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>you're currently in the Great Dwarven Hold of Mild, capitol city of the island nation of Mildania

How inconvenient. Get well soon, OP!

That said...

"What have you done to her? Where is she?"

when they inevitably be obstinate in delivering an answer:

"Fine, what do you want of me? Please make it quick."

(It seems our erstwhile bluff has since become a reality. Here's hoping Map treats good agents well...)

>>22973545
IIRC the rep just said that Queen Mab is gona have a task for us and to do it when it comes, then walked away.

>>22973497
GO HELP VARA! WHY IS THIS A QUESTION?!

>>22973599

Oh, I see.

Very well then.

Seconding your suggestion. No time to lose!

>>22973614
this

For a split second, you seriously consider trying to question the woman briskly walking away - getting her to tell you what this is all about, getting her to lead you to Varaia.

But no, you don't have time for that. You have to help her.

You take off running back in the direction of the warehouse, frantic, poking your head into alleyways, trying to figure out where Varaia might have been, where she could have been ambushed. Every second feels like an eternity. Every minute feels like you're failing her.

Where is she?

Oh god, where the fuck is she?

And then you smell it.

You smell blood. Would you have been able to without your elven senses? You push the thought to the back of your mind as entirely irrelevant.

You follow your nose and find Varaia slumped in a sitting position against a wall. She's unconscious, her clothes are covered in blood, and there's blood still pooling on the ground beneath her. You check her pulse - she's alive.

"Varaia! Come on, Varaia, wake up! We need to get you to Jack!"

She doesn't stir. You get your arms under her armpits and start dragging her - you would carry her, but you're not strong enough. "Help!" you call out as you drag Varaia out into the street. The few people out and about stop and stare; one screams. "Someone help her!"

Then you notice something that you hadn't before.

There's no visible head wound, and she hasn't lost THAT much blood yet. Is the unconsciousness magical?

What do you do?

>>22973952

Can we search for effects of magical knockout without actively harming her? If so, do it.

Otherwise make an effort to bring her home.

>>22973987
Seconding.

>>22973952
Where is the wound? can we bandage it?

>>22973952
Where's the blood coming from? Apply basic boyscout first aid at the very least.

Also it may just be my paranoid but this is Varaia and she is wounded right? Not some illusion shit?

You start feeling around to see if there actually is an enchantment going on.

You find something.

An enchantment and an illusion. You start with the illusion, tearing it apart. Suddenly, you're dragging Varaia, unconscious and with no blood on herself or the ground.

That motherfucking bitch. This whole wild goose chase kept you distracted long enough for her to be long gone. God damn it.

You start trying to get a feel for the Enchantment spell, but it's tricky without proper divination to analyze it. You're not sure how safe it would be to Varaia's mind to try to dismantle it here and now. Without divination magic, you'll need to actually probe it with small enchantment spells in order to get a feel for it, a process that would take time.

The again, you're not sure if there's something else built into this enchantment. It could be programmed to force Varaia to stop breathing for a while, or any other sinister thing. Who knows what an Unseelie agent is capable of?

Do you risk hurting Varaia by trying to take apart the enchantment spell now, risk complications from the enchantment spell by doing it later, or do something else entirely?

>>22974426

Is there a temple within sight? If so, drag her there.

Hopefully the agent only knocked her out, but if there is a convenient diviner nearby...

Hm, is Rory a diviner? Or does he merely know one?

>>22974479
He did track Jack magically using a blood sample.

>>22974499

Then he could help. But he's looking for backdoors now, isn't he?

If we know, where he is, go for Rory. Otherwise I stand by my original idea of looking for a temple.

>>22974426

don't risk to much, obviously they rely on more than just brute force but maybe we can lessen the effects slightly so she'll at least have some mobility so we can drag her to get help proper.

can we support her mentally with out magic?

>>22974533
Why would a temple have a diviner? Dwarves have ancestor worship, not prophecy cults.

>>22974552

It struck me as natural place to look for spellcasters focusing on healing and mental magic. What else is there to do? A wizard tower, then, perhaps?

>>22974611
Or a hospital, maybe?

>>22974479
this....if we leave the enchantment intact, we might use it to track the other unseelie down.

I wonder if the whole exercise was a test to see whether we care more for our friends (making us more easily manipulated, but limiting our options in carrying out the mission) or personal insult that this encounter was (making us more dangerous). What else could the agent have had in mind?

You decide you're going to take the cautious option on this one, maybe even take Varaia to see a diviner at a hospital or something. Rory knows some divination magic, right? Didn't he track Jack down using a blood sample?

Still, you're not sure where a hospital or Rory are right now. You decide to head back to the warehouse, since it's close, to figure out your next step. You start dragging Varaia through the streets, drawing all kinds of stares - which you realize after a bit is a bad thing, it could compromise the secrecy of the warehouse. Your worry for Varaia is affecting your judgement.

You take her through a few back alleys, being careful to keep from dragging her over glass or any other sharp hazard. When you get back to the warehouse, you start pounding on the door, and it's quickly answered by Millie. "What's going-" she starts to say, then sees Varaia. Jack dashes out, picks her up and you all head inside as he lays her out on one of the couches.

"What happened?" he asks.

"Unseelie agent," you say. "Put an enchantment on her, made it look like she had been attacked. I'm not sure if I can get the enchantment off without hurting her - not without a diviner or a lot of time."

"The hospital would be expensive and draw a lot of attention," thinks Jack out loud. "And we don't know when Rory will be back. What's the plan?"

What is your plan?

>>22975032
"Are there any street doctors? People who heal others under the table, no questions asked? Organized crime syndicates usually have one or two they keep on hand."

>>22975032

Wait for Rory or for V to wake up, whichever comes first, worrying like hell.

Nona would probably have trouble giving good enough impression thusly preoccupied, and prodding the enchantments is more liable to do harm than good - why would the agent bother with illusionary blood if she also harmed V for real? That would only serve to piss us off much more, and make us less cooperative, rather than if it were merely a warning.

>>22975082
this

>>22975032
sing sing a song to help bolster Vs mind and over come entrenchments

pore our magic our heart and soul into a song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRhq-yO1KN8

>>22975214
well that is something we can do as we wait for rory couldn't hurt to try

You decide to wait for Rory to show up. After all, you're pretty sure he has divination magic, so with his help you should be able to do something about Varaia. While you wait, you get on the couch and stroke Varaia's forehead while you sing her a song, a song designed to help bolster her mind, and hopefully help throw off the enchantment.

It takes hours for Rory to arrive. You would be upset, but you didn't even know if he would be back today. "Hey, I found some- what's going on?" he asks as he walks into the large room.

"Varaia's under the effect of some kind of enchantment. We were waiting for you to get back to take a look at it. You're some kind of diviner, right?" asks Jack.

"Something like that," says Rory. He walks up and kneels down in front of you, placing his finger tips on Varaia's forehead. He closes his eyes for a few minutes, then finally, after you wait with bated breath for what feels like hours, he says, "Someone's fucking with you. It has a built-in disabling trigger. True love's kiss. Are you and she or she and Jack close enough that a smooch will fix this, or should we get started on dismantling this the hard way? It's a good thing you didn't try to do this yourself - there are some nasty traps built into this spell."

What do you say?

>>22975860

>waking her up with a kiss.
I should've guessed as much.

Well, might as well. Do it.

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>>22975860
Well, thank goodness that we can fix it and that we didn't try to mess with it.

KISS THE GIRL

>>22975860
Give her a smooch! If that doesn't work, maybe Jack should do it. She's seriously hurt by this magic, we shouldn't care about the emotions of it.

>>22975860

Kiss that girl !


(well now we got to go atomic time to remove Mab with the power of Science !)

after we are sure V is ok

"Milly you know how to make explosives right ?

good, say how hard is it to get uranium? or plutonium? and beryllium ?"

>>22975987

Let's not get overboard with this. They could have done much worse. Like seriously cutting her up.

I wonder what the mission will be. Maybe our interests are convergent.

>>22976060
true but I am always for going a bit over board
lets just see if we Can get the stuff you know leave options open

honestly fuck them fuck them to cinders

>>22976161

We are traveling with a wannabe paladin. Nuclear genocide is NOT an option unless you want to take the party apart.

>>22975987
It's a bit harder than tossing some plutonium and explosives together. Even with our basic knowledge I really doubt we can make a nuke.

You don't even hesitate, leaning down to plant a kiss on Varaia. She jerks up almost immediately, clocking your nose painfully with her head. "Your assignment is to delay the bard Aliade from reporting back to Seelie without killing him," Varaia says in a blank, neutral tone. "If you fail, you will be killed."

The her expression clears and she looks around, startled. "What... What just happened? How did I get here?" Varaia asks.

"Someone placed you under a really nasty enchantment," says Rory. "Nona brought you back here."

"It was an Unseelie agent. She's trying to bully me into doing a job for the court," you say. You're not sure how to feel. Furious? Terrified? You're starting to get some idea of why Aliade doesn't trust the Unseelie, you think. "She wants me to delay Aliade from getting back to Seelie."

"Why would that be important enough to go through such a contrived effort?" asks Varaia.

That's a good question.

What do you do?

>>22976468
Oh boy... wait, whats Aliade supposed to report again?

>>22976468
We'll do it! Keep an eye on Aliade, and if he gets close to making enough cash to get out and back to Seelie, then we'll just steal it from him. That's probably the best way to get to it, although we might want to make a bardic knowledge check about the Seelie to see if we know a lot about Fae operations.

>>22976468
"Probably because Aliade has some information that's time sensitive and the Unseelie don't want it to get back in time.

Don't worry about it too much though, he's stuck here until he has funds, and we can delay that if needed with our group."

>>22976468
Tell Aliade to have a third party report for him, mission complete.

>>22976468

maybe this is why Aliade was sort of freaking out about us when we kept showing up where he was, perhaps he's expecting an unseelie elf to try and stop him and we conveniently fit the bill.

>>22976468
I have an idea. What if we try to fake a plan to help Aliade, and then hire an outside source (such as some gangsters or mercs) to take his money and beat him up? Not kill him, of course, just make it impossible for him to leave.

>>22976683
Hey, we are elves of trickery, right?

>>22976468
well, we were going to take the airship, right?
so was he.
so we just take the airship straight to orcsalem.
two birds, one stone

>>22976737

We have business here that needs completing before we do that. >>22976599 might be on to something there.

We could also try to seduce him. Our friends won't like that, but it's probably least violent option.

We could double-cross the dark elf queen, but that would probably lead to end-of-story, and certainly made our current objective next to unattainable.

We could try and get him fired from his job at the boutique somehow. Maybe tell the manager that he's ogling customers, or that you've seen him stuffing his pockets with luxurious female underwear when he was showing him around. Or something.

>>22976468
"In all likelihood, it's a test. To see how skilled we are, how subtle we are, and how easy we are to manipulate. We'll play along, for now. But you can officially consider 'murder Mab and dissolve the Unseelie court' to be on my long-term to-do list. Nobody hurts my loved ones."

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>>22976896

>>22976919
>Elf Waifu
>Shion

...what?

>>22976896
Well, Varaia already gave us the key to upsetting the power balance between the two courts. Find another Manitou and bond with it, making a third. I think she suggested The Sun.

>>22977004

i'd like to see Varaia become queen of a new elven court instead of us.

>>22977004
>>22976896
I'm sorry, can we please save the whole 'upsetting-the-natural-order-of-the-universe' thing until after we've finished our current goals? Save Emma, destroy crime syndicate, get Jack to Orsalem to become a Paladin. After that? Maybe. But one goal at a time.

>>22977050
I'm equally ok with that. She seems significantly more sane and stable than Nona and would make a better goddess-queen.

>>22977075

Long term goal does not mean that you start moving towards it further in the future.

Although I agree we do not now have much time to contemplate divine metaphysics.

"He probably has some kind of sensitive information," you say. "He might not even realize that it's important. Or maybe it's just a test, to see if I'll be a useful agent of the court in the future. Regardless, I think it's safe to say that I now need to figure out how to stop Aliade, and can officially consider Mab and the Unseelie Court on my list of enemies."

"So how are you going to do that?" asks Jack.

"I'm not sure," you admit. "For now, I was thinking keeping an eye on him, maybe trying to steal his money or sabotage his ability to get more. It feels like a really shitty thing to do, though."

"Perhaps you could tell him the truth and ask him to stay in Mild longer than he anticipated?"

"I... I mean, I guess that could work," you say. You think for a minute. Did you not think of that because being Unseelie makes you naturally sneaky and duplicitous, or just because it's probably a bad idea? "But, I mean, if I do that, it could spook him and make him bolt. And I would really prefer not to be assassinated by the Unseelie Court. They probably won't be nice enough to make it quick."

"So," says Rory, interrupting this train of thought. "Is this going to interfere with saving my fucking sister or can I trust you to keep this situation under control?" He's giving you a long, cold stare.

What do you do?

Rolled 46

>>22977196

Of course it's a bad idea. Telling him will only make him more desperate to report his findings, whatever they are, at once.

It will also show that we are useless as an agent. Best case: they leave us be and have another agent take Aliade out.

Worse case: Mab holds a grudge at us since the wild elf incident and, seeing us as a liability, has us taken out.

I suggest we NOT consider her an enemy just yet. Just an ordinarily bitchy noble.

>>22977196
"I can keep it under control, I'll still be saving your sister.

Rory, what is the Manager's schedule? Where could I 'accidentally' bump into him?"

>>22977252

as for Rory, well...

return his stare. "Of course it will interfere. I'm obviously under Unseelie surveillance, so we better resolve this fast. I'll go fish some information out of him. Now, you said you found something. What was it?"

>>22977196
"Don't worry, it'll probably take a while for him to earn enough money to take that airship. I promise you I'll try to save your sister first."

We'll do some spying on Aliade, then try to infer what the best course of action should be to stop him.

"Well, the truth might work. Just I'll just tell him 'An unseelie agent wants you delayed and to stay here for a while. If I don't get you to stay, they're going to kill both me and probably some innocents, including members of Jack's family (not a lie, Jack is a member of his family, and he would die defending us), and assassinate you after you leave town. I'll help you make enough to book passage after I'm done with my job here, but I have to ask you to please wait a while before leaving.' A Truth told with bad intent is worse than any lie you can invent, but he'll be so put off by this that he'll spend most of the time questioning if I'm lying, if I'm the unseelie agent, or if I'm as much of a victim as I claim. I hate to confuse and involve him like this, but there's no other choice."

Look over at Rory, "I'm more committed to saving your sister than you are, you're just doing this for the violence. That's all well and good, but you need to learn to think about the big picture."

"Don't worry, I'm committed to saving Emma," you say, looking him back right in the eyes. "I've got this job for myself, but I won't let it interfere. I'll handle it on my own time, somehow."

He stares at you for another few long seconds, then says, "Fine. If I lose my sister because you dropped the ball, though, I'm holding you responsible. Now, listen up, there is a tunnel that runs under the place. It's old - centuries old - and was decommissioned a long time ago after it had a cave in. It's tight and cold and damp, but it's the perfect escape route. I'm betting that it connects to the brothel or, if it doesn't, that it would be an easy dig with the right equipment."

"That's great," says Millie. "I bet it should provide easy access to the MI - or easier, at any rate."

"What about the manager?" you ask.

"Him?" says Rory, narrowing his eyes. "Dorian Blackmountain, nephew to the current head of the Blackmountain clan. Aside from the brothel and his home, he tends to spend time at high society social events. Galas, parties, wine tastings, that sort of thing. He has a different one almost every other night, and they're invitation-only. He leaves his guard in the car for that reason - they have their own security. If you could get in to one of those events and chat him up, that could be your in."

Well, that's a lot of really useful information.

What do you do?

>>22978380

Well, does he know any event Dorian would be attending in the future?

In the meantime, we could deliberate on what to do with our bardic fellow. Does bardic knowledge has any remark on bardic code that would honor-bind Aliade to aid us with our quest, or at least hold him in place for some time? Or are we going for honesty, as Jack suggested?

>>22978380
"What events is he going to tonight and if that doesn't work tomorrow? Where do the invitations come from?"

>>22977653
>>22978380
"Well, we don't want to harm him. Bad way to start a war, tipping your hand that you exist. So, I'll either need to get into the event, not likely, or attract his attention some other way. What are the local ordinances about street performers? Rounded up and deported, or tolerated within reasonable limits?"

>>22978597

I say what we do is act like a semi-proper Unseelie, we set up all our plans to keep him in Mild in advance (e.g. sabotaging his work, hiring someone to rob him blind, burning down his supplies, wrecking his reputation with any travel agency, framing him for a crime to get him thrown in jail, etc.) and then with all our plans on a deadman's switch we approach him and tell him that we really need him to stay in Mild and if he doesn't he'll watch his life come to ruins around him. The way I see it is that there is a reason we were made Unseelie when we were ported here because we have a tendency to completely wreck something when it threatens our loved ones, like the Deep One. This way we can keep him here no matter what and still try to be nice to the guy and give him a way out.

>>22978931
I figured it was just because the skin-color closely matched out previous jaundice-y lack-of-color.

Also, consider asking Alidae what the easiest way to be exiled into a Wild Elf is. If Mab is going to pull this bullshit, it shouldn't take long for us to consider quitting the court all together.

"Is there anything going on tonight?" you ask, thinking. "Or in the next day or two if not? Also, where do you get invitations?"

"Well, they're high society events," says Rory. "You need to already be among the elite to get an invite. Your best bet is to sneak in. Maybe you can mind control someone single into bringing you as their plus-one. As for events, there's a fund raiser for some stupid charity tonight and a political campaign dinner tomorrow. Either of them should work."

"I don't expect it would be easy to sneak in."

"Normally, no. However, the guards at these are specifically kept free from using any divination magic. Lots of these high society fucks like to use glamours, or mind-control their 'dates.' They're all a bunch of sick weirdos who don't like to be called out on their habits, which could be something good to exploit for you."

Well, at least some things never change.

"Okay, how much time do I have if I want to make it to the fund raiser?"

"It's just a couple hours until it starts, so you'll have to move fast if you want to get there and find a good way in."

What do you do?

>>22979002
>Also, consider asking Alidae what the easiest way to be exiled into a Wild Elf is. If Mab is going to pull this bullshit, it shouldn't take long for us to consider quitting the court all together.
That's actually a fabulous idea.

>>22979015
Caterer. Use Enchantment to get a job bussing the tables with the caterer. They have the lowest security of any group working any kind of public event, because nobody expects sub-minimum-wage peons and 'the help' to be any danger. Once we get in, create an illusion of a rough, dry feeling at the back of the band's singer's throat. He'll quickly bow out so as not to hurt his voice, then we offer to step in. A little 'trust us' enchantment magic and a spellsong mid-performance to convince everyone that everything happening during the night is completely normal, and we're done.

>>22979027

I don't think she's the kind of nobleman to take "I quit" for an answer.

>>22979015

My affection for this orcish "batman" is deteriorating with every OP's post.

Well, I guess we could seduce one of the noblemen, if we know of any. With help of some mind-alteration, if necessary.

>>22979197
Why have we not become the Joker to his Batman yet?

Pop culture references he won't understand should be especially annoying for him, but not in any serious way.

>>22979183
But how does that ingratiate us on the manager enough to get an in at the brothel? We don't just want him to think we have a good voice, we want a fucking job offer.

>>22979197
>implying he's Batman and not a combination of The Shadow and Rorschach
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shadow
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rorschach_%28comics%29

>>22979308
He doesn't really seem full Rorschach to me. Almost Comedian-y in terms of cynicism, but not actually crazy.

>>22979270
We replaced their singer and did a better job?

I don't see why we couldn't do this by just enchanting a dude to take us in, since they don't check for that, and then taking over for the singer in a similar fashion.

>>22979270
We sing. He hears. We impress, then use spellsong to plant a suggestion in his mind that this 'talented and fresh-faced young bard with no experience' is just what his business needs. Remember, we literally have the power to change his mind.

>>22979338
>>22979350
Just because they don't have anyone watching for magic at the event doesn't mean that he won't be checked for it later. Wouldn't it make a lot more sense to simply try to enter as someone's date, approach him during the event, and convince him through non-magical means to hire us on?

>>22979197
It has happened before. Elves can be thrown out of the court for a variety of reasons, supposedly. And it's mostly just a ploy to give us the time and privacy we need to kill her anyway.

>>22979380
Assuming we can get a date, we do both. We can always go magic if something fails, but if magic fails they're tipped off.

>>22979380
>>22979390
Okay, how about this? We get in with an ensorcelled date. We chat up the young Blackmountain. Having chatted him up - and mentioned we're looking for work - we enact the plan to end up standing in to perform. Once he hears our musical talent, he will hopefully have been conned into offering us a job. Bing bang bosh.

>>22979380
At which point we run a higher risk of him deciding we're more useful as a caged songbird or extra whoreslave, and exposes us to potential betrayal from our 'date', who probably won't take kindly to 'his date' wandering off to talk to other men.

>>22979425

Our enthralled drooling minion could also vouch in our favor, I suppose.

If we get one.

>so, is there a consensus on a plan?
>the closest thing I see is infiltrate as a date, talk to Dorian, give an 'unscheduled' performance, and hope to get a job offer
>is that accurate?

>>22979660

>This is the bard you were looking for.

We need to talk to Millie about some kind of wireless communicator. Doesn't have to be a Droid phone or anything, but something small we can carry with us to signal the rest of the group, in case things go wrong.

"Well, time for me to get moving, then," you say. You use a quick bit of utility magic to tidy yourself and your little black dress back into proper condition. "If I'm not back by this morning, then something has probably gone horribly wrong and I'll be next on the rescue list after Emma."

You take a tube most of the way there, then spend just a bit of time lurking and watching for a man who doesn't have a date, but looks like he could realistically take a stranger. You end up going for a young-looking human with a bit of swagger to his step. "Hey, you remember me?" you ask, as you start weaving a slow enchantment to cloud his mind and make him more pliable.

"I... Yeah, I think so."

"We met the other day while getting coffee, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember that."

"You asked me to be your plus-one at this event, didn't you?"

"Yeah. Yeah, sure I did," he says, offering you his arm. You take it and walk with him past the guards at the door and into the party. He has a cloudy, dreamy look on his face, and as soon as you're in, you let go and let him go do his own thing.

The place is packed with rich-looking dwarves, humans, and a few Sidhe. The guards and wait staff are mostly orcs and little folk. There's a jazz band up on stage, and the person singing is none other than your dear friend Aliade. His eyes go wide and his voice cracks when he sees you, but he keeps singing.

What do you do?

>>22980318

Perfect, now lets drag him into our adventures by offering the manager a double act from the opposite ends of the elven spectrum.

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>>22973497
>You were a NEET who was granted the unusual birthday present of being turned into a petite female elven bard

>>22980318
Hey, Aliade, let's do a duo!

>>22980473
Yup. It was the most-voted race-class-appearance combo in the first thread. We were one or two votes away from being a male elven gunslinger instead.

>>22980514
>/tg/ votes to be the little girl
God fucking dammit, /tg/, I should be surprised but I'm not.

>>22980318
Give him a look of complete seriousness. Mouth "we need to talk now."

You give a little gesture with your head suggesting that Aliade meet you off to the side. While you wait, you look over the crowd, trying to pick out which dwarf might be Dorian Blackmountain. You know he's the nephew of the current don, so he can't be too old. Considering his business, he'll likely be dressed and attired professionally.

You pick out the five that best-fit your profile and watch them carefully. Then an Unseelie man greets one of them by saying, "Dorian." Got him.

Then you feel a tap on your shoulder. There's Aliade, looking flustered. "Okay, seriously, what the hell are you doing here? Do you have some kind of message to deliver or do you just like fucking with me?"

What do you say?

>>22980750
I did suggest doing a duet, remember?

>>22980750
Let's do a duet about Dorian! He'll love it!

>>22980750
"Honestly, I'm just as surprised as you are, I have business of my own to take care of here.

What brings you here? It can't be coincidence that you show up at the same places I do.

Feel up to a duet? Or are you afraid that I'll upstage you." Say that last part in a friendly, but challenging, tone.

>>22980750
"I do have a message but I'll have to save it for after we do a little duet."

Maybe we ought to ask him how we can join the Seelie court.

>>22980878
Are we going with just outright telling him not to go report back?

Throw in a little accusing of spying on us, and then mix with enchantment if it doesn't work?

>>22980903
I think we ought to tell him the truth but get him to send a third party with the information.

>>22980930
Let's bring that up in negoations maybe. I don't think we want to outright fuck with the Unseelie, and they tasked us with stopping him from getting a report back. If he sends it via someone else, he's still doing that.
Unless we can make sure the Unseelie won't know the report was sent somehow.

>>22980980
>Your assignment is to delay the bard Aliade from reporting back to Seelie without killing him.

Delay him. By 5 minutes.

>>22981030
Okay.
Talk to him about it, if he freaks out and tries to run off to report it we magic him, drag him off somewhere, and generally mess with him.
For now, duet.

Sound like a plan?

>>22981079
Works for me.

>>22981079
sounds good

"Yeah, I'm supposed to deliver some kind of message," you say. "But first, listen up. I need to do a duet with you or something. I'm trying to show off how talented of a musician I am to one of the people in the crowd. That particular job of mine has nothing to do with you beyond that, though."

"...fine," says Aliade in a huff. "What is the message then?"

"Earlier today, someone from Unseelie threatened my life and put an extremely dangerous enchantment trap on Varaia. I'm going to be killed if I don't delay your return to Seelie. I don't know why they want this or anything about it, but I do know that my friends are in danger - and you're likely in danger of assassination - if I don't delay you. So, I'm going to need you to stay in town a few weeks longer than strictly necessary. That or take a detour, go on a quick vacation or something."

Aliade looks at you in shock for a moment. "Why would Unseelie... I didn't think that I had learned anything important... Maybe I was wrong," he muses.

"I think it could just be a pointless test for me - a fucking mind game. That's what the whole encounter has felt like so far," you confide in him. "And even if that's not the case, I doubt you'll make it to Seelie even if you run."

He looks at you. He's afraid - you wonder idly about how comfortable you've been getting with danger lately. "What do you want to sing?" he asks you, deflecting the issue for later.

What do you go on stage and perform?

>>22981354
Well we can't do anything from our world, he wouldn't know them, but a nice solid dwarven song would probably be best, but one that works with Elven voices.

>>22981354
Let's do a really good song about dwarven pride and how awesome dwarves are in general, so we can sorta impress this Dorian guy. Mix in a little bit of spellsong so that people relaly appreciate what they're hearing.

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>>22981354
Freebird! Woooo!

>>22981354
too meta?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_tORtmKIjE

>>22981800
This honestly sounds perfect for the setting. Fancy ball, modern-medieval clashing music...
Torn between this and a Dwarfish song, mainly because we don't want to be too self focused while we're trying to impress Dorian-dorf.

This is really nice, and it's a bit of a message to Aliade.

>>22981844
if we go with this, I'm sure he cam pick up the chorus and melody from us

>>22981800
This is good. Tell him to listen for a while, then pick up the tune and join in the chorus.

You wrack your brain for a minute to think of a song that fit a set of criteria. You want a dwarven song with two-part vocals that works with elf voices and that the jazz band behind you has the correct instruments for. That leaves you with a very, very short list. You tell the song to Aliade and he nods and relays it to the band as you climb up onto the stage.

And then you sing. It's a courtly song normally designed for dwarven sopranos. It has swelling horns, deep strums, throbbing percussion, and haunting harmonies. At first the crowd pays little attention to the song, but then you and Aliade start building off each other, like you had done in the past. Music and magic weaving, the air gaining a subtle tension. The room is quiet save for the music, and even the band seems to be practically in a trance.

And you feel an indescribable sort of ecstasy the more it builds - you've never touched heights like this with bardic music when playing alone.

And then the song comes to a slow, satisfying end. You're out of breath, your heart is pounding, your cheeks are flushed, and you're betting that Aliade is in a similar state. The room is still silent, save for one man in the back quietly sobbing in his seat. Then the whole room erupts with applause and you and Aliade are bowing and smiling and waving out to the crowd. The backup band looks burned out and are sitting down and taking a breather.

What now?

>>22982028
If we do an encore, Bard Song as a message to Aliade, followed by us illumining invisible and going through the crowd.

>>22982028
Give our bows and so on, let the band have its breather. Then go find Dorian and strike up a conversation with him.

>>22982066
this....it would make for a subtle nudge to Aliade
then we mingle and schmooze? let the dwarf come to us...

>>22982028
mingle near the black mountain brat chat people up make it obvious we are looking for work

>>22982028
"well that was fun."
use our bardic social skillz to be the most interesting person at the party.

You finish your polite acceptance of the applause and then step off the stage to go mingle with the crowd. Rather than making a bee line for Blackmountain, you walk around for a bit, chat with the crowd, and blend. You even pick up a few names - after all, it never hurts to network a little. You make a point of leaving everyone with the impression that they were quite lucky to have gotten to talk to you. Finally, you reach Dorian Blackmountain, having timed your approach to just after his previous conversation ended. The man is thin and tall, for a dwarf. His hair and beard are shortly cropped, black, and wiry. His skin has a coppery hue and he wears a suit the cold color of slate.

It matches his eyes, you note.

"Mr. Blackwater, right?" you ask, extending your hand out to him.

He takes it politely - delicately, even - and nods at you. "And your name is...?"

>I'm ending it here for tonight

>>22982669
we should think of a good alias....

>>22982751

Wizard?

Virginia Fats?

>>22982767
lol, I dunno, something other than our actual name....Spartica?

>>22982669
Definitely a normal Unseelie name. We attract enough curiosity with our very non-elfy one.

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