A Faerie Affair - IC III: In the Court of the Faerie King

[WindStruck]

Astra, like the others, had no clue what was going on. She perched on Ori's shoulder, hoping for a good view.

[Stan]

Opal feigns ignorance of the severity of the situation, which comes easy to her as most of the court proceedings are over her head. She casually strolls forward. so that she is between the groups turned 1/3 toward Daisy so that she does not totally turn her back on the other group, which might be insulting.

"Captain Silkpenny, isn't it? It's great to see that people are as excited by the prospects of a hunt as I am. Though I'm sure my provincial powers are no match for your talents."

Then Opal partially turns to face the black clad trio.

"You may call me Ms. Stone.
Have our groups ever met?
Though we might fight for bones -
Tis not yet time to fret."


Opal knew it wasn't great but poetry was not a skill most exiles worked on. At the very least, her awkward intrusion might help to diffuse tension. Opal had no pretensions to be hurt by insults so had little to fear as long as a real fight didn't break out.

[Ninja_Prawn]

There is a collective intake of breath as the new challenger steps into the ring. The three poets strike poses, artfully expressing shock and horror before quickly snapping back to their previous expression. The leader snaps his fingers and one of the others conjures some illusory backing music.

"They call me King Kaz when I'm in the zone
This street is my house and this ring is my throne
You may think you're rock hard but your rhymes have shown
We'll eat you up like the sea eats limestone!"

Opal, please make a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw or have disadvantage on the next Charisma check you make within the next minute.

[Stan]

Opal tries to act nonchalant. But she's impressed by the limestone detail. She smiles and claps softly.

"Nicely done. But actually, limestone is formed in the ocean. Millions of tiny skeletons, even smaller than yours, float to the bottom of the ocean. Then the weight of so many bodies crushes them into stone. "

Opal moves her hands together in a grinding action. Then she looks around, over obviously looking for something.

"How about if everyone here moves to a tavern to compare notes in a more relaxed atmosphere. You may have the rhymes and meter and wit but I can still rock in my own way. I'm more into symbolism, though I occasionally slip in a connotation, as well. Do you have an ideas for a local spot?"

Persuasion (1d20-1)[5]
disadvantage (1d20-1)[10]

[Ninja_Prawn]

He looks satisfied at his victory, but turns down your request. "I prefer it here, where there's room for a proper audience to witness my skills."

Daisy has something to say, however: "yes, yes, Kaz, we all know you've got the quickest wit in the court. My men are right though: you'd be crushed if you tried to compete in the hunt. If you want to give yourself a chance, it might not be such a bad thing to compare notes with Ms. Stone..."

[WindStruck]

Astra peers at the opposing groups and then finally, awkwardly says, "Soo... I guess you're doing the poetry part of the contest? Why are you taunting your own teammates?

[Ninja_Prawn]

"Teammates?! As if we'd ever let these clowns represent Her Magnificence!" Says Merten. "They won't last five minutes on the front lines."

Kaz counters with "Better us than you talentless brutes!"

[Stan]

Opal raises one eyebrow. "Hey, you know the hunting and poetry count equally. If you're good at only one, you might lose. If you make teams with members specialized for the different parts, you will probably do better."

persuasion. (1d20-1)[12]
disadvantage (1d20-1)[8]

[WindStruck]

Astra turns to Kaz with an amused look and says, "Oh, so you're saying better you that gets eaten by a giant spider or displacer beast? Better you who gets captured by the drow? Oh, I'm sure you'll love performing for them!" She was obviously twisting their words.

"Hey guys, we still have that magic bottle Kyu was trapped in? Maybe we could let Kaz try it out and see how he will like his future stage!" Astra's grin probably seems a bit too sinister....

Persuasion: (1d20+4)[16]

[Majin]

"Yeah, specializing is good. Like I take care of being an awesome dragon, and these guys take care of everything else! I'm just lucky that includes poetry."

[Ninja_Prawn]

"At least elves might have some respect for my art..." he huffs. It does seem like you've gotten under Kaz's skin a little though, and Opal's suggestion prompts Daisy to make him offer:

"How about this: we'll allow you to join us on the hunt - so that you can observe our victories and compose a suitably dramatic ballad about them - if you agree to let us refer to you as 'Private Kaz' for the duration."

Charisma (Persuasion): (1d20+5)[10]

His nose wrinkles in disgust. "Never! I'd rather be eaten by spiders!!" Kaz storms off, swiftly followed by his henchmen.

"Bah, we don't need their sort anyway, Captain," says Dai, glaring at the retreating poets.

[WindStruck]

"What a troubled bunch of faeries..." Astra says out loud.

"Well it's true there's definitely going to be an artistic part of the contest involved. Her Magnificence will probably have to come up with some long-winded alliterative title for them just so they're satisfied. You know, instead of private..."

"Oh, but wait. Didn't you all have actual poets and artists here before, or... was that them?"

[Ninja_Prawn]

Daisy shrugs. "All of us can throw together a few stanzas - some more gracefully than others - but those guys are the best. They're from The Royal Academy of Wordsmiths." Her tone is a little disdainful, but it's also pretty clear that she recognises that their participation in the contest would be helpful.

Not that that's necessarily your problem.

[Stan]

Opal nods along.

"Well, it was interesting and informative running into you like this. But we have to get a few things from the shop before our court ordered curfew. So, if you'll excuse us, we must be on our way."

Opal bows very slightly then starts heading for arcane avenue.

[WindStruck]

Astra asks, "Say, Miss Daisy, can you help us out? We were looking for a place a wizard might go to study or share spells.."

[Ninja_Prawn]

"You needn't look far for that. My own guild, the Society of Royal Conjurers, is just over there." She points to a medium-sized sandstone building with a large runic inscription above the doorway.

Spoiler: Inscription in Primordial, which Ori can get the gist of

Show

"More than meets the eye"

[tgva8889]

Orianna doesn't completely follow the events breaking out on the street, but once things die down, she follows Daisy's gesture. Examining the inscription, she looks back to Astra. "That certainly seems promising. Shall we take a look before we depart?"

[WindStruck]

"But does all your guild do is conjuration spells?" Astra asks.

[Ninja_Prawn]

She taps her nose. "They let me in, and I'm not even a wizard."

[WindStruck]

Astra shrugs and says, "Well we might as well head over there and see what happens."

[Ninja_Prawn]

Just like Cursed Serpent Hall, the guildhall of the Society is laid out like a shop, with an attendant behind a counter and plenty of seating for visitors of all sizes. Posters on the walls advertise various magical services.

The bored-looking faerie on duty says, "evening. What do you need?"

[WindStruck]

Astra waves and says, "Hi! So.. Daisy recommended we come here. I'm Astra Glitterwing, a wizard, and I was just wondering... um, well I guess I don't really know how your guild works at all. Do you all happen to have meetings and such where you get together and talk about magic? Or perhaps a library? I was hoping we could share some spells or if you could help me learn or research something, otherwise..."

[Ninja_Prawn]

She rolls her eyes and intones, "the Guildmaster's Forum is daily at noon; all are welcome. Classes run before and after, from 9 to 11 and 2 to 4, but are open to members only. Freedom of the library is also the members' priviledge, but you may request specific texts in the reading room if there is something you wish to research." She jerks a head towards a doorway off to one side; you assume it must lead to the reading room.

[WindStruck]

"Oh! Well, sorry if I'm being a bother... I guess a dozen people or so ask you that every day?"

[Ninja_Prawn]

She pops a piece of candy into her mouth and glares at you. "Ugh, this is so unfair!" She mutters.

"Look, lady, I literally ain't interested in whatever it is you've got going on. But like, whatever, you know? You want in the library? I'll, like, give you the key if you help me out with a... situation."

[WindStruck]

Astra looks a little surprised and says, "Huh? What's unfair? What situation are you talking about?"

[Stan]

Opal had been standing in the back, just barely in the door. She was the least magical one of the group and was just tagging along. But a call for help? That's the sort of thing Opal lived for. She steps forward.

"Tell us what the problem is and we'll evaluate whether we can help."

Despite her desire, Opal was careful not make a promise without hearing the details first. She has started learning that fairies can be a devious lot.

[Ninja_Prawn]

"How diplomatic of you," she says, sarcastically. "So, like, what it is, is like there's this dance tonight, yeah? And Hunter Stardust asked me to go to the dance with him, right? But Brad - that's his ex - got totally jealous and, like, framed me for stealing from the guild, innit. So now they're making me work the desk and I can't go to the dance and Hunter is gonna think I stood him up and then Brad will swoop in and be all like 'forget her; come dance with me' and they'll get back together and just... ARGH! If you can stop them getting back together, I'll let you in the library. I don't care about this stupid place any more."

[WindStruck]

"Huh..." Astra says, wondering why this faerie was acting this way. She was kind of young, yeah, but pixies didn't usually act that way. "Well, we could simply tell Stardust that you're stuck here! That way he at least doesn't think you stood him up..."

"Do you know where we could find him?"

[Stan]

Opal nods along. "Or, if it's complicated, we could watch the desk and you could go tell them yourself. We could stay an hour or two."