The Ballad of Adler Young, Canto 2.5

>Ixie: Warn Adler that the jig is up
Ixie's news, be dire

"Sire, the Grand Marshal has put out a Faerie-Wide Alert for thy arrest," the Ixie informed me. "By order of the Queen."

"WHA??" I asked, nervously glancing around the room. "The Marshal? The Queen? But why? Do they know I'm here?"

"Mayhap, or mayhap not," the Ixie shrugged. "I knew thou wert here. Tis likely my sisters know as well, and though the Marshal scorns us, the Queen doth make use of our services. So thou mightest be in peril more immediate than thou thinkest. Or not."

"Aren't you all my daughters?" I asked, bewildered. "What happened to familial loyalty? How could you inform against your own father?"

"Not I, Sire," the Ixie insisted. "But our motto is ever 'Business cometh first.' The Queen payeth us well. Thou payest us nought."

I stared at her in disappointed astonishment for a moment.

"The Sisterhood payeth us even better," she added, in what sounded like a reassuring tone.

Adler, try using elfmind to determine what Meadow is trying to signal you.
Adler > see meadow again out the window, she looks panicked. You get a elf mind message but its not clear .. something in the lab is blocking elf mind

"Maybe this is what Meadow was trying to tell me," I theorized as I dashed to the window. I could still see her atop the building across the way. She waved and pointed at something and ducked low behind the parapet. I tried to pick up a message via Elfmind, but it was garbled and unclear. I concentrated harder but still could make no sense of the jumbled mental noise I was picking up.

"I can't make out what she's trying to tell me," I complained aloud.

"Something here is interfering with Elfmind," the Ixie explained. "I could not get thy attention til I spoke aloud, though I had been here some considerable time before that."

"Probably some anti-espionage measures put in place by the SALVS," I theorized. "Vulpitanians certainly are paranoid. You wouldn't happen to know anything about their experiments, would you?"

She shook her head regretfully.

do Vulpitanians really like rhubarb?
why not mutter a few chosen words ('King Estmere', 'research', 'the plan') in their ears to make them dream about their research and see what appear on the water ?
>As it turns out, breaking that tablet is pretty much the absolute worst possible thing that you could have done.

"Hmm, well, Rotnev said 'rhubarb' a moment ago, which means they are starting to wake up, so I don't have much time," I muttered, thinking aloud. "In this state they may be highly suggestible .. I might be able to get them to talk about their research .. or .. OF COURSE! Estvan, you genius! I can see their dreams in that scrying bowl which he set between them!"



I rushed into the other room and flopped onto the floor next to the slumbering SALVs.

"The Plan dictates regarding King Estmere's fertility .." I whispered.

The image in the bowl showed Rotnev and Nexivydah dancing & juggling test tubes.

"The Plan," I whispered.

Dream-Rotnev picked up the Old Crow tablet and broke it. A glowing crystal floated out from the shards of pottery. Rotnev took this crystal and seemed to feed it to a furry object that looked like a Scuti. Then he and Nexivydah danced some more, amid flashes of lightning. When they began making out, I got up and hurried back into the laboratory.

Adler > the old crow tablet had a fancy magical gem in it. pick it up and put it elfventory.

I sifted through the rubble of the broken plaque, and sure enough: I found an odd, dull-colored gem. It was fairly pulsating with magickal energy.

"What is it?" the Ixie asked.

"I have no idea, but it seems to be crucial to the Vulpitanians' Plan." I tucked the gem into a safe place way in the back of my Elfintory, and then surveyed the room once more. "Time to get going, before the Marshal's men get here."

Adler > Grab the jar containing the scuti Alice & Mara might want to talk to it
>Grab the scuti and scram. Maybe hearing what it saw lets you to figure out a crucial step in the experiment.
Jar scuti, start moving around, as if it were trying to say something.
give the scuti jar to mara & alice

My attention was diverted by a glassy clinking sound, and I noticed the small Scuti writhing furiously in its jar.

"That thing has probably seen everything these foxes were up to," I theorized. "Alice and Mara should be able to talk to it and find out what it knows."



I scooped up the jar and tucked it under my arm, then made my way quickly & quietly to the stairs, out of the SALVs' apartment.

>Jig: Be mostly up.

As soon as I stepped out into the street, a pair of burly constables grabbed me and handcuffed my arms behind my back. They took the Scuti jar and handed it to Marshal Theronmyathus.

"What vile monster is this?" the Marshal croaked. "It's evidence of some nefarious crime, I'm sure. Prince Adler, you are under arrest, by order of the Queen. Let the record show that you were apprehended while exiting the Vulpitanian dignitaries' quarters. By Royal decree, you have the right to have a Floozy present during proceedings up to and including the conclusion of your trial. If you do not have a Floozy, one will be appointed to you by the Crown."

"Say nothing, Sire," the Ixie whispered in my Elfmind. "This problem shall be taken care of."