Session Seven: The Calcar and The Perch Guard

General Summary

- 22 of Alta -

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Aldous Brackshaw and Yarrow Fermata made their ways out of the back of the bar while Alabaster Quilcy and Cyrus Danceyboi got ready to perform. Looking around there were tons of people inside. Many of them had on a decorate claw and talon varnish that made their claws more sparkly and everyone was fairly drunk even though it was so early in the evening. Cyrus pressed Alabaster to start their performance outside in hopes of drawing attention from Kathon.
The two went outside and started their joint performance. Cyrus dancing and Alabaster playing his violin and casting Prestidigitation to add flourish to their movements. Seeing the crowds energy Alabaster let his hat on the ground in order to busker some coins. Captain Uyncis Rose made his way over and people from around the area of the Skymall started to join in a circle around the two performers. Captain Uyncis seemed more than captivated with Cyrus and kept a close eye on the Vulpin.
Alabaster focused on the performance and his magics while Cyrus kept an eye out for Kathon in the crowd. The young fox looked over and over the growing masses. Finally his eye caught someone in a hooded cloak, small stature, and points to the hood as if they had pointed ears. Taking interest Cyrus signaled to Alabaster to make a distraction for him and began to dance into the crowd.

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Aldous made his way to South Tree and meandered over to his family's farm house. He braced himself and then knocked on the large wooden front door. Not soon after Emma Brackshaw answered the door wearing a top she would often wear after doing farmwork but still in her Perch Guard pants and boots.

"You made it!" She said with a smiling as Aldous looked into the house.

"Am I late?" Aldous said nervously. Emma nodded and smiled and led him into the house to the dining room. There at the long table sat Nicholas Brackshaw eating a silk bug casserole mumbling to himself. Emma signaled to Aldous to sit down and took a seat herself. Nicholas looked up at Aldous but didn't say anything. The three sat in some silence before Emma started to speak again.

"I'm glad you could make it Unlce Aldous. How've you been?" She asked. Aldous looked over to Nicholas and back to Emma.

"I've been doing well. I'm surprised to see you as part of The Perch Guard." Nicholas began to more aggressively use his utensils. "What about   Odwald and Clara have secrets here. If left alone Odwald will unleash undead into the avium over time through his studies. " href="/w/mardlo-arias-nuactna/a/the-avium-settlement">The Avium? What about your studies?" Aldous asked. Nicholas scoffed.

"She doesn't need to read if she's going to be a soldier." Nicholas said with some disdain. Emma shot him a look and Aldous looked over to her not paying much mind to the comment.

"Well I don't have any affinity for magic so the Avium isn't going to work for me." She said looking back to her uncle.

"I learned magic by being there. All it takes is some hard work." Aldous said with some reassurance.

"What would you know about hard work." Nicholas growled under his breath. Aldous and Emma looked to him briefly before going back to their conversation.

"It just depends where you put your focus. On more fantastical work," Aldous looked over to Nicholas, "or more mundane work." Nicholas pushed his plate aside and left the room. Clinks of glass and the sound of liquid being poured could be heard from the kitchen. Leaving Emma and Aldous alone.

Emma and Aldous continued chatting for a while. Emma talked of her desire to open a library or competing scribe shop in   The main quest here is dealing with the Bandits plan to steal cursed items from a craftsman." href="/w/mardlo-arias-nuactna/a/brackenmill-article">Brackenmill. Aldous tried to keep the conversation as light as he could but Emma's questions began to probe into his personal life.

"So how long are you on sabbatical?" She asked pointedly. Aldous began to twitch and move about.

"There's no real set date for it to end... yet..." Aldous couldn't lie well to begin with let alone to Emma. She smiled and shook her head.

"It's alright you don't have to tell me. I'm just glad you visited. How long are you in town?" She asked.

"Hopefully not for much longer..." Aldous replied. The two looked at each other and smiled. Emma helped Aldous up and out to the front door and they hugged before Aldous made his way down to the Overhang.

---

Yarrow, practicing his stealth, snuck down to the barracks. Once there he was met with Captain Wolne Forradare and Captain Serra Hyne talking in the front hall. The cadets and Perch guard stopped and turned to Yarrow, many of the cadets looking with fear towards the Tola. Serra Hyne broke her conversation with Wolne and walked to Yarrow to see why he was in the barracks. Yarrow said that he was here to fix her chair. The Cervan nodded and took Yarrow back to her office so they could talk alone. Wolne in the meantime seemed focused on Serra Hyne and almost angry. As they passed to leave Yarrow turned to the Captain and said, "It's okay. We're not shacking up." with a smile, confusing the Corvum.
They made their way down to Serra Hyne's office ignoring other officers on the way. Once in the room Serra Hyne turned to Yarrow.

"What have your friends decided?" Serra Hyne asked. Yarrow took a deep breath.

"Oh, yeah, we're going to do it, also you're going to get a letter from a racist and it's going to look like it's from the bandits but it's entirely fake also Reyny Wright, horrible racist, she's in on it and she's the one who destroyed your office." Serra Hyne stood wide eyed in front of Yarrow and then looked down.

"That makes sense actually." She said, "... So you need to slow down. So Reyny is part of an organization of-"

"Oh no she's just horribly racist." Yarrow said

"We-well I know that, I'm not that unaware. Okay but it's not The Bandit Coalition that is after me it's just people that don't like me because I'm a Cervan. Alright. That's easier actually. That means that the Bandit Coalition may not be on to my status as a Perch Guard agent. Although Bandits did get into town which worries me. How did you find this out?" Serra Hyne looked to Yarrow.

"I know the person who made the letter." Yarrow said blankly,

"Okay so your group set a plan in motion with this racist to pull me out and attack me because you all thought I was part of the Bandit Coalition. That makes sense." She said holding her chin in her hand. "I don't know when the bandits are planning their attack then. It was supposed to be during the Feast of Hora but that's not for another week. I should go see the bandits tonight and make sure plans haven't changed. I don't want civilians to get hurt... Do you particularly like Reyny?"

"No, she hates me too." Yarrow said smiling, "She seems to hate all the humble folk."

"Alright then, here's the plan. I will wait for this letter. Bring your friends and we'll talk. Then tonight I'll go to the bandit camp and see how plans have changed." Yarrow looked confused.

"Get my friends now?" He asked.

"As soon as possible, where are they now?" Serra Hyne looked at Yarrow with narrowed eyes, "Is the dancer dancing again?"

"He's trying to find Kathon" Yarrow replied.

"Everyone is," Serra Hyne grabbed her forehead, "Bring everyone here so i can talk to everyone at once. My plans are to go out tonight, capture the racists, visit the bandits, and blame them for the bandits once the bandits come into town. Please make haste. I don't want any more changes to the plans." Yarrow smiled.

"If it matters no one saw me coming here," The Cervan captain looked confused, "I'm stealthy!" Yarrow yelled while raising his shoulders. Serra Hyne laughed and smiled.

"You're not like your brother," she turned towards the office door, "I also have to figure out why Wolne is mad at me and doesn't want me to leave. I don't want him to suspect anything."

Yarrow shrugged, "It's probably because you set a bad example for the cadets. You reactions showed that you can't handle situations as a leader and you going out without anyone would reinforce that." Serra Hyne stood dumbfounded by the Tola.

"... You're right, you're right. I should be a better leader even if my persona is that of a brute. Please go, I will try to stay here for you and your friends but I need to go out regardless." Yarrow nodded and then backed away trying to prove his stealthy ways. He immediately fell over Rose and then stumbled out the door and made his way to the Overhang.

---

Alabaster cast Prestidigitation and began to take center stage. Between his magic and violin he took most of the attention of the crowd as Cyrus started to get lost in the crowd. Making his way to the Vulpin Cyrus saw that he had sandy tan fur and looked like the Fennec fox that attacked him and his allies in the alleyway. Cyrus danced behind him and in one motion cast ambush prey and put a knife to the Vulpins back.

"You're going to tell me what I want to know," Cyrus said getting a nod from the Vulpin in front of him, "Why are you looking for Kathon?" He asked pressing the knife further. The figure turned his head slightly to talk back.

"To kill her." The rich voice said in a calm down. Cyrus, a little taken aback by the candid response, pushed on.

"Who are you?" The dancer asked more in bewilderment than anything else. The figure let down his hood to reveal the orange tan fur of a Fennec Fox. He turned hi head more and smiled through Cyrus at the crowd behind them.

"We are The Calcar dear boy." Cyrus stood still with the knife. The Calcar were a mysterious group of noble assassins from Kagi. They were rumored to have slain the royal family that led to the civil war and the divide between Kagi and Chikara. Cyrus steeled his resolve.

"We should talk about our goals. Meet me and my group at Temple of Hanera The Provider in an hour, come alone." The dancer threatened before turning away from the assassin and spinning off into the crowd once more breaking his invisibility.

Cyrus and Alabaster finished their performance with a flourish and collected their gold. The crowd cheered, begging for an encore, but before Alabaster could continue Cyrus pulled him aside and told him that they needed to regroup and head to the temple.

The two performers broke from the crowd and started to make their way down to the Overhang and then down to the humble level of Brackenmill. Once at the descending bridge to the humble level they ran into Yarrow who was bouncing up to meet them. Yarrow quickly expressed his need for them to meet with Serra Hyne which Cyrus quickly refuted. Then as they were discussing Aldous made his way down and met up with them. The group now assembled decided to go to the temple and wait for the Calcar.

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Aldous made his way inside the temple quickly sitting down in the main hall at one of the back feast tables. Yarrow slunk off into the shadows near the entrance while Cyrus and Alabaster talked about what to do next.
The druid focused and tried another attempt at wild shape. Yarrow had historically always been bad at wild shape being only able to pull off the form of a white stag without issue. He trailed his energy across his body and began to polymorph. The thoughts in his head were that of a feral cat, something discreet and stealthy. The magic however would not fit in him in the ways he wished. Once transformed he was a small black cat but he still had his Tola ears, tail, and nose creating a horrifying small beast.
Down from the descending bridge came a few Mapach and Vulpin and behind them were two Vulpin dressed to impress. The male was dressed in a light blue silk suit with decorative foot coverings and piercings shining in his ears. The female complemented him in a tangerine orange silk dress, her arms covered in bangles, bracelets, and rings. The two sauntered up to Cyrus and Alabaster.

"Hello it's nice to meet you out of an alleyway. My name is Cōra and this is Hatyārā. It's a pleasure." Cōra said bowing a bit before Cyrus and Alabaster. Hatyārā smiled and wandered inside the temple. She made her way to one of the central large feasting tables and sat down seemingly humored by the arrangement of meager foods. The group followed suit and sat down with them. Cōra seemed a bit confused as to what to do and began to pick at some of the food in front of him.

"You can eat it ya' know." Alabaster said with an angry tone. Cōra chuckled and shook his head.

"What do you know about Kathon?" Cyrus asked wasting no time.

"Not much my dear. She leaves ribbons when she is going to dance. She's from Cenwis up in Kagi." Cōra continued before Hatyārā leaned into the conversation. "She's a lovely white cat with a penchant for running and hiding." Hatyārā looked at Cyrus hungrily. Aldous in the back took the copper coin from his pocket and rubbed it casting Detect Thoughts. The Corvum turned his focus to Hatyārā.

"What a lovely fox this one is. I can't wait to stab him again and feel his warm flesh slide over my-" Aldous quickly broke his focus from the woman's mind. Taking a quick moment he focused over to Cōra.

"Kathon's not white?" Cyrus scoffed and looked over to Cōra who appeared confused. "She's not white, she's a dancer and I happen to know that she is a master of disguise." Cyrus said confidently.

"I can't imagine she's not a white cat. Could she have been hiding her true face this whole time. All the way from Kagi? And we've killed so many other dancers that all describe her as a white cat. Interesting. All of her fans in town note her as a white cat as well." Aldous focused on Cōra whose train of thought was a bit more informative than Hatyārā.

"Well that's interesting," Cōra said before looking over to Yarrow who was trying to sneak around as a cat. "and is this your Tender friend?" Yarrow climbed up into the chair next to Cōra and abandoned his wild form.

"I'm not a Tender." Yarrow said, "what about your friends? They're here too. Where are they? Are they the bandits you let into town?" Cōra smiled.

"Yes, we do have friends around as well. They are merely waiting outside and around the temple for us to come out. And we met them in town we didn't bring them with us." Aldous focused in on Cōra again, "The bandits have been a great help. Between Jorn helping us with his bandits and the captains letting us go through the town unnoticed we've been able to surprise Kathon. Hopefully she won't be able to elude us again and she'll also be able to tell us where the other dancers are that she hid away."

"I don't care what you do with Kathon but I need to talk to her. She may be the only person who can help me save Marcilim." The two assassins looked over to Cyrus.

"What do you mean darling?" Hatyārā chimed, "Marcilim is fine. It's a lovely tourist attraction and everything stays the same. Here have this, it'll lift your spirits." she smiled and handed Cyrus, who was glaring back at her, a golden metal bangle. She then turned to the group and seeing Yarrow asked, "Would you like one as well?" Yarrow pointed to his antlers and Hatyārā reached across the table and attached her finger chains to his antlers.

"Well it's settled then, you and your friends will find Kathon and we'll leave you alone while you do. As long as you don't leave town or help Kathon escape there shouldn't be any problems. Then you can ask Kathon what you need to and you can be on your way." Cōra beamed happy to have come to such a pleasant arrangement. Yarrow, Alabaster, and Cyrus looked to one another and Cyrus nodded to Cōra.

The two assassins rose from their seats. Hatyārā made her way over to Aldous and nodded at him, "It was lovely to meet you in a more pleasant setting. Have a wonderful night." She said before walking back. Yarrow popped up and using Druidcraft created two flowers. One blue, which he gave to the female Vulpin, and one orange, which he gave to the male Vulpin. The Vulpin smiled and made their way out of the temple.

As the assassins left the temple Vala came to the group. She asked Yarrow if he could follow her to help her with the bees in the temple garden. Alabaster and Yarrow looked at each other and followed Vala. Cyrus started thinking about how he could use his magic to disguise himself while Aldous began to meditate in front of the central hearth of the temple.

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Alabaster and Yarrow followed Vala out to the back garden. Once outside they saw bees everywhere as well as one of the three artificial box hives damaged and the bees inside all dead. The two looked around. Yarrow noted that the dead bees seemed to have been burned or overheated in some way. He took their corpses and piled them into a component pouch. Alabaster meanwhile made his way over to some of the bees outside of the hives and began to talk.
The bees were in fact the bees Alabaster had sent from the Skymall. They had killed the bees in the hive because they needed a hive but were upset because the hive couldn't move. They wanted a moving hive that could travel and bring them to new flowers. Alabaster pointed to Yarrow and asked about that hive. The bees didn't seem to recognize Yarrow as a hive and merely said that they would try the other hives and move on.
Alabaster became worried and stressed to the bees that they couldn't just kill the other bees. Their repeated response of, "Of course we can, we already did." Didn't alleviate the Hedge's worry at all. In the middle of the aggravating conversation with the bees Alabaster gave up on negotiating and smashed the bees he was talking to between his paws. The rest of the bees began to swarm and attack Alabaster who retaliated by casting Shatter on the swarm killing the bees in an instant.
Vala looked horrified at Yarrow and Alabaster. Yarrow shrugged and hopped inside and Alabaster patted Vala on the shoulder and said, "Time for bed."
Yarrow and Cyrus stayed up for a minute looking over their respective projects. Cyrus continued to try small dances while Yarrow played with his magic and the components in his pouch. Aldous took a couple hours to use his appraising eye on the bangle and finger jewelry. Neither of them had any magical properties to them though they were very high quality and could fetch a good price on the market.
Eventually everyone slept, except Aldous who stared into the fire for another night. Plagued by the endless chatter of his folding mind.

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- 1 of Han -

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Animal messenger for Serra Hyne The group woke up and followed the pattern of the prior days. Aldous sat by the fire while Yarrow woke up early and cooked food for everyone. Cyrus and Alabaster woke up and kept to themselves until everyone was gathered. The group decided to head to the barracks and go talk to Serra Hyne.
At the barracks they asked at the front desk about the captains. Uyncis and Baldwin were in the barracks doing paperwork and routines. Alvert had come in in the morning but left right after checking in and was doing his morning rounds. Wolne and Serra Hyne hadn't checked in but the clerk believed that they were most likely doing their own rounds. Wolne in the Overhang and Serra Hyne on the humble level and the surrounding humble farms. The group left a note for Serra Hyne in case she came back to the barracks.
Outside and unsure of what to do Alabaster took some time and cast Animal Messenger telling a small bird to go look for Serra Hyne and tell her that they needed to talk. The bird flew off. It quickly took up and seemed to be looking on the humble level before sweeping up towards the Overhang. Yarrow wild shaped into a giant white stag and Alabaster hopped on his back. The two took the bridge up following the bird. Cyrus used his Slippers of Spider Climbing and climbed the tree holding the overhang directly, running straight up. Aldous followed behind slowly using his walking stick for support.

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Up in the Overhang Alabaster and Yarrow saw Captain Wolne standing in front of Flandal Steelskin's shop impatiently. Alabaster went up to Wolne and hopped off of Yarrow who shifted back into a Tola. Wolne was waiting outside for Flandal to come out and see him for a report. He had apparently been waiting for a while.
Cyrus meanwhile was back in the wealthy part of the Overhang near the trade guild. The young fox could hear some wealthy women chatting about a competitor that was making more money than them. Cyrus quickly shrugged this off and went out to the road. There he saw the bird making it's way up the bridge to North Tree still on the hunt for Serra Hyne. In the distance Cyrus saw Yarrow and Alabaster and decided to make his way over.
After hearing that they wanted to get inside Yarrow pushed open the door and walked in with Alabaster. Wolne watched and sighed as the two entered getting quickly questioned by the Mapach at the front desk. Alabaster wouldn't take any obstructions though and pressed forward.
The shop was large. A huge industrial plant with workers, mostly Mapach workers, all working in lines at tables. The areas had different tools for things like woodworking, metal work, jewelry, detailing, glass, supplies. Each section of the long warehouse had its own workers who looked tired and overworked. Alabaster made his way over to one of the Mapach who was handing out what seemed to be assignments to the workers and demanded to see Flandal. After some choice threats and verbal harassment the Mapach stepped to the side and pulled a chain sounding an alarm throughout the shop.
Everyone watched as Flandal burst out of one of the offices, an angry plume of black magical smoke pouring into the shop. For a split second Yarrow caught the visions of failed magic and darkness. Flandal quickly shut the door and looked over to the group and to Captain Wolne.

"What is it! Who are you? I told you to wait outside!" The Mapach yelled in his shrill voice. Alabaster looked Flandal in the eye.

"You can't treat people like this." The Mapach looked confused and looked around. Alabaster continued, "You can't make people wait like that and especially not the Perch Guard. Also look at your workers and these conditions." Flandal blinked for a few seconds and looked at the Hedge.

"...What? Who are you? Get out of my shop! I'm very busy and Wolne will wait as long as I ask." Flandal looked over to Wolne and shouted, "They're not done yet! There are you happy! Now get out of my shop!" The Mapach was covered in black dust from head to toe.

"Your enchantment failed." Yarrow said with a smile. Everyone looked at the Tola for a moment before Flandal ran into another office and came out with large brass gauntlets. Clacking them together made them light up with electricity and lightning arced between them. The Mapach looked furious.

"GET OUT OF MY SHOP!" Flandal brandished the gauntlets at the group. Alabaster and Yarrow looked on in amazement.

"Cool, can I have those?" Alabaster asked deflating Flandal's gusto.

"No... leave my shop and I'll follow you out so we can talk about whatever it is you want." Flandal turned and closed the office door. The group and Wolne walked outside and Flandal shut the front door and turned to them. "Now, what do you want?"

"Can you make a hive into a backpack so that you can carry bees?" Yarrow asked cutting everyone off. The confusion was palpable. Alabaster laughed and looked to Flandal.

"He can make bees but they need a hive after the spell wears off and they want a moving hive." Flandal considered this for a moment.

"I can do anything. You can make bees?" Flandal asked Yarrow who nodded furiously, "Show me then!" Yarrow shrugged, tipped his head back, and cast Fermata's Guardian Bees making bees magically pour out of his orifices. "MARVELOUS!"

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Aldous made his way up to South Tree. He needed to talk to Emma. Once there he saw Perch Guard around the area. They seemed clustered around his families house. With haste he approached the guards at the front door. They had been doing rounds with Captain Alvert and he wanted to stop here to talk with Emma because she won the tournament the day before. Aldous asked them if he could go in because he was family and they quickly let him inside.
Once there he snuck his way up to the dining room. He could hear Alvert and Emma talking and the occasional grunt and groan from Nicholas.

"It's a great opportunity," Alvert said, "It would get you out of Brackenmill and give a real assignment. I hear you want to travel and training with the Palace guards in Alderheart is a perfect opportunity for that." Aldous heard a grunt from Nicholas and assumed the face that his brother was making.

"I yes-well-I mean," Emma was clearly at a loss for words. Aldous grabbed the coin in his pocket and cast Detect Thoughts focusing on Alvert.

"All I need to do is convince this fool to let her go away. If I can get her out of town maybe it will incentivize the lot of them to leave as well." Aldous could hear Emma fidgeting obviously excited.

"Of course I'm interested sir. It sounds like a wonderful opportunity." Emma said eagerly.

"Hmm maybe once she's out of town we'll just capture the lot of them. They would make good bargaining chips if push comes to shove." Aldous gripped the coin in his hand and started to think of what to do next.

Report Date

23 Feb 2020

Primary Location

Brackenmill