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>>3024049
You rest your hand on Bifrost's hilt and just stay steady. It's been awhile since you've seen Raul, and Exactly Never Fucking Ever since you've spoken to him. Existing in striking distance of the Ghul has never exactly been high on your bucket list. Behind you and to your left, the Rook briefly touches your back in support before slipping his hand into his pocket.

It turns out Raul is here, though that doesn't necessarily exclude more Autumn Courtiers here ready to kill you. The Inquisitor is still the figure you remember, a tall Hispanic man with sharply pointed ears and all-black eyes, dressed in a battered suit. His hands, long-fingered in the manner of Darklings, are made of a golden alloy that flexes in an almost liquid manner.

On his brow, an Autumn Crown of owl's bones sealed with candle wax presses Raul's hair to his head.

"The prodigal daughter returns," Raul greets, gesturing with those golden hands. You bow, formally, and your friends follow suit. "It seems a rabbit can tame a dog. How fascinating."

You stand upright and take a step forward, and stop when you see Raul raise a slim eyebrow. There's too many doors into this room, and too many unknowns.

And you're not here for a fight. Keep it together, Colors.

"King Raul, my friends and I will be in town for some time. We have come to pay our respects to you and to tell you that we will be here in your domain, as is right and proper." There, the formalities.

"You and I both know that if you wanted to speak to the ruler of this city you would have gone to Andy Nubis or Mariah the Nerd," the King of Autumn replies, his voice still mild. "I find it interesting that you come to the petty King of a small Court instead. One opposed to your own, even - I see three daughters of Spring before me, and with you so famously as the head of your Heathens I would have expected you to approach Queen Millie of Spring. What brings you to the old prison, Eriksdotter? What grim business have you with Autumn?"

> Your Majesty, it IS Autumn. You are the rightful King.
> Defer to the Rook; this is his specialty
> I'll be honest, I was expecting to treat with Sandra. I'm sorry to hear of her death.
> Write-in?

>>3024072
> Your Majesty, it IS Autumn. You are the rightful King.

>>3024072
>> Your Majesty, it IS Autumn. You are the rightful King.

>>3024072
>> Defer to the Rook; this is his specialty

>>3024072
>Your Majesty, it IS Autumn. You are the rightful King.

>>3024072
>Defer to the Rook; this is his specialty

>>3024072
>> Your Majesty, it IS Autumn. You are the rightful King.

Then, if we get the chance,

>> Defer to the Rook; this is his specialty

>>3024072
> I'll be honest, I was expecting to treat with Sandra. I'm sorry to hear of her death.
Lets not get into being lie-y or manipulate in a court thats good at those things. Also we’re bad at that

>>3024340
Makes it too obvious we are tagging out. Let Rook smooth things over first, then we can offer condolences about Sandra.

>Defer to the Rook; this is his specialty

Just got home from another job interview. Longer commute, but a substantial pay raise. Will call and write when I can feel my legs again.

>>3028585
That time is now, let's fucking do this

>>3028585
Yay !

>>3028585
FUCKIN NOICE!

>>3028801
This, and other lies, the story of Vox threads.

>>3029663
So be it, until we're paying him to write this.
I'm starting a new job too and know how tumultuous it can be.

>>3029696
> Pretending this is a new thing

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>>3024072
TFW we've got a tie I can combine.

You pause for a moment, because on the one hand you do in fact have grim business, but on the other hand - he's the King. Even here in Philly that hasn't changed, unlike some places you could name.

You settle on a sweeping bow. "The Lords of Summer and Winter do not wear the Crown, King Raul. You do, there on your brow."

Raul and Jones raise their eyebrows, so you decide to keep going by introducing your friends by their names and titles. The eyebrow raising gets higher when you talk about Fancy, but the Rook ("son of Autumn", given the - you know, the whole issues with calling him a Prince these days) has their actual attention. Autumn never was a populous Court in Philly, and if Sandra's gone they must be strapped for talented sorcerers.

There's an opportunity here to pass this conversation off to the expert, so you keep going: "The Rook has been one of our staunchest friends and wisest advisors. He's come on pretty positive business, actually."

"Your city sells arms," your Wizened friend rasps. "I'm in the market, among other things." The Rook turns his head to cough into his sleeve. "I feel reluctant to do our business with the Crown in the front room of a public museum. Is there someplace else?"

If Raul's eyebrows go any higher they're just gonna leave his head. "You would trust Autumn's hospitality?"

The Rook shrugs. "If you wanted us dead, you would have lost your men trying by now."

You and Forum have miniature panic attacks while the Rook, Raul, Jones, and Vickie share various amounts of bitter laughter. The King of Philly gestures for your group to follow and leads you deeper into the building, until all of you can crowd into what once would have been the warden's office. Fancy, the last in, closes the door behind everyone.

"You understand that this isn't as simple as you making your manners and being welcome in my city," Raul says once he's seated, with those golden fingers laced together in front of his face. "Even if I pretended that everything in Philly is fine, which you know from Ms. Eriksdotter that it is not, you are an entire Motley of strangers, two of you clearly puissant, all of you graced with potent Mantles. Any or all of you could be talented Court sorcerers, at least one of you is a known serial killer and exile, and meaning no offense Mister Troll but I'm fairly certain Mariah the Nerd will burst from her flesh and become a spirit of pure hate if she hears I let a celebrity into her secretive Freehold."

"Why do I get to be the celebrity?" Forum asks in disbelief.

"You're the Winter one," the Rook rasps. He steps forwards and sets his knuckles down on Raul's desk. "Colors has intimated that your Court allied itself with Andy Nubis. Your Notary suggests that this alliance is strained. Tell me about the King of Jackals."

"You are a bold thing, Wizened," Raul notes.

>>3029731
The Rook scoffs. "And you are a chatty Ghul. The children of Fear are rarely as we seem."

Raul leans back. "Andy lost some of his strongest fighters recently. It seems like he only really thought about that after the fact, considering that he sent them away in the first place. I assume they're dead?"

You shake your head. "Francesca is," you murmur. "...But you know how she was. Trevor and Miranda are alive, but they won't be coming home. There's nothing left for them here."

Raul nods and continues. "We believe he ordered Sandra's death to keep my Court cowed. She was one of the strongest of us, and losing her is a serious blow to any open retaliation. And now his lost servant returns to us, asking after her former master. What is it you intend?"

> Tell the truth, emphasize that you're not here to start a war.
> Ask what Raul WANTS. No need to make bold statements just yet.
> Hold up. How's all this weird murder of prominent figures going down without the Valks going ape shit?
> Write-in?

>>3029742
> Tell the truth, emphasize that you're not here to start a war.
> Note that we got the okay from Valk as well. Serkis has been casting too many stones, and now there's consequences.

Autumn can help if they want, or if they even can, or they can stay out of the way. But this is their chance to pick up the pieces - as opposed to having nothing left at all when Serkis inevitably lashed out again and finally crosses the line to far to pull back.

> Hold up. How's all this weird murder of prominent figures going down without the Valks going ape shit?

We could really use some information here, considering we're supposed to report to the Valks basically right after this. And committing to a course of action with Raul when we don't know what terms he's on with them or how whatever they're doing might affect our plans seems like a poor idea.

On another note, what's Ghul mean in this context?We saw it used earlier for Francesca, who was an Ogre (specifically a Corpsegrinder, though unless that's a persistent confusion with Gristlegrinder, I don't know what those are), but it's also identifying Raul, a Darkling.

>>3029773
"Ghul", which I am not spelling completely correctly because I don't know how to get the correct letters out of my keyboard, is a being from Arabic legends - a sort of demon that feasts on the dead and knows strange, tainted magic. Francesca was a ghul in the same way that Forum is a troll or the Rook is a chess piece.

Ghul in the context of Autumn is Autumn's retained assassin, who by tradition is supposed to consume the bodies of their kills. Raul wasn't known to do that, but that doesn't stop...rumors.

>>3029742
> I'm willing to be open about my intentions, but first—
>> Hold up. How's all this weird murder of prominent figures going down without the Valks going ape shit?

Making an offer of openness as a token of good faith could be very helpful.

I'm guessing that the letters you're referring to are "Ghûl" or "Ghūl"?

>>3029825
alt 363 unicode, but why go to the trouble. We know what you mean with "ghul".

>>3029825
I though he was misspelling Ghoul the whole time. Especially with the body eating.

Like. That's a Ghoulish thing to do.

Now it just seems like when people pronounce Mexico Me-Hee-Ko.

>>3029989
Ghul is the word ghoul is derived from.

>>3029742
>> Ask what Raul WANTS. No need to make bold statements just yet.

>>3029773
http://darklingthrush.wikia.com/wiki/Ogre_Kiths
Corpsegrinder
https://whitewolf.fandom.com/wiki/Gristlegrinders
Gristles

>>3029742
>> Tell the truth, emphasize that you're not here to start a war.
> Note that we got the okay from Valks as well.

>>3029742
supporting this >>3029825

So, good news! Formal job offer from the new job is through and I gotta go in tomorrow to seal the deal and pass my drug test. Bad news: it's at Fuck O' Clock in the morning, so this is when I pass out until like 4 in the afternoon tomorrow.

>>3030556
Deal sealed. Passing the fuck out. Votes open.

Aight, here we go!

So, question y'all: what sorta stuff would you like to see for the side material?

>>3034158
I'd be happy with some general snippets on how the world has been changed by the unmasking. What are the broader reactions, how have different societies/religions/countries reacted and coped, how are individuals dealing? For that matter WTF is happening with Fetches even before their counterparts escape and catch up with them.

>>3034158

Shatterdown setting docs!

...oh, wait, you probably meant for CSQ.

Um...to what extent do non-Changelings cosplay as the Lost, and what do people on all sides think about that?

>>3034239
This ties into a more weird side conversation that goes like this:

"So is Tony the Tiger racist now?"

"Uhh...uhhh....ffffffuuuuucccckkkk if I know?"

>>3034164
Hmmm more about Winter's Hedge Rangers would be nice. And Winter in general, how do it's Courtiers deal with the Icelaw, can you be emotional in private, etc,

>>3034239
Yeah Halloween is going to be...different after the Unmasking.

>>3034158
I'd like to see something about, I don't know, the various differences in lost/human relations. Like pixie chaser flings, to wholesome marriages with kids and stuff like that

>>3034239
It's only fair since the Lost cosplay aw being human.

>>3035180
>Like pixie chaser flings
That would just be a depressing story.

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>>3029742
There's a hand gesture you've seen mortals and other non-Elemental people make sometimes, and it seems to be right before they try to say something they're having trouble saying. You try it on for size and end up looking like you're trying to karate chop a couple of short mobsters, but you're committed to the bit now so here it goes.

"Andy can't keep the Crown," you say plainly (fuck what do you do with your hands now? One on your hip? Okay and then there's the other one -). "We're here to make sure he doesn't, but no one's about to provoke the Valks by starting...wait..."

(Your free hand overs near your face mid-gesture, that circle-y thing people do when they're trying to explain something long, but it goes to your chin quickly enough as the Brain Thoughts hit you)

"How in fuck are there all these dead people without the Valks jumping all over you?" you ask Raul as you finally finish your thought.

Raul and Jones share a Look.

"This is gonna be good," Erin drawls.

The Inquisitor holds up a golden finger. "The first point of order is that our relationship with Task Force: VALKYRIE is rather strained at the moment. We are, to be honest, quite at the limit of our plausible explanations. Your...former compatriots...self-reported a dangerous Hedge expedition to cover Andy's ass but I would bet the finger of your choice that this represented the last of their willingness to put up with our shit. Thankfully they do not yet know you are here -" he stops, looking directly at your face. "You told them."

"Before we even left," you confirm.

"Right now if I had a gun with six iron bullets, you, and my Keeper, I would shoot you six times."

"That seems fair."

"Did it not occur to you," Jones begins, "that you have effectively forced us to welcome you into our Freehold again? Why bother to present yourselves before us?"

You blink and look at the others. "I - wait, I did?"

"I knew," the Rook and Erin say at the same time. Erin offers her hand to your Wizened friend, and after a second the Rook low-fives her before he continues. "You know the way of Autumn, your Majesty. This will not have been the first time you were outplayed, nor will it be the last. We will be discreet if you will, in turn, be understanding."

Raul sighs and sits back in his chair. "This city is a powder keg. I cannot simply keep you a secret all to myself. Do you want to kill Andy?"

"Not if we can avoid it," you confirm.

"Good. And yet I'm still going to need someone else to back your inclusion or Summer's goons will be on you day and night."

> Ask to be introduced to Mariah the Nerd; as the Queen of Winter she's Andy's most direct enemy
> Propose an audience with Emily Rose, the Queen of Flowers; an alliance of the Transitional Seasons would be appropriately neutral
> Go DIRECTLY to Andy. He wouldn't dare to attack you right now, and it'd be the last thing he'd expect.

>>3035940
>Propose an audience with Emily Rose, the Queen of Flowers; an alliance of the Transitional Seasons would be appropriately neutral

>>3035940
>> Ask to be introduced to Mariah the Nerd; as the Queen of Winter she's Andy's most direct enemy

Let's take the direct approach. We're not here to faff about and make friends; we're here to dethrone a bloody-handed tyrant.

The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can go home and put this behind us.

>>3035975
You do have to stay long enough for the Rook to

Arm

Himself

>>3035977

Well, sure.

Doesn't mean we can't choose the Court that'll make this a more straightforward operation, and might lend us aid, rather than the one more likely to require persuading and negotiating and politicking to even get in.

I didn't vote for the "just go to Andy" option, after all.

>>3035940
>Go DIRECTLY to Mariah the Nerd; as the Queen of Winter she's Andy's most direct enemy

I wonder what weight Misery carries here.

It might be time to consider unifying fronts in order to balance VALKYRIE across Courts.

>>3035940
>> Propose an audience with Emily Rose, the Queen of Flowers; an alliance of the Transitional Seasons would be appropriately neutral
New beginnings for everyone!

>>3035940
>> Propose an audience with Emily Rose, the Queen of Flowers; an alliance of the Transitional Seasons would be appropriately neutral

>>3035940
>> Ask to be introduced to Mariah the Nerd; as the Queen of Winter she's Andy's most direct enemy

> Propose an audience with Emily Rose, the Queen of Flowers; an alliance of the Transitional Seasons would be appropriately neutral

We're trying to not start a war here, thank you, declaring openly for Andy Nubis's sworn enemy is not helpful.

>>3035940
>> Ask to be introduced to Mariah the Nerd; as the Queen of Winter she's Andy's most direct enemy AND LEAVE FORUM AT HOME.

>>3035940
>> Propose an audience with Emily Rose, the Queen of Flowers; an alliance of the Transitional Seasons would be appropriately neutral
Let's not make things more difficult for Raul. And what Court was Candle again ?

"Do you want to kill Andy?"

Realistically, what will happen if Andy is dethroned after having made enemies in his city. There might even be someone in Autumn who would like some payback for Sandra after Andy is dethroned.

>>3035940
>> Propose an audience with Emily Rose, the Queen of Flowers; an alliance of the Transitional Seasons would be appropriately neutral

Looks like Emily Rose is our winner. Lemme get some coffee and we'll keep this show on the road.

>>3041182
Thanks to this quest, I made a 5e archfey warlock. I'm currently trying to make a deal with an Elder God of entropy to delay the end of the world.

>>3043983
Nice.

Yesterday was delayed by the arrival of a guest. I need to go to work shortly; we'll hit this when I return.

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>>3035940
"Do we get an opinion on who?" you ask Raul.

The Inquisitor raises an eyebrow. "If I said 'no', could I reasonably stop the gaggle of chucklefucks you've brought with you from doing whatever you want anyway?"

"...No," you admit, a tad awkwardly. "But I don't want to be rude." Raul gestures for you to get on with it. "I think the best move would be to see if the Queen of Flowers will sponsor us. She's Winter's ally, but she's not Winter the same way you're not Summer. It'll come off less partisan, and I can always say I approached her because I'm Spring now too."

Raul taps his fingertips together in thought, a habit you've seen from him before. "Well-reasoned," he says after a moment. "Though it tastes like Winter."

"I have friendships," you say, a bit primly. Forum adjusts his collar. "As I said, I'm not here to start a war or to make enemies. It wasn't my wish to embarrass you, and someone," you glare at the Rook, who looks entirely without remorse, and Erin, who has the grace to at least blush, "should have told me I would. I'm obligated to meet with the local Valks today as well."

"Then we'd best move quickly. If I remember correctly, you only walk."

Forum snorts. "Does she ever. You know she walked to New Avalon from here?"

Jones and Raul just stare at you. You clear your throat, try to think of something to say, and end up leading the way out of the prison instead.

It occurs to you on the way that you don't actually know much about Emily Rose. When you were a Hound you didn't think much of Spring; they are a small Court in Philadelphia, originally politically irrelevant. When Andy Nubis rose to seize the Crown, they publicly sided with Winter in a move that didn't make sense to you when it was first explained, the second time it was explained, or the time you got drunk and then had someone explain it again. They keep to themselves, mainly, and run various small businesses.

Emily's is The Language of Flowers, a "personal consulting agency". You always thought of it as a flower shop. It certainly looks like a flower shop from the outside, a practically bursting one at that. Even now, in the faint October rain with slick streets and an iron sky, its windows are flooded with color in a riot of green, white, yellow, violet, and orange. The emblem on the front depicts a flower crown on a bright heart.

"I should go first," you tell the others. "...No offense, your Majesty. It just feels...it's...more honest, if I introduce myself. Less like a threat from Autumn."

Raul raises his eyebrows but does nothing other than gesture to the front door.

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>>3047591
A small bell chimes as you push open the front door. Inside is even more riotous, with shelves of overflowing plants, flowers, and even tiny cacti. Suncatchers splash color off the bright fluorescent lights onto the white tile floors while you try to locate the front counter. You catch Emily's voice, still flecked with traces of a London accent that no amount of living in America, being kidnapped to the Fairest of Lands, and then living in America again has quite been able to scrape out of her voice.

"- looking very healthy. You see how her needles are the right size for her? That's a sign of good care and good pruning. Is school going well?"

Another voice, a man; older, and filled with relief. "I really can't thank you enough. She's been doing so much better."

Emily again: "There's not much that's more frustrating than someone not speaking your language, you know. She's not the only one who had to get better. You've come very far, Mister Jakoby."

You finally slip out of the maze of shelves and come into what you're going to think of as the main room, containing the front counter and many tables with benches, like picnic tables. In more distant parts of the shop a few customers browse through the floral products with firm intent, but seated at the table is a young girl, maybe seven years old, who is pruning a bonsai pine tree (a fir? Pretty sure it's a fir) with a serene expression on her face. A man who is either her father or her uncle taps her on the shoulder to remind her to answer Emily.

The Queen of Roses hasn't aged a day. She is tall, with pale green skin like the thinnest of leaves, and her long green hair is braided with rose blossoms in a riot of red, white, black, blue, and yellow. Petals cascade from her Mantle, blown about her ankles on a warm Spring wind.

The young girl signs something at Emily and gets a warm smile in return. "That's good," Emily answers. "I'm glad to have helped." The Queen of Roses looks up and sees you. Her eyes widen, barely, but her tone doesn't change. "Emily dear, would you show your father the terrariums? Some of my other special friends have been working very hard on them."

Mister Jakoby immediately looks at you, and then at the sword at your hip, but when he looks to Emily she gives him the barest shake of her head; he lets his daughter lead him away into the maze of green, growing shelves.

You bow. "Lady Rose. Your shop is lovely."

"What do I call you now?" Emily asks. She comes out from behind the table, moving with an effortless grace.

"Excuse me?"

"Your Mantle has changed. You are no longer of Summer." Emily's fingers skim through your personal space and catch a drifting cherry blossom; she feels it between her fingers before she lets it go. "So what do I call you?"

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>>3047600
You rest your hand on Bifrost's hilt, formally. "Dame Colors Eriksdotter," you tell her. "...They call me the Warlock Knight. I am the first and only knight of Queen Ramona Rabbit's household, of New Avalon's Spring Court, and through oaths of loyalty and the common law of the Freehold I have the honor to currently act in the name of Zoe Morris, the Queen of Bonfires. I'm...in town with some friends."

"Fascinating," Emily murmurs. She drifts back towards the table, turning her back on you without the faintest sign of unease, though she faces you when she sits down on the other side. "You never did come here, before."

"No, Lady Rose." Then, for reasons you can't name. "I am sorry."

"Miranda?"

"Alive."

"Francesca?" You shake your head. "I suppose it was too much to expect that she'd let you. Poor girl..." Emily sighs and looks away, at a row of lilies in every color.

> Aren't you...surprised...to see me? Or scared? Or angry?
> Gently introduce your business
> What were you helping that girl with?
> Write-in?

>>3047603
>Gently introduce your business

>>3047603
>> Gently introduce your business

>>3047603
>Gently introduce your business

>>3047603

>What were you helping that girl with?

>>3047603
>> Gently introduce your business

The girl is most assuredly /not/ our business. Or if she is, we'll quite likely find out soon enough what it was about.

>>3047603
>> Gently introduce your business

>>3047603
> Aren't you...surprised...to see me? Or scared? Or angry?

>>3047603
>> Gently introduce your business

>>3047603
>Aren't you...surprised...to see me? Or scared? Or angry?
As much as I don't think it's the best course of action it seems the most in character

>>3047603
>> Aren't you...surprised...to see me? Or scared? Or angry?

>>3047603
> Aren't you...surprised...to see me? Or scared? Or angry?
> Gently introduce your business

>>3047603
>> What were you helping that girl with?

Aight, here we go. Thank ya for your patience; in addition to the whole job thing (I start Monday!), my sons are coming to visit for a week over Thanksgiving. Updates may be slow over the course of that week as a result.

NEW THREAD

>>3053544
>>3053544
>>3053544
>>3053544