathered in the great room to tend to their wounds and re-group their thoughts, a thick black cloud emerged through the ceiling. The shadow descended and whiplike tentacles of smoke undulated from it until it reached the floor in a man-sized shape.
The shadow opened, showing a materialization of Laird Sholeth. His voice echoed a thousand slithering unnamable noises from the darkness. He smiled and says, "Thank you, Bright High King Faelin of the Glittering Throng for your gracious invitation. I regret We will be unable to attend your Harvest Ball as We will be spending the evening...meeting our needs."
The visage of Sholeth then caught Kiernan's eye and, startled, said, "Kiernan. I am surprised to see you here. When you are ready to meet us," and Sholeth looked around at the other exiles, "be sure to bring your friends."
Sholeth looked back at Kiernan and laughed, "I'm sure you know the way."
He then waved his hand languidly across the crowd and a wave of magic hit the PCs present, transforming them. They were momentarily wracked with pain and they looked around to find they have each been “gifted” with an unusual Sluagh-like physical trait.
It is here game was called.
Post Game Notes:
The Seelie abandoned their great room quickly - - some pushed, others screamed, all tried to get as far from the remaining PCs as possible. The PCs hardly took notice of this, however as they were immediately thrust back into the Human Lands.
They awoke in Kiernan’s apartment, lying in a circle with the Nuala Mirror at their centre. All of the ex-Unseelie distinctly heard Una’s voice saying, “Good job, little exiles.”
Sluagh Traits:
As the PCs look around the room, they all notice that the following differences were visible to everyone:
**Althea's hands have developed small, (1/2 inch tall) worm-like black extensions all over her fingers and palms. They emit a foul, fungal-smelling odor and the tips of each tendril ooze a clear, wet secretion. In addition, they seem to lean toward others standing nearby as if they crave the touch of other beings.
**Kiernan's left inner hand and arm appears to have split with a painful tear and a swarming mass of wet, black, membranous tentacles undulate forth leaving the hanging skin of what used to be his arm and hand drooping loose from the elbow.
**Donal appears to have a black, swollen tongue that is sticky with some sort of opaque discharge.
**Although Hope felt a strong contraction at the moment of Sholeth's announcement, she appears to have been spared. Hope shows no disfigurement whatsoever. Her horse, however, seems to again be a newly born foal.
**Menelaus also shows no disfigurement, but when you are sitting closely, you may notice that his abdomen undulates slightly. It is difficult to tell if this is a change or not. He wears many layers of clothing in addition to a harness which holds down his massive wings.
**Jonathan, their human friend, seems to have very little side effect from attending the Harvest Ball. His skin is slightly reddened and he appears to be breaking out in small blemishes across his face and neck.
**Ilario has a single red-irised eyeball bulging from the rear of his neck just below the hairline. His shirt bulges with a roundish lump every two inches all the way down the entire length of his spine.
**Sterling's eyes have changed from their original watery blue color to a solid black-in-black.
**The Siren's once beautiful ruby-red lips have blackened to a shiny sheen and all of her teeth are elongated, pointed daggers of bone.
**Lord Keening has developed a dark black chitinous exoskeleton which seems to have formed itself from his very skin. It is most obvious around his wrists and neck and the edge of it extends tiny tendrils which have burrowed their way into the flesh of his chin and jawline.
**Everyone else appeared as before.
Arrival of the PCs:
The exiles who were banished from the Seelie court managed to use a bit of human magic to get to the Fae Lands. Finding an old “faerie ring” in the outskirts of a forested area, Althea led the other ex-Seelie to the area.
After much discussion, they all decided to focus their minds on a specific spot in the Seelie court and jump through the gate. Tagging along was a human named Jonathan - - he seemed to associate himself with Hope, the Centaur for much of the night.
Everyone managed to make it through the faerie ring with little problem except Hope. She did bring her now, full-grown horse with her, but on the other side, in the Fae Lands, Hope appeared before everyone as a complete Centaur and she had an obviously pregnant belly.
They were approached at the door by Bright High King Faelin’s Herald, Brandywine, and she announced their names and arrival as they stepped inside. There was some whispering among the court, but in general, they were received with a cautious hospitality, while the court waited to hear from their King.
The ex-Unseelie (along with Sterling who was accompanying Ilario Lapwing, Una’s ex-Frumentaari) gathered together prior to the party with Lord Keening. Lord Keening revealed that he had a token which would hide them all as Seelie Sidhe so they could attend the Harvest Ball without being harassed.
Again, Brandywine welcomed the newcomers and announced them to the crowd as they entered one by one.
The final PCs to arrive on the scene were Muan De’Ernesto and Gormlaith. Arriving at the front door to the Seelie court on the back of a giant shadow elephant with several tentacle-like trunks, Brandywine was speechless from fear. Muan and Gormlaith jumped from the great beast and Muan, whose head was wrapped in a bloody cloth, took out a small iron flask and their mount dissolved to black shadow and was sucked into the flask. The couple then approached Brandywine and asked to be announced as Muan De’Ernesto, Goblin Warrior and Gormlaith, daughter of Maol-Maoldhog.
Reveal of the Unseelie PCs:
After some general mingling, Lord Keening is approached by Bright High King Faelin and during his introduction he handed the King a small gold token and said, “A gift from Long Dark Queene Una.” As the token changed hands, a wave of Fae magic swept the entire building and the ex-Unseelie characters who were scattered among the partygoers were suddenly revealed for who they really were. Gasps, titters, and at least one small shriek echoed through the halls of the Glittering Throng.
Faelin’s Speech:
Bright High King Faelin made a speech from his podium welcoming everyone to yet another Seelie Harvest Ball. He acknowledged the presence of the exiles, Seelie and Unseelie alike. Blaming their presence on Long Dark Queene Una, he entreated his people to not allow her or her ex-subjects to ruin their celebration. In response, he officially offered them his hospitality…his Seelie hospitality. Applause broke out among the crowd and many fae commented on Bright High King Faelin’s limitless generosity.
King’s Private Meeting:
Almost immediately after the King’s speech to the partygoers, he told his personal guard, Ashoka Paridas to begin rounding up the exiles for a private meeting with him in his library. After making them wait, Bright High King Faelin entered the library.
Bright High King Faelin told the PCs gathered that Queene Una is mad. He, on the other hand, just wants to be honest and up front with them. As a sign of His honesty and desire to see the exiles take down the Unseelie court, he offered to give them the Prophecy as it was told to him by his Oracles.
The Prophecy was read as follows:
“Outcasts huddle against the cold, but the seasons can divide.
Corrupted courts are forced to change, or simply fade and die.
Destiny’s a wounded bird, and prophets often lie.
Their Oath lies rotting ‘neath the mists, your exiles help it die.”
A discussion then broke out among the exiles and Faelin about the invitation they received. They showed Faelin both pages of the invitation and while the King was trying to piece together why the exiles were sent the additional page with the enchantment on it, the King’s Librarian spoke up from the corner.
The Librarian claimed that she sent the invitations *and* enchanted the extra page. She expressed this all with great anger and she began arguing with the King in front of the PCs. She claimed that her reason for doing this without his knowledge was to punish him for refusing to let her send an invitation to Queene Una. The PCs grew silent and looked at each other knowingly as the King and his librarian continued their argument.
Eventually, Bright High King Faelin had enough and dismissed the PCs so he could “deal with his librarian”. Everyone left the library immediately and the Sphinx listened outside the doorway. In the middle of their argument, the librarian seemed to stop speaking in the middle of a sentence and her voice was replaced with the sound of old pages being turned.
Bewildered, no one returned to the library.
Nuala’s Mirror:
Wishing to somehow help the bewitched Nuala that Althea had seen in her chamber so many months ago, she gathered a small group of exiles and headed for the stairs. Luckily for Althea, the Fae guarding the hallway was Ashoka (who revealed his love for Miss Althea earlier that evening).
Althea used his love for her and manipulated him into allowing herself and a few other PCs upstairs to "check on Nuala's health". They were followed secretly by Lord Mathon ap Llyrion and Conn who were just generally curious about what the exiles were doing. Althea got the door open and the Nuala-Mirror was revealed.
Lord Mathon (who has turned out to be Nuala’s father) burst forward into the room after the PCs were starting to piece together that the mirror WAS Nuala. Lord Mathon touched the mirror and bewildered, spoke his daughter's name. Nuala's reflection appeared in the mirror and she began to speak, but looked sharply to the doorway and hissed, "Run!" The PCs then heard the King's footsteps coming up the stairs below.
Lord Mathon burst through the window and transformed himself into a giant wave of water as he fell at the same time that Conn (Nuala’s brother) grabbed the mirror and pushed it out the window as well.
The Nuala-Mirror landed on the ground safely although Lord Mathon was injured as a result of giving his protection there.
Ashoka, finally realizing what was happening, pulled his sword and began fighting Conn.
The PCs, now trapped between the swordfight and the King managed to either sneak past the King with the use of the Sphinx's time dilation or scamper past the fight and out the window with only a few cuts and bruises.
Donal, Derek's PC happened to be outside when this happened and he used his illusionary birthright to hide the Nuala-Mirror. Shortly after creating this illusion, however, the mirror disappeared even from his view and no one was quite certain what had happened to her at all.
A large fight broke out as Bright High King Faelin swooped out of the upstairs window and Lord Mathon began to attempt in earnest to destroy the King for what he had done to his only daughter. Though the fight was short, it was quite deadly and eventually the remains of Lord Mathon slipped away to the mists.
Soverign’s Regrets:
Through the night, all of the leaders of the independent courts sent some form of message that their Soverign would be unable to attend. The Goblin court, ruled by Maol-Maoldhog, sent two large ogres with the message that Maol would be unable to attend. The Windsinger Paralda sent a small bouquet of flowers with no note which King Faelin put up on a shelf in his private quarters. Una’s refusal to attend was of course, absent.
Donal’s Wings:
Donal re-entered the Seelie Great Room, bloodied, injured, and looking for Althea. She had just sent a will-o-wisp to find Donal for her and as he entered the room, the Will O Wisp stopped in mid-air, hovering before him. Those who were close enough to them can see that the Will O Wisp appeared to smell the air near Donal.
Suddenly, flying at top speed toward Donal, the Will O Wisp landed in one of his deep gashes with a wet smack. Donal’s eyes widened as the small beam of light-creature burrowed deeper into his flesh. Immediately, his wounds began to knit before their eyes and his once pale skin began to flush.
Wounds healed, all of those standing around watching this…situation were stunned momentarily into silence. No one had ever seen a Will O Wisp do anything like that before.
Before anyone could even voice their questions or concerns, there was a great tearing noise from Donal’s back and a giant, wet pair of glittering dragonfly wings burst dripping from his back.
No one appeared more surprised than Donal himself and as the Siren reached a finger out to touch the edge of a beautiful shimmering wing, Donal turned around awkwardly in the hall and walked away from the Great Room.
Sholeth’s Message:
Finally, at the end of the evening, when many were gathered in the great room to tend to their wounds and re-group their thoughts, a thick black cloud emerged through the ceiling. The shadow descended and whiplike tentacles of smoke undulated from it until it reached the floor in a man-sized shape.
The shadow opened, showing a materialization of Laird Sholeth. His voice echoed a thousand slithering unnamable noises from the darkness. He smiled and says, "Thank you, Bright High King Faelin of the Glittering Throng for your gracious invitation. I regret We will be unable to attend your Harvest Ball as We will be spending the evening...meeting our needs."
The visage of Sholeth then caught Kiernan's eye and, startled, said, "Kiernan. I am surprised to see you here. When you are ready to meet us," and Sholeth looked around at the other exiles, "be sure to bring your friends."
Sholeth looked back at Kiernan and laughed, "I'm sure you know the way."
He then waved his hand languidly across the crowd and a wave of magic hit the PCs present, transforming them. They were momentarily wracked with pain and they looked around to find they have each been “gifted” with an unusual Sluagh-like physical trait.
It is here game was called.
Post Game Notes:
The Seelie abandoned their great room quickly - - some pushed, others screamed, all tried to get as far from the remaining PCs as possible. The PCs hardly took notice of this, however as they were immediately thrust back into the Human Lands.
They awoke in Kiernan’s apartment, lying in a circle with the Nuala Mirror at their centre. All of the ex-Unseelie distinctly heard Una’s voice saying, “Good job, little exiles.”
Sluagh Traits:
As the PCs look around the room, they all notice that the following differences were visible to everyone:
**Althea's hands have developed small, (1/2 inch tall) worm-like black extensions all over her fingers and palms. They emit a foul, fungal-smelling odor and the tips of each tendril ooze a clear, wet secretion. In addition, they seem to lean toward others standing nearby as if they crave the touch of other beings.
**Kiernan's left inner hand and arm appears to have split with a painful tear and a swarming mass of wet, black, membranous tentacles undulate forth leaving the hanging skin of what used to be his arm and hand drooping loose from the elbow.
**Donal appears to have a black, swollen tongue that is sticky with some sort of opaque discharge.
**Although Hope felt a strong contraction at the moment of Sholeth's announcement, she appears to have been spared. Hope shows no disfigurement whatsoever. Her horse, however, seems to again be a newly born foal.
**Menelaus also shows no disfigurement, but when you are sitting closely, you may notice that his abdomen undulates slightly. It is difficult to tell if this is a change or not. He wears many layers of clothing in addition to a harness which holds down his massive wings.
**Jonathan, their human friend, seems to have very little side effect from attending the Harvest Ball. His skin is slightly reddened and he appears to be breaking out in small blemishes across his face and neck.
**Ilario has a single red-irised eyeball bulging from the rear of his neck just below the hairline. His shirt bulges with a roundish lump every two inches all the way down the entire length of his spine.
**Sterling's eyes have changed from their original watery blue color to a solid black-in-black.
**The Siren's once beautiful ruby-red lips have blackened to a shiny sheen and all of her teeth are elongated, pointed daggers of bone.
**Lord Keening has developed a dark black chitinous exoskeleton which seems to have formed itself from his very skin. It is most obvious around his wrists and neck and the edge of it extends tiny tendrils which have burrowed their way into the flesh of his chin and jawline.
**Everyone else appeared as before.