The Ballad of Adler Young, Canto 2.5

>Adler: Realize that you don't actually know anything about their research, not even what it looks like. Why can't they have a large, well-formatted document detailing the steps in simple terms laying around, how inconsiderate!
>Adler: Decide to sabotage the project by stoking the flames of Jealousy between Rotnev and Nevidyah, thus breaking them up. Let her wake up seeing him in your arms.

Class act as always, Estvan.

>on closer inspection the bowl of water is glowing. you can see what they are dreaming in the glowing water. In fact they are dreaming together, the bowl has linked them. By the looks of it, they are dreaming as if they are working in the laboratory still! Guess that will keep them occupied a little longer as long they dont realize estmare isn't a walking, talking, kipper in their dream.

Adler: > you got a kingdom to save and a lab to ruin! To the laboratory >>>>

Estvan: > Have a whale of a time with lab equipment and do some mad science of your own.

>Adler : Ransack the room. Time's-a-wastin', kiddo.

Theronmyathus > Double check the report, put the report in a manila envelope and seal it with a official wax seal. Send it directly to the king via underling.

Adler > you see the magic stone tablet with "the old crow" on it. try to understand whats on it

Adler > you see labeled samples of king estemere in some magical windowed box. Also around it are many jars with mishaped things in a weird fluid. you feel sick.

>Hmm, even if you sabotage their notes and samples, they will still know how to do it. I wonder could you use Gramayre or elfmind to make them forget ? (Or better to make them remember something else, it would be hilarious if they started clucking and dancing like chickens when presenting their research)

King Estemere > Be oblivious to the report contents as you just hand the envelope over to your ministers to deal with it, thank "the-ron-my-this" and carry on what you where doing.

Theronmyathus > Be a little sad the king didn't bother to read the well prepared document himself. Adler read all your reports. Go back to the office a little dejected

Ministers > Excuse yourselves from the king presence and order the guards to find and detain adler quickly!!

Adler, use elfmind on the unconscious foxes. Be disturbed by what you see.

Liquid in the bowl, do NOT be water.

Avogadro, after leaving the building, pass by a huge, fuzzy and roughly spherical object being rolled by some foxes, while being escorted by a juvenile monocled vixen wearing a pair of odd knee-high boots. Object, make angry complaining noises.

Rumours about the impending winter, start spreading throughout Albric Tor. Reach both the King and the Marshal.

I'm rather curious about the meaning of various Vulpitanian medals. And by just which criteria are they awarded? Maybe the Young Monocled Patriot could explain?

SpoilerShow

the meaning of various Vulpitanian medals. And by just which criteria are they awarded? Maybe the Young Monocled Patriot could explain?

The Young Monocled Patriot explains: "Loyal citizens of teh Republic get awards 4 unlocking all kinds of Achievements in Vulpitanian society. Theres meddles an theres ribbons. I got this ribbon 4 joining teh Youth Brigade. Most Vulpitanians have this & dont wear it B/C its liek so common, wutevr, but its my 1st 1 so Ima sport it with pride. VULPITANIA VINCIT 4 EVAR U GUYS!!!1!! But srsly, as U progress thru life as a Vulpitanian, U get meddles 4 all kinds of stuff. Theres a Seltzer Marksmanship award I have my eye on. Theres a 1-up meddle U get 4 collecting all teh mushrooms in teh forest, & theres even a meddle for having lots of meddles! Higher ranks get a fancy sash to pin them on, but most folx wear em on their jacket. Its all about fun & recognition by you're peers."

>Have a shocking discovery! That's not water!
>on closer inspection the bowl of water is glowing. you can see what they are dreaming in the glowing water. In fact they are dreaming together, the bowl has linked them.
>Hmm, even if you sabotage their notes and samples, they will still know how to do it. I wonder could you use Gramayre or elfmind to make them forget ? (Or better to make them remember something else, it would be hilarious if they started clucking and dancing like chickens when presenting their research)
Adler, use elfmind on the unconscious foxes. Be disturbed by what you see.
Liquid in the bowl, do NOT be water.

I noticed that the surface of the water was flickering with a pale light, so I crouched down to investigate. A strong whiff of a strange pickle-like odor persuaded me that the liquid in the bowl was not actually water. As I peered into it, I could see ripples of phosphorescence flickering out from the hands of the two foxes. Where the ripples met, they coalesced into images. It looked like tiny replicas of Rotnev and Nexivydah; they were dancing amid a flock of flying .. herring? Perhaps this was a magickal projection of a dream they were sharing. Had Estvan done this? If so, where was he now?

I pondered using Elfmind on the sleeping SALVs, but I wasn't sure about intruding on the dreams of a sleeping elf - especially one in an enchanted sleep. According to some of the lore I had read, there was a risk of becoming caught in the dream and falling asleep along with one's victim. There were supposed to be ways to defend against this, as well as methods for making people forget information, but I was not familiar with the technique.

It certainly would have been handy to have met Estvan here, but I saw no sign of him.

>Adler: Realize that you don't actually know anything about their research, not even what it looks like. Why can't they have a large, well-formatted document detailing the steps in simple terms laying around, how inconsiderate!
Adler: > you got a kingdom to save and a lab to ruin! To the laboratory >>>>
Estvan: > Have a whale of a time with lab equipment and do some mad science of your own.
>Adler : Ransack the room. Time's-a-wastin', kiddo.
Adler > you see the magic stone tablet with "the old crow" on it. try to understand whats on it
Also around it are many jars with mishaped things in a weird fluid. you feel sick.

I was feeling pressed for time, so I got up and hurried into the next room, where the SALVs had set up their alchemical and thaumaturgical equipment. I stopped, bewildered, in front of a table where some sort of condensing apparatus had been set up, next to a rack full of gross-looking things in jars. I wanted to disrupt whatever process was underway here, but without knowing exactly what it was, there could be risks of explosion, or meltdown, or poisonous gas .. I had no idea what might happen if the wrong things came into contact with each other. If only I had some technical data on these experiments! But even if I did find the foxes' research notes, did I really have time to study them?

I looked around and spotted, propped in the corner, a tablet with the name of the Old Crow carved on it. Why was this here? Maybe it was a clue.

SpoilerShow

pass by a huge, fuzzy and roughly spherical object being rolled by some foxes, while being escorted by a juvenile monocled vixen wearing a pair of odd knee-high boots
Rumours about the impending winter, start spreading throughout Albric Tor.

On their way to the Palace to deliver Avogadro's deposition, the Sergeant and Marshal Theronmyathus passed a duo of Vulpitanians pushing an enormous ball of orange fur down the sidewalk, as a small young vixen in galoshes barked orders at them.

"It looks like the Vulpitanians are mobilizing for Winter," Avogadro speculated.

"Completely the wrong time of the year for Winter," Theronmyathus croaked. "It is wise to discount rumors spread by panicking foxes in the night."

"Then what's the giant furball for?" Avogadro wondered. "Was it .. could it have been .. gekkering?"

"That's highly improbable," the Marshal retorted. "If you can't keep your mind on the task at hand, then perhaps you should return to GHQ."

"No sir, I'm fine. Though I still think we should establish contact at the Embassy and get their support on this."

"The Vulpitanian Embassy, as you saw, is a damp and smoldering shambles right now. If we are to act promptly on this information, then perforce we must act alone."

King Estemere > Be oblivious to the report contents as you just hand the envelope over to your ministers to deal with it

The pair entered the Palace and made their way toward the Royal Chambers, where they were met by Secretary Dodie O'Doe.

"Urgent communique for His Majesty the King," Theronmyathus rasped.

"I'm afraid the King is in bed right now," Dodie replied. "As his duly appointed Minister, I will take the message on his behalf."



"That won't be necessary, Secretary," Queen Edessa interrupted as she suddenly swooped around a corner. "I will take the message."

"Not in bed with the King?" Secretary O'Doe blurted.

"Indeed not," Edessa replied icily.

"Your Majesty need not trouble herself," Dodie gently insisted. "This is what we have Cabinet Ministers for, to deal with trifles such as this. I'm sure it is a trivial matter, quite beneath Her Majesty's notice."

"It is a matter of great import," Theronmyathus corrected. "Urgently requiring the attention of the highest authority in the realm."

"With my husband indisposed, I am the highest ranking authority," Edessa pointed out. "Hand it over."

She took the scroll out of its tube, unrolled it, and read it.

"What's going on?" Minister Lana Lynne asked as she entered through a nearby door.

"The Queen is reviewing an urgent security report delivered by the Grand Marshal," Dodie whispered.

order the guards to find and detain adler quickly!!

"This is an extremely serious matter indeed!" Edessa declared as she finished reading the document. "I want Prince Adler taken and placed in custody immediately!"

"As you command," Theronmyathus croaked, with a crisp salute.

Adler > What you thought was a jar of eye balls, actually are super sized pimento stuffed olives. Next to it, a creature sleeping in a jar, you recognize as a mer elf.

Adler > After looking over the old crow tablet, Pocket it and look around for more research papers/ manuscripts/ notes written on a napkin.

Adler > Spot Meadow in the distance through a window. She is frantically jumping and waving her arms. Meadow is saying something but you don't understand.

>Looks like they're distilling some classic Vulpitanian Vodka, but why?

>Commune with OLD CROW.

>Some quick sabotage is in order. As you go about your business, make a point to switch their precious apothecary supplies around, maybe change some labels too. They'll be powerless to stop you.

>Just flip the table and hope for the best

>Commune with OLD CROW.

Old crow > Rise from your grave!

One jar, contain a live Scuti larva. Creature, look very miserable.

Adler, examine the tablet in as much detail as possible. Then accidentally drop it.
Tablet, break.
Loud breaking sound, stir a reaction in one of the foxes.

Marshal and sergeant, begin organizing the search for Adler.
Search for Adler, be hampered by a rising panic from the town's population, attempting to flee Albric Tor in fear of the Kringle. Marshal's attempts to convince them otherwise, do not be very successful.

Ixie, arrive with news.


Follow up question: What exactly is the escapist medal awarded for? Making an X number of successful getaways?

>Just flip the table and hope for the best

Adler } the contents of the vials spill onto you. Covering you in samples taken from your brother. Yes thoses samples

SpoilerShow

What exactly is the escapist medal awarded for? Making an X number of successful getaways?

"I dunno. Havent herd of that 1."

>Looks like they're distilling some classic Vulpitanian Vodka, but why?
>Just flip the table and hope for the best
Adler } the contents of the vials spill onto you. Covering you in samples taken from your brother. Yes thoses samples

I cautiously sniffed the fumes coming out of the top of the condensing apparatus. It smelled rather spiritous. Were the foxes distilling liquor? Was this setup even related to their fertility project? There seemed to be no way to know. I briefly considered tipping the table over onto the floor, but the thought of unknown - possibly volatile and/or disgusting - substances splashing all over the room, and all over ME, dissuaded me from this action.

Adler > What you thought was a jar of eye balls, actually are super sized pimento stuffed olives. Next to it, a creature sleeping in a jar
>Some quick sabotage is in order. As you go about your business, make a point to switch their precious apothecary supplies around, maybe change some labels too.
One jar, contain a live Scuti larva. Creature, look very miserable.

I decided that my best sabotage option would be to rearrange the jars on the shelves, possibly changing their labels. A closer inspection revealed that none of the containers were labeled; I was going to have to do something to spoil their contents. I hesitantly unlatched the lid of a jar containing what were either pickled onions or pickled eyeballs, and used a nearby pair of tongs to pick one out. I still couldn't tell what it was, so I dropped it into an empty beaker and examined another jar containing .. a pickled mer-elf embryo? I turned the container upside-down on the shelf and undid the clasp, so the contents would gush out the next time anyone picked it up.



I used an empty flask and a funnel to transfer several powders from their proper containers into different ones .. and then .. behind a row of test tubes with milky sluglike things in the bottom of them, I found a jar containing what looked like a small Scuti all coiled up inside. I held up the jar and examined it closely. The creature inside glared at me sullenly. It was alive! I quickly set it down and walked to the window for a breath of air.

Adler > Spot Meadow in the distance through a window. She is frantically jumping and waving her arms. Meadow is saying something but you don't understand.

I noticed Meadow jumping up and down and waving her arms on the parapet of the building across the way. I was going to have to have words with her about giving away her position at the debriefing afterward.

Adler > After looking over the old crow tablet, look around for more research papers
>Commune with OLD CROW.
Adler, examine the tablet in as much detail as possible.

Turning from the window and scanning the room from a fresh vantage point, I again noticed the ornately carved tablet propped against the wall. I picked it up and examined it. The surface bore the words "THE OLD CROW" in large letters. I stood there looking at it, inspecting it for magickal traces, trying desperately to understand what the Old Crow could possibly have to do with the Vulpitanians' bogus fertility scheme. If only there were some research notes somewhere! But this tablet contained the only writing I had seen anywhere in this room.

Then accidentally drop it.
Tablet, break.
Loud breaking sound, stir a reaction in one of the foxes.
Ixie, arrive with news.

"Sire," an Ixie whispered right behind me. "I thought I might find thee here."

I flinched and dropped the tablet, which shattered as if it were made of crockery rather than stone.

"Rhubarb," Rotnev muttered drowsily from the other chamber.

>Rotnev: Custard.

>Ixie: Warn Adler that the jig is up.

>Jig: Be mostly up.

Adler > Grab the jar containing the scuti Alice & Mara might want to talk to it, then do a runner out the window. shimmy across the wall ledge to meadow on the other side. Do not look down.

Adler > the old crow tablet had a fancy magical gem in it. pick it up and put it elfventory. you might be able to replicate the tablet with it.

Then accidentally drop it.
Tablet, break.

Old crow's grave > Crack

>Grab the scuti and scram. Maybe hearing what it saw lets you to figure out a crucial step in the experiment.

Is it just me, or do Vulpitanians really like rhubarb?

Adler, try using elfmind to determine what Meadow is trying to signal you.

Experts, start to slowly wake up.

Ixie's news, be dire.

Jar scuti, start moving around, as if it were trying to say something. Several other creatures, start showing signs of life.


Hippy Nude Deer, appear.

>... bit of a long shot perhaps but... you have that bassin who let you see the Vulpitians dremas and they're clearly reacting to sounds so... 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 ?

Adler > if Rotnev and Nexivydah have not awoken, give the scuti jar to mara & alice, then continue the lab investigation/sabotage.

Adler > see meadow again out the window, she looks panicked. Estvan is there now trying to get your attention. You get a elf mind message but its not clear "Begorrah!
*** *** Adler, *** *** ** ***** ** *******, fháil amach tapaidh! Fleasc!" something in the lab is blocking elf mind, but you dont understand what is coming through.

>As it turns out, breaking that tablet is pretty much the absolute worst possible thing that you could have done.

>An Explosion or a vortex or something: Happen

>Adler: Wow, you've certainly been doing a lot of running today, haven't you?

Grue > Emerge from your cage, hungry and angry. See the white skunk. see it as "Tasty!", Wreck the lab as you bolt for your prey

(Not to derogate other posters suggestions but I really gotta ask: People, between all that's already happening, do you really feel the plot would benefit from getting more cluttered than it already is with random vortexes and sudden Grues ?)