HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

[Thursday Violist]

Just be honest and firm with them.

Tell them you want no part of them and they need to leave you alone.

If they disagree or refuse, then we move on to the next step.

Which is making them leave you alone or else.

[Felandria's Office]

The 'next step' is something Venus really doesn't want to face. She would rather nobody gets hurt, which if she sticks to that it would make the next step feel very empty. She really wants the honesty and firmness to work out, because if it comes down to 'or else' then Venus honestly is afraid she'll just cave and capitulate to them to keep them from being hurt.

She takes a slow breath, looks down, and says, "I pray that this works out."

Venus spends a few moments to get herself ready.

She goes out of the office, and towards the place.

[The place, near HALO's entryway

The cultist woman in the cloak is still there. Would be on her phone, but sadly she doesn't get phone service down here. Instead, she's just tapping at it mindlessly, while sitting on a couch.

Venus comes down the hallway.
"Um. Hi. So..." Venus says as she approaches.

The cultist looks up.
A smile breaks out on her face, and she stands up. The cultist heads towards Venus to close the distance faster. "Oh my goodness, it's you! You're actually here," the cultist says. "Everyone will be so happy!" She reaches Venus and grabs her hand, and bends down to kiss it.

Venus looks uncomfortable.

"I'm so glad I could be here to help you get back!" the cultist says as she ends up grabbing Venus's hand with both of hers. "You look awful, come with me and we'll get you anything you need!"

Venus, who feels worse than she looks, pulls her hand away. "Um, look. I...that's related to what I wanted to say. I'm a waitress, not a goddess..." She looks down, and then to herself adds, "Actually I've probably been fired for no-show by now,"
Venus swallows.
"Um. Yeah, I'm not a goddess, and, um...I'd...um...I'd rather...well, I kinda want my house back, and look I know it's a church but it's still mine and, um...I mean..."

The cultist has this raptured look on her face, appearing like she's either hanging on to every glorious word that Venus says, or maybe is so absorbed in her face and the intoxicating smell of Venus's flowers, lost in her exhausted purple eyes...

Venus looks back for Felandria, her eyes asking for help here.

[Reinholdt]

[Library]

"Uh-huh..." Reinholdt sounds confused, because he is. He's never had trouble flying before and he's solid! And extremely heavy. On the scale of cat to not cat. But he doesn't push on the topic.

"Organized? Umm... yeah, usual way I guess. By subject." Organizing the library is not his responsibility. He just roots around the ancient history sections to find lost and forgotten treasures. "Anyways, that's pretty much all the important areas. I'll show you your room now and let you get settled in."

[Keeper]

Library

An extremely heavy cat sounds unhealthy. Poor Rein.
"Oh okay. Cool. How big are the rooms? Are they nice?" He can't really expect better than his one at home that was literally magically created for his exact needs. But before that he was living in what was essentially a closet so he doesn't mind anything really.

[Reinholdt]

[Dorms]

"They're... big enough? Not that big, but generally adequate. Haven't heard any complaints anyways. I wouldn't call them luxurious, but they're nice enough. You're free to furnish and decorate and magically modify it however you'd like so long as you don't become obtrusive on others," Reinholdt explains as he leads Henry to his new room. It's not very exciting, but it has a bed, a nightstand, a rug, a desk, and a bathroom with a shower.

[Keeper]

Dorms

Henry nods at the accommodations. Yup. That’s a room alright.
Henry drops off his shoes in the closet. Won’t be needing those again today.
”Alright, cool. And there’s towels for the shower, great. I don’t have any magic to change things but that’s fine. I do have my own place anyway and I don’t mind commuting. So uh, who were the people you think could use my help again?”
He’ll have to go seek them out.

[Reinholdt]

[Dorms]

"There's the Fourth Tower and Callie in terms of magical rituals that might deal with ghosts and Ambrosia who deals with spirits and Vlad who maybe can make you a ghost suit. Honestly, all of these are extremely situation and I really haven't heard of anyone needing help. So you may be better off focusing on doing your own research and study, improving yourself, finding some field of science to learn about, that sort of thing. I'm sure anyone would be willing to help if you have a genuine interest in what they're doing. Anyways, I'll let you meet with people and work that out. Good luck!" Reinholdt says, giving a wave and turning to leave.

[Keeper]

Dorm

"Oh, okay. Well, thanks. Uh, have a nice day."
Henry will take a break before going around the base to talk to more people.

[Zefir]

[Airbase]

If Mr. C knows enough about the language's background to have more than incidental knowledge of the people who speak it, this is all going to suddenly make sense. Since, yes, "made" like "I made this tool" is absolutely the correct descriptor of what happened; these elves don't reproduce by having kids, they reproduce by the creation of artificial life, each successive generation working to improve on the previous design. Septimus's "father" would be the elf that created him, from the ground up, with whatever technology and magic he had available to him.

"I am." Septimus confirms. "I am a flesh thing, same as... him." He points over his shoulder to Vlad, not wanting to risk using Mr. C as an example of a "flesh thing" as he's not exactly likely to be correct.

The elf does nothing to stop Mr. C from going flying, though Vlad jumps at the sudden movement, taking a second afterwards to calm himself down again.

"So, this is your lab?" Vlad asks, looking around. "It looks very... cozy, I'd say."

[Airbase]

Mr. c has more flesh then both of them. at least he would say that if he would be confident.
He walks through the papers and kinda siapears in the pile only his voice can be heared like he entered a tunnel.

"Yeah that is my lab." he confirms. "I am suprised you think this is a suprise. You saw my appereance. Most machines aren't made for a creature as tall as a finger. I have to dance on a keyboard to programm anything and most sensitive sience wouldn't allow my slow movement as they would fail. But with access to library where everything that was writen down in any place is stored you don't have to do the tests yourself."

"Ah here we got something about our friend. Kina kreepy, but they seem to create their kids instead of the naturall reproduction circle. Like because this way they have more controll."

"Ehh.." his head pops out at another paper where he couldn't have walked from the outside look. "What were we looking for again?"

[Ironsmith]

[Airbase]

"...You know, in hindsight, that makes a lot of sense." Vlad comments. "What with the lack of genitals and all."

Septimus says nothing, but wordlessly tightens the belt around his robe.

"So, anyway, I think he said something about missing pieces, right?" Vlad confirms.

"That is correct, yes."

[Zefir]

[Airbase]

"Ah Yes." Mr C replies. "I need to look where i got it, but there should be a general list of nessesary parts. That should cover the basics. Anything else we migth need?"

he says as he disapears into the pile of papers. Sounds of doors opening and closing appear, sometimes the sounds of someone stepping up and down stairs and the opening of shelfs can be heared. Just like someone is searching through a house. (Depending if those kinds of documents exist he should find them if they do he will suddendly step out of the little door mentioned in an earlier post and present them.)

[Felandria]

[Felandria's Office]

The 'next step' is something Venus really doesn't want to face. She would rather nobody gets hurt, which if she sticks to that it would make the next step feel very empty. She really wants the honesty and firmness to work out, because if it comes down to 'or else' then Venus honestly is afraid she'll just cave and capitulate to them to keep them from being hurt.

She takes a slow breath, looks down, and says, "I pray that this works out."

Venus spends a few moments to get herself ready.

She goes out of the office, and towards the place.

[The place, near HALO's entryway

The cultist woman in the cloak is still there. Would be on her phone, but sadly she doesn't get phone service down here. Instead, she's just tapping at it mindlessly, while sitting on a couch.

Venus comes down the hallway.
"Um. Hi. So..." Venus says as she approaches.

The cultist looks up.
A smile breaks out on her face, and she stands up. The cultist heads towards Venus to close the distance faster. "Oh my goodness, it's you! You're actually here," the cultist says. "Everyone will be so happy!" She reaches Venus and grabs her hand, and bends down to kiss it.

Venus looks uncomfortable.

"I'm so glad I could be here to help you get back!" the cultist says as she ends up grabbing Venus's hand with both of hers. "You look awful, come with me and we'll get you anything you need!"

Venus, who feels worse than she looks, pulls her hand away. "Um, look. I...that's related to what I wanted to say. I'm a waitress, not a goddess..." She looks down, and then to herself adds, "Actually I've probably been fired for no-show by now,"
Venus swallows.
"Um. Yeah, I'm not a goddess, and, um...I'd...um...I'd rather...well, I kinda want my house back, and look I know it's a church but it's still mine and, um...I mean..."

The cultist has this raptured look on her face, appearing like she's either hanging on to every glorious word that Venus says, or maybe is so absorbed in her face and the intoxicating smell of Venus's flowers, lost in her exhausted purple eyes...

Venus looks back for Felandria, her eyes asking for help here.

Fel will lean down, gently place a hand on Venus’s shoulder and whisper in her ear.

If this guy thinks you’re a goddess, then give him some commandments.

Tell him what you want him to do, and if he refuses, we will smite him.

[Thursday Violist]

Fel will lean down, gently place a hand on Venus’s shoulder and whisper in her ear.

If this guy thinks you’re a goddess, then give him some commandments.

Tell him what you want him to do, and if he refuses, we will smite him.

"But I'm not one," Venus whispers back. That'd be sacrilege to pretend to be one, even just to tell him to go away, right? Doesn't matter what the cultist thinks, but rather what Venus thinks. At least, that's Venus's opinion.

Venus closes her eyes.
She feels really bad about this.
She turns back to look at the cultist.

She, the cultist, looks like something amazing is going to happen.

"Look," Venus says, with a bit more force in her voice. That's how you do commandments, right? By sounding more forceful and confident, or something.
"Go back up above the surface, and...and...and..." She pauses and takes a moment to recollect herself.
"And tell everyone to not bother me or anyone down here in HALO again."

The cultist nods, and then adds, "But is there anything we can get you? Anything we can do to help you?"

Venus shakes her head. "N-no, I don't need anything." Except maybe a good rest

...

...

...

A staring contest ensues. Admittedly, one where Venus's eyes are still closed.

"Okay, of course! Anything for you," the cultist says. She turns around and goes off in the direction of the way back to the surface.

...

Venus relaxes. And shivers at how icky that felt.

[Felandria]

"But I'm not one," Venus whispers back. That'd be sacrilege to pretend to be one, even just to tell him to go away, right? Doesn't matter what the cultist thinks, but rather what Venus thinks. At least, that's Venus's opinion.

Venus closes her eyes.
She feels really bad about this.
She turns back to look at the cultist.

She, the cultist, looks like something amazing is going to happen.

"Look," Venus says, with a bit more force in her voice. That's how you do commandments, right? By sounding more forceful and confident, or something.
"Go back up above the surface, and...and...and..." She pauses and takes a moment to recollect herself.
"And tell everyone to not bother me or anyone down here in HALO again."

The cultist nods, and then adds, "But is there anything we can get you? Anything we can do to help you?"

Venus shakes her head. "N-no, I don't need anything." Except maybe a good rest

...

...

...

A staring contest ensues. Admittedly, one where Venus's eyes are still closed.

"Okay, of course! Anything for you," the cultist says. She turns around and goes off in the direction of the way back to the surface.

...

Venus relaxes. And shivers at how icky that felt.

I’m very proud of you, Venus.

You stood up for yourself and faced your fear.

….

Also, I may have snuck a small tracking device onto her, and if anything happens, I could track them down and take care of them, if you like.

[Reinholdt]

[Fairy Tales]

Reinholdt has called a meeting. This particular meeting is dealing with the King in Rags, both in an informative manner and revealing HALO's intended countermeasure. It is not a mandatory meeting, but any member who may be interested is welcome to join, including any liaisons from the Fourth Tower.

Just this once, this means Rein will keep his feet off the table and look half-professional in the process as he sits somberly in the meeting chair of importance. Maria, the oft-hidden librarian, is also present with an overly large stack of folders regarding what information she's collected on the Fear Lord.

[Thursday Violist]

I’m very proud of you, Venus.

You stood up for yourself and faced your fear.

….

Also, I may have snuck a small tracking device onto her, and if anything happens, I could track them down and take care of them, if you like.

[Hallway]

Fel may be proud of her, but Venus just feels gross.
She shivers again.

Venus bites her upper lip.
"Um. Well, if you want to know their home base, I already know where it is," she says. "They took over and moved into my house. Um...well, it's more of a church than a house. But it's where I slept and everything." Hence, why she calls it her house. And possibly explains why she looks so tired.
Venus exhales. "It's just a couple blocks away from the Black Dragon's Den. Unless they started up a new location, that's where they do all their planning and worshipping and everything."

Even so, the tracking device would still be useful to see if they end up doing anything unusual or major.

[Fairy Tales]

Reinholdt has called a meeting. This particular meeting is dealing with the King in Rags, both in an informative manner and revealing HALO's intended countermeasure. It is not a mandatory meeting, but any member who may be interested is welcome to join, including any liaisons from the Fourth Tower.

Just this once, this means Rein will keep his feet off the table and look half-professional in the process as he sits somberly in the meeting chair of importance. Maria, the oft-hidden librarian, is also present with an overly large stack of folders regarding what information she's collected on the Fear Lord.

[Fairy Tales]

Harley, as it happens, isn't present.
Baby notwithstanding, she's a little sick of dealing with fairy-adjacent things. Like, nine of the past ten things she's done were all fairy-adjacent! Or something like that. She's not keeping track, but it definitely feels like ninety percent.

Venus, though! Being both a member of the fair folk and of the fairer sex, she's somewhat interested! Even if to just know what to avoid.
She looks tired. But that's a normal thing for her, and has been for the past who-knows-how-long. All except her first couple months here at HALO.
Those that have never met her will probably first notice that she definitely smells sweet and floral-y. Probably a consequence of the flowers or the vines or whatnot growing in her crazy-long red hair. There's yellow inflorescences and white flowers and flytrap leaves and vines. Also, she's got pointy elf ears, purple cat eyes, and also she could be mistaken for a centaur by someone who doesn't know the difference between large horses and small deer.
Also this is pretty minor, but she's totally got the wrong number of fingers.
Those who have met her will probably notice the same things, actually.

...
She opts into just standing, near a wall and out of the way.

[Shadowcaller]

[Fairy Tales]

Reinholdt has called a meeting. This particular meeting is dealing with the King in Rags, both in an informative manner and revealing HALO's intended countermeasure. It is not a mandatory meeting, but any member who may be interested is welcome to join, including any liaisons from the Fourth Tower.

Just this once, this means Rein will keep his feet off the table and look half-professional in the process as he sits somberly in the meeting chair of importance. Maria, the oft-hidden librarian, is also present with an overly large stack of folders regarding what information she's collected on the Fear Lord.

[Fairy Tales]

Zhareen uses a big chair that she's brought into the library specifically for this and is sitting right next to Maria.Idly tapping her fingers against one another as she somehow can't wait to begin this meeting. It would be the first official HALO meeting she was attending after all, exciting!

She keeps waving to everyone that enters the room. Including Ambrosia who gives her an odd look but nonetheless waves returns the wave if somewhat halfheartedly.
Her attention then goes to Maria who she has not had the pleasure to speak to yet either. There would be a lot of new faces to learn today...

[Zefir]

[Fairy Tales]

Others appear as well, thought one hasn't left this room for months or maybe years.
During the time he wasn't activ the cleaning service for the room has moved a strange rock into a corner. Now the purple blue rock starts moving again. first it appears like something wants to break out of the stone, but then a sting appears with a bright blue gemstone at his end. soon after the rest of the stone moves and people will notice that the stone itself was the skorpion that now stands ther.. The giant skorpion walks over to a stone platform so his face will be on the same level as the others and then just sits down there silently.

Next the ratteling of paper can be heared for a moment and soon after it's followed by the sound of someone gasping for air.
Between the folders of Maria anyone can see the head of the tiny stuff animal lizard gasping for air and trying to get out of the folder. "Urg not again. I was in my resarch and suddendly I am somewhere else." He looks around, notice where he is and stops talking.
The next minute he will try to get free and walk over to his place unless someone helps him or pushes him back in.

[Morty]

[Fairy Tales]

Dorota arrives for the meeting in a bit of a hurry. Her clothes look as if she changed into them rather quickly and there's still a bit of soot on her right cheek and her hands. She notices the latter and starts trying to wipe it off without anyone noticing.

[Gullara]

[Fairy Tales]

Vax has of course accompanied her wife, sitting on her opposite side. The diim is dressed in her usual Fourth Tower attire, which studiously professional, as usual. She, unlike Zhareen, is less concerned with the other faces in the room. She keeps her even attention on Rein, waiting for this to begin.

None of the acolytes of the Tower are present. No doubt there had been some fighting about that behind closed doors. Vax hadn't wanted them gawking and taking up more space than was justified.

[Reinholdt]

[Fairy Tales]

Once everyone seems sufficiently gathered, Reinholdt will start. "Thank you all for coming. You're probably wondering why I... oh no wait, I told everyone why they should be here. Nevermind. Ahem." Reinholdt clears his throat.

"Anyways, we're here to discuss the King in Rags, a major fey entity who has been making moves lately that are generally considered detrimental to the well being of the rest of us. His ultimate goal appears to be to open a door to the Fairest of Lands and unite whatever that dimension is with this one. We don't have definitive proof that's a bad thing, but the cost is probably going to be pretty high. And given that the King in Rags is doing this all in a rather secret and underhanded way suggests we won't actually enjoy the results. I'll let Maria tell you more about what substantial things we do know for sure at this point."

Rein motions to the slightly undernourished librarian, who awkwardly stands, not comfortable with speaking to this many people at once. As Maria does, she gently pushes the stuffed lizard along to his seat much faster, removing his unwanted presence from her meticulous notes. "We have learned from VIGIL that the King in Rags has a connection to and power over dragons. We also know that he sustains himself off of two major elements, fear and the narrative- being recognized and feared. In some capacity, even holding this meeting about him has granted him a small measure of power. Are you all familiar with the story of the Banished King?"

The Banished King is a ubiquitous tale crossing cultural divides on a supernatural level. Each of them has heard some variation of the story, even if they can't recall where or why.

[Ironsmith]

[Fairy Tales]

...Vlad can't help but feel just a bit ridiculous.

When he received Rein's memo about this meeting, he'd somehow gotten it into his head that it would be a good idea to turn up to it wearing Olga, as a way of showing he was ready for immediate deployment, if it came to it. And it just seemed like good manners, similar to appearing at a wedding in a tuxedo; doing any less would seem negligent, at best. But then, when he arrived, he's noticed that few of the other attendees have taken such measures... Dorota even appears to still be in the process of cleaning herself up. Apparently, he's horribly overestimated the formality of the occasion.

Which wouldn't be so bad, if not for his choice of seat. Well... "seat". Olga doesn't exactly fit in a chair, so he's had to attend standing up. At least the harness system in the suit is comfortable.

But more importantly, as many people would, Vlad's chosen to stand next to the only familiar faces he sees here... Maria, and Mr C. And next to the tiny librarians, the bright red mechanized suit stands out even more than it otherwise would.

Yeesh.

But for now, at least someone else has the room's attention. He'll just... sit here and listen. And try not to move.

[Thursday Violist]

[Fairy Tales]

Venus looks around while waiting for the meeting to start, and while listening.
To anyone who ends up making eye contact with her (accidental or not), she gives a smile, a small wave, and mouths 'hi'.

And her mind starts wandering as Rein speaks. "-open a door to the Fairest of Lands-" when he says that, she starts wondering if that would actually be all that bad. Might be pretty decent . . .
Venus slaps her own face to stop that line of thought. Nope, not going down that train of thought. No, it'll probably be bad.

Well, the good news is that Venus isn't a dragon. So...maybe? this Ragged King would have no way to directly influence her? maybe???
Well, she hopes.
Being feared and being recognized tend to be opposites, though.
She speaks up. "But clearing people's worries and uncertainties about him might weaken him, too. So, yeah, I remember that story. It's the one where the people of his land rebelled against him and ejected him, but without him protecting them his land was conquered? And, um, then his supporters took back his land and he married one of them?" Shoot, This memory manipulation stuff is reminding Venus of June. Venus really misses June and wishes she were here. She'd one hundred percent be able to tell how much of this stuff was memory manipulation.
...
As a possible explanation for why she knows this story so well, she adds, "Um. So there's, like, a half-dozen movies sitting together in the theater all directly based off this story." Specifically, The Banished King, The King of Cloth, Retaking the Crown, Knights of the New Queen, Cast Down, and The Ragged Prince. Also, there's a raunchy romance movie about nymphs or dreams or something mixed in with them, but Venus figured someone accidentally put it in the same section.

[Shadowcaller]

[Fairy Tales]

Once everyone seems sufficiently gathered, Reinholdt will start. "Thank you all for coming. You're probably wondering why I... oh no wait, I told everyone why they should be here. Nevermind. Ahem." Reinholdt clears his throat.

"Anyways, we're here to discuss the King in Rags, a major fey entity who has been making moves lately that are generally considered detrimental to the well being of the rest of us. His ultimate goal appears to be to open a door to the Fairest of Lands and unite whatever that dimension is with this one. We don't have definitive proof that's a bad thing, but the cost is probably going to be pretty high. And given that the King in Rags is doing this all in a rather secret and underhanded way suggests we won't actually enjoy the results. I'll let Maria tell you more about what substantial things we do know for sure at this point."

Rein motions to the slightly undernourished librarian, who awkwardly stands, not comfortable with speaking to this many people at once. As Maria does, she gently pushes the stuffed lizard along to his seat much faster, removing his unwanted presence from her meticulous notes. "We have learned from VIGIL that the King in Rags has a connection to and power over dragons. We also know that he sustains himself off of two major elements, fear and the narrative- being recognized and feared. In some capacity, even holding this meeting about him has granted him a small measure of power. Are you all familiar with the story of the Banished King?"

The Banished King is a ubiquitous tale crossing cultural divides on a supernatural level. Each of them has heard some variation of the story, even if they can't recall where or why.

[Fairy Tales]

"Yes, I heard that this 'king' even had a dragon attack vigil's base, right?" Zhareen inquires, rhetorically as she doesn't wait for Rein to answer before continuing. "But yes, we've done research into this and-" She looks to Maria, now with an actual question. "-do you want to tell them what we found out about the story or should I, Maria?"

Ambrosia has to suppress a sigh as they mention 'a dragon' attacking vigil. She was never going to outlive that one.
All she does in nod in response to Maria's question. "I'm aware of it."

[Morty]

[Fairy Tales]

"I am familiar, yes. And I recall that such stories from my own upbringing refer to a fairy king who was betrayed and cast down." Dorota seems satisfied with the state of her hands for now and stops wiping them.

[Reinholdt]

[Fairy Tales]

"Ah, umm... that's err, well..." Maria stumbles about for a reply to Zhareen, being thrown off by her offer, beginning to sweat unnecessarily. Should she just sit down and let Zhareen do the talking? But what about all these notes she prepared and...

"Why don't you go ahead and fill us in and Zhareen can clarify or add anything that you might have missed?" Reinholdt suggests just to keep Maria on track.

Maria nods nervously. "Y-yes, we'll do that. T-the story of the Banished King was fabricated by none other than the King in Rags himself and spread throughout the land post-historically via a fey ritual pact with another fey, the Rat King. So the story only came into being a few years ago despite memories to the contrary. Of particular note, the Banished King is the story of how the King in Rags wishes to be seen. An unfairly deposed leader of great power who must return to their rightful place to protect the lands. The more that people are invested in the story of the Banished King, the more alike the King in Rags becomes to the Banished King... sort of. It's a little bit of a feedback loop and also very nebulous in the unfortunate fey manner." It is unfortunate then, that so many movies have already been made about the Banished King. "But we do know that the story surrounding the King in Rags holds great power over him, which is why he's gone to such great lengths to be his own author, atop of his historical deeds." Accuracy of Maria's explanations is not guaranteed.

"The important part is that we believe we can turn this methodology against him." Maria looks to Zhareen for validation on all of these points.

[Thursday Violist]

[Fairy Tales]

Venus opens her mouth.

...

She closes it, before she accidentally asks something. She was going to ask if all fey can be changed or affected that way.

Nah, this current topic is way more important.

So, instead, she looks at the people speaking to listen to them better.

[Zefir]

[Fairy Tales]

The giant stone scorpion just nods to the results. His kind has less stories to share, but he has overheared humans talking about it or thats how he got to know the story.

When Maria pushes the little stuff animal she might not notice that he is stuck on her hand now. He is extremly light so she might miss his presence.
"To be true, I know many Versions of the story from many worlds. It never occured to me but they are so simular, yet fitting for the world they are in that it can't be a coincident."
He pauses.
"May I throw in two question.
First if you say he can controll dragons is that limited to them or can he likly controll anyone?
How do you think we can turn his methodology against him?"

[Gullara]

[Fairy Tales]

Vax takes mental note of the information presented so far and compares it to what she already knew. For the moment it seems Zhareen has this well in hand. This has been on the periphery of her perception ever since the Fourth Tower began to contribute, but she's largely focused on other matters while Zhareen lead the Tower's involvement.

[Shadowcaller]

[Fairy Tales]

"Maria, I think you got something stuck to your- oh." It was a... possessed toy? How did that get there?
Well, let's answer the questions posed first either way.
"We believe the 'king'-" She uses the word with air quotes. "-have all sort of minions at his disposal... uh..." The warlock trails off and looks to Maria. "-the dragon that attacked VIGIL was under his influence, right? Does that mean they freed the dragon from it or did they kill it? Since either way it could give us valuable information."

But without waiting for Maria to answer, she continues as she turns back to their audience. "But, eh, we only know that he had a dragon under his mental command. The rest of his minions seems to serve him willingly as far as I can tell. Yet it's by no means confirmed, so be careful. Fear comes from the mind and this sillybilly is an entity of fear and thus his power exists in here." Zhareen taps the side of her head.
"But an entity with the power of the mind can also be defeated by it. See, if people truly see what a sillybilly the 'king'-" Again with the air-quotes. "-truly is he will lose his sway over people. Just like how you defeat normal fear. It's usually just a big illusion that needs to be taken down. Rip off the terrifying mask and behind it is just an old goat shaking his fist at you." As to demonstrate Zhareen shakes her fist in an exaggerated manner.

Ambrosia looks increasingly awkward as Zhareen speaks, maybe she should talk things over with these warlocks. In private.

[Reinholdt]

[Fairy Tales]

Maria goes to scrape her hand clean of unwanted plushies on the underside of the table, like one might do with a particularly stubborn piece of gum you can't get off your fingers.

Reinholdt clears his throat. "We just know that he can control dragons. He is said to have once commanded them and has proven that carries over to the here and now, but that is not our focus today."

He stands and steps over to a whiteboard and starts writing the King in Rags name in the bottom right. "Instead we are going to fight story with story by collaboratively creating a tale that will resonate with today's masses while tearing the King in Rags down." Rein finishes by putting an X over the KiR name. He taps it with the marker. "The end point."

Rein moves to the other side of the board. "But first, we should probably come up with a protagonist. Ideas? The floor is open, there are no bad suggestions." Reinholdt writes down Protagonist and underlines it.