Croak for Joy Report
General Summary
As Samantha's lips touch the frog-prince, it begins to glow. It glows brighter and brighter until only the outline of its bright form can be seen, and the limbs grow longer. The fingers grow longer. The back straightens. A boy - only slightly older than the others - stands in front of them. Frank whoops and hugs the prince tightly. The prince laughs and hugs him back. He looks to the others and smiles. "I would not be free without you." He confesses, and pulls off the Anuran Tabard he wears, gifting it to [Skulde . To Samantha, his true savior, he gifts a vial of so-called Salientian Elixir. Samantha is hesitant to take it, frightened of the new world she's been ushered into, but Skulde insists that she keep it. Samantha hesitantly pockets it, and the prince bows once more at the gathered childlings before walking away into the crowd. Later, in the library, Charles begins to search for a house crest that matches the tabard, but is unfortunately unsuccessful, though he does suspect that House Leanhaun has a secret symbol of a frog hidden in its design (botch). Frank plays along with the misunderstanding amusedly, but Skulde shuts Charles down quickly. She glances outside of the room and notices a woman and a man, dressed as the Scarlet Pimpernel and his lover, Lady Blakeney. It doesn't take her much time to realize it is the baron and his wife, Hannah. She winds her way over to them and reveals her discovery, which she smugly knows will give her a future boon with the baron. They both take it in good humor, but Skulde tucks this moment away, pleased that the evening is not only fun and pleasure but prepares her for her eventual rule as well. Eventually the motley leaves the party, heading back into town. Skulde wonders aloud about her acquaintance, Slithers, a slaugh boy who lives in the basement of the school, and whether he's had a nice Samhain. Frank is immediately excited by the prospect of meeting this changeling, and insists that they go visit him immediately. The quartet, plus Samantha, soon arrive at the school and head around to the cellar doors, where Skulde bangs on them violently to get Slithers' attention. It takes a bit, but eventually the sullen slaugh opens the door and looks at all the new faces. Skulde introduces him, mentioning his human name is Damon. He seems rather nonplussed by the group, and lets them into his cellar - Skulde asks him why he didn't come out on Samhain and tries to convince him to come out, even just for a little bit. Unfortunately, Slithers is stalwart, and Skulde resigns herself to visiting with him in the dank, moldy basement of the school. She notices the rats scurrying around, and when Frank asks what they're saying, Skulde rolls her eyes. Rats never have anything interesting to say: they only talk about food or sex. Dogs aren't much better, but they have a weird thing about getting really into their masters' sports teams. Damon begins to show them around, including his spider-silk woven creations, and Frank lights up. He offers Damon a single dross for a spider-silk backpack, which Damon agrees to. Skulde as well asks for a creation, but offers two dross for a spider-silk shirt for Charles - who immediately looks nervous. See, Charles has a fear of spiders. Quite a large one in fact. As soon as Skulde notices, she grins malevolently. Using her Aesin ability to speak to animals, she begins to call down all the spiders in the cellar to adorn her. She lies to the spiders, telling them that she has sugar water for them. It almost doesn't work (four 1s and only three successes), but she manages to convince them (willpower spent). As the spiders swing down on their silken ropes, crawling over her shoulders and towards her hands, Charles begins to hyperventilate. Skulde laughs, reaching out her hands towards the troll as her opera gloves made of arachnids wriggle and writhe. Charles backs up in a panic, nearly tripping in his haste. But once Skulde traps him in a corner with her spider-gloves, she laughs again and releases the spiders, the fun over. "And that is why Aesin is the best house." She proclaims smugly. This leads to an argument with the rest of the motley over which house truly is the best, but Damon interrupts their argument to offer refreshments: McDonald's with moldy burgers and fries covered in fungus. Skulde declines as politely as she can, but George gratefully partakes. As he bites into the green and fuzzy burger, Skulde gags loudly. After Damon and George have finished their meal, Damon decides to show them his way into the school halls: a staircase that once lead into the basement but is now concealed behind a pair of lockers. The lockers are hollow, having just been placed there to hide the door into the basement. No students are ever assigned the lockers, and it allows Damon to attend his classes and then descend to his hovel in the basement without harassment. As the changelings creep into the dark, empty school, Damon leads them into the library. The others begin to look around, pulling out various books and generally enjoying having free range of the school. It is eventually through this process that they find out something interesting: the school was built by a Masonic-style secret society that had dedicated itself to educating poor children, and had been donated to the still-fledgling town back in the 1800s or early 1900s. It certainly explains the candlabra chimera that Skulde and Frank found in the basement, but the questions it raised were more pressing than ever. Who were these people? Why did they build this place? Unfortunately, there is no time to discuss such questions, as it is suddenly discovered that it is 1 AM and the children panic - their parents will ground them for sure if they are late. The books are replaced quickly and all the children run for home. Thankfully, they are all quiet enough to avoid their parents, and the children soon slumber peacefully at home without a care in the worlds. Even the ones they had just discovered.
