I'm of the opinion that we're probably gonna blow it via being stupid more than anything. Though I must say, it's interesting having a line to toe with Yorick encouraging us to be scary via IP boons, but the other Admin personally squashing our attempts to rebel...

Audrey doesn't squash attempts to rebel, she just stops you from doing the same counter-productive thing *twice*.

People have asked why she lets the suggestions fly in the first place, and the short answer is you can't learn if you don't have to deal with negative consequences. That means that as long as I think it's a different 'mistake' Audrey will let it slide *once*.

Audrey has to have this element since otherwise even though Yorick doesn't award IP for a repeated style of antagonistic suggestion I didn't want people to think that it was the direction the quest should go in.

Someone's complained that Sami is antagonistic but as I've explained -- she's not automatically trusting like Nem was. Getting Sami's trust is the first major obstacle.

I think it's unreasonable to have someone distrust you for simply using weird jargon.

Perhaps, but I'm trying to look at it from the perspective of "alien voices in my head all of a sudden" in comparison to Nem's "I've called some spirits and they talk a lot about weird stuff". I might have had Sami over-react. It's not so much the jargon as much as the alien factor.

>the short answer is you can't learn if you don't have to deal with negative consequences
The difficulty with this is one can make a reasonable case for the argument that we can't learn, period. At least, we can't be taught not to say things. With a sample user-base of sufficient size, the odds of certain bad ideas, trigger words, or 'wrong' tactics being introduced approach 1. (Especially if we include the introduction of new members as the story progress, who may not read everything, or to whom the initial 'lessons' don't sting as badly). No matter how many people heed the consequences, it only takes one careless, ignorant or occasionally malicious slip to trigger. Simply put, a collective inherently lacks the organization or discipline to regulate itself closely, in most circumstances.

This is only exacerbated when there's no 'filter' between us and the character: here the character is both aware of our presence in-universe, and we started with no means to censor or curb the release of information we disagreed about releasing. (We functioned as essentially an open chat Sami has a live feed to, and shouting "no don't say that" after the fact would have done little). Audrey's intervention improves the situation somewhat, although it's still tenuous, as we're reliant on an author stand-in to judge the release of information for us, rather than catching ourselves (although it's possible she'd cooperate and mute questionable comments if we asked).

Not that there's anything wrong with trying to challenge us this way, but discretion is something we're pretty terrible at. Even worse in an out of place sequel where we start the story with all kinds of out of character information to tempt us into blabbing about. The challenge here is pointed strongly at our not-strengths.

>redeath: I'm a woman
Okay, I have to ask: was that simple honesty, or a clever lie? Sorry if that's a rude question, but that was practically the first time she reacted positively to anything said, and I'm curious how deliberate that was on your part.

>we're reliant on an author stand-in

Audrey is NOT an author stand-in. Audrey is a separate character and she has her interests. but she has admin capabilities. From a game mechanic perspective, Audrey prevents the same mistake being made twice -- newer players saying something established to be a bad idea will get muted by her. And she's not very cooperative, although she is admittedly nicer.

>Not that there's anything wrong with trying to challenge us this way, but discretion is something we're pretty terrible at. Even worse in an out of place sequel where we start the story with all kinds of out of character information to tempt us into blabbing about. The challenge here is pointed strongly at our not-strengths.

Well, like I said -- without the errors you made you'd be shy 10 IP right now. Which would be better -- perfect play with less IP, or mistakes made and more IP? You needn't worry about repeat errors since Audrey will catch them.

>Okay, I have to ask: was that simple honesty, or a clever lie? Sorry if that's a rude question, but that was practically the first time she reacted positively to anything said, and I'm curious how deliberate that was on your part.

Very deliberate, and has to do with two things:
1. Giving out more information about oneself. Sharing personal information that's relevant to her. A bit of a trait from my late, lovely wife -- she was an outstanding listener who would rather people talk about themselves.
2. Sami is more comfortable around women. Strictly a personality thing; she wouldn't have reacted negatively to men (as you might have observed already).

>not a stand-in
A poor choice of words. I don't mean she represents your interests or views- I mean she's an actor the author controls. Which means her actions are ultimately the result of your judgement- not ours. It's a limitation, on our part, being reliant on that in what is a problem of self-control.

>Which would be better -- perfect play with less IP, or mistakes made and more IP?
An... interesting question, and not really the problem I was thinking about, actually.

Answering that would require weighing the value of successful / beneficial / non-traumatic character interaction / development against resources / points. Which is... tricky, considering we don't know valuable those resources are, or how much a lack could be offset by a player character who we managed to bond better with. And that we're weighting emotional / social investment against pure mechanics. Personally, I would tend to value character over resources, but it's not a simple problem.

>that last bit
*cough* Actually, I meant that question for redeath.

> Personally, I would tend to value character over resources, but it's not a simple problem.

Which is precisely why I've added that mechanic.

Speaking of mechanics, now that the new hacking programs have finally become available, I'd like to point out that Nem DOES have the hardware to run Glamour Pro and thanks to the unusual solve she'll be able to use it when she's seen again.

Also the solve that was used for Sami's Quest would have been the game equivalent to using a Nem's Quest save file and taking a secret route. My expected route to build Sami's Trust was to just roam around with her, looking for resources and casually chatting until she trusted you enough to drop some bombs, but instead she was broken by using a trigger word by someone who figured out and avoided the use of a bad trigger, and then was told some relevant stories that at least demonstrated experience in her situation.

If she hadn't already been broken or told Nem's story, she would have appeared to brush off the piper's story.

Moderator is a high-ranking policing job given to trusted members of the Faerie Courts, Pantheon and TEN. Moderators enforce the will of their patrons and watch for corruption.

Moderators are also responsible for controlling the mortal populations. Duties include culling, harvesting, and assistance of various mortal affairs depending on the situation.

The Tenth Court is a subdivision of the Seelie and Unseelie Courts. Its focus is the maintenance of the mortal affairs of the Gaelish, Rollen, Shinato and Mericudian populations.

"Dragon" is a role where an individual manipulates a town or area through cohersion. To "Dragon" a town is to essentially play the role of monster for specific effect. Dragoning is restricted by communication, geography and local military strength. Dragoning is usually done for any combination of of three purposes:
- Harvesting (where control is held for as long as required)
- Creation of a Hero (where control is relinquished to a specific individual)
- Unification (where control is to be held against multiple groups until they unify against a common foe).

I wonder what the third admin likes...
Yorick likes us trying stuff, best I can tell, especially bad? Delaying? stuff, Or more simply, SCIENCE!
Audrey seems to like Drama, and is more restrictive to keep us on task.
But the nameless third...He seems to like cleverness I think? He's sort of quiet, and I wonder what he'd like to see...
Personally? I can see us getting caught in a three-way battle of influence between them, unless we figure out how to make them dance from the pulling strings instead of the other way around...

>"Dragon" is a role where an individual manipulates a town or area through cohersion. [...] Harvesting (where control is held for as long as required)
Was that Blind Yaga's job?

>>88413
My impressions of the Admins seen so far:
- Yorick is a troll seeking lulz.
- Audrey supports succeeding the quest and/or playing nice (which have so far been basically the same in practice), but kind of enjoys drama when it does happen. Fairly similar to us, really.
- The third admin is Norton (you can see the name by hovering your mouse over the icon). He seems to like sleuthing and secrets.
- There is also a fourth admin, Puni, who has so far only appeared to grant IP like EXP for successful combat (or perhaps specifically killing?).

>>88434
Norton could be for exploring interesting locations, too, while Puni might be rewarding us for encountering new enemies. Sort of like a Bestiary admin.

I understand that we have no knowledge of whether or not the vermin are sapient, and whether or not they are will probably have little effect on Sami's opinion of them - a horde of plague-spreading looters. But what I'm saying is that when appropriate, we should do some tests to make sure that there is no guilt in killing these beings en-masse. This will be crucial if Sami figures out a way to easily kill many vermin at once. We don't want her to kill an entire nest only to discover later that they were sapient beings; she might associate herself as not so different from the piper, even if she still has a low opinion of the vermin afterwards. This is a HORRIBLE possible outcome and we should take steps to debate and analyze while we have abundant time to do so.

Also, we probably don't want to mass-drown sapient beings period.

who gives a shit? they're vermin. I know if someone gave me a red button that would kill every cockroach that exists, I'd press it without a second thought.

Sami's got more pressing concerns, anyway.

>>88616
There has been no evidence at all of the vermin being sapient; they have not shown any use of tools, communication, or organization beyond hunting in packs. Also they try to kill people when they get the chance.

>>88616
The ONLY thing wrong with killing them "if they're sapient" is that they would leave behind more Guilt curse. The odds of them being sapient, however, are zill. Non-existant. It's quite obvious they are not sapient, even without testing, as there was no curse left behind by the mass killings of them, anywhere.

VERBOSE WIKI ENTRY: CURSED OBJECTS AND CURSES

There are no standard sets of rules when dealing with cursed objects due to the number of variables involved including location, nature of the curse, strength of the curse, age of the curse, and the subject holding the object. As a general rule, subjects who were involved with the original cause of the curse can magnify the power of the object because they cause the curse to 'remember' itself with more clarity.

Unfortunately, curse spirits are not truly intelligent because they only represent the powerful negative emotions experienced by the victims - they are not the spirits of the victims themselves and can't be reasoned with. Thus regardless of the subjects' role in the original event that created the curse, the power of the curse increases and the subject becomes marked. Resolving the curse will unmark the target because the hostile spirits will also be resolved, although some friendly spirits may be able to remove the mark and a high grade SPOOF program can also hide the subject.

While Redeemers appear to be able to use cursed objects to their advantage, most others cannot except if a 'guilty spirit' can be located. Guilty spirits are not partial shades of the victims but the trapped spirits of actual individuals who were the cause and unable to resolve themselves. As cursed objects intensify the 'memory' of the curse, it also helps these spirits focus themselves and separate their conciousness from the 'hive mind' of the curse.

Most guilty spirits are more than happy to help purify the curse so they can be released. Bringing the cursed object to their place of death will allow them to manifest and offer their perspective from within the curse itself, often including information that may resolve it.

The chief risk in handling cursed objects is that once handled, the subject becomes permanently marked as a target of the curse and this mark can extend outside the local range; worse is that if the subject falls to the curse outside the original location then it becomes an additional curse site. If the curse is resolved at the original site however it will resolve all curse sites through the same link.

Some guilty spirits are capable of removing marks and most will do so without any compensation or commitment on the subject's part.

>a high grade SPOOF program can also hide the subject
Does that include Spoof 1.4 Personal and/or its Gold upgrade?

>Does that include Spoof 1.4 Personal and/or its Gold upgrade?

Only applies to Gold; Spoof Personal allows one to hide from hostile network detection. Basically, Spoof Personal lets you hide from hostile golems as long as they don't know you're there -- it's like the kind of items in stealth games that let you hide in plain sight as long as you don't do anything to draw attention to yourself.

Spoof Gold grants complete invisibility to creatures that rely on network detection to find a target, and the game equivalent is an item that hides you even after you do something to draw attention to yourself (very similar to the ol' game Smoke Bomb that re-hides you even after discovery).

Essentially, for the scope of Sami's Quest the only way to detect someone using Spoof Gold is with the traditional five senses without any kind of magical or energy-powered technological aid.

If Sami was Spoofed using the Personal, she's invisible to the golems (who don't have proper eyes) and networks until she does something to break it. Once she reveals herself, any creature with a Physical Scan could use the scan to find her if she used the Spoof -- it gives her a momentary delay while they activate the scan but not long, so using it is only for sneaking past stuff. She'd also show up on a thermal scanner.

If Sami was Spoofed using the Gold, it not only makes her invisible to the networks but it also hides her from scans by essentially blending her 'energy signature' into the background. So it's good for emergencies when she has to hide fast, and if she's carrying a cursed object. She'd also not even show up on a thermal scanner (or electrical detector) because all her emitting signatures are blended into her background. She'd still be visible to sonar and night vision as they don't rely on an energy signature.

>>90057
So if we pick up the gold we would need the Gold to hide :V

Wow.

So, will the admins keep giving us IP, knowing that those three hackers can turn it to their advantage?

>So, will the admins keep giving us IP, knowing that those three hackers can turn it to their advantage?

The Admins did NOT give you the IP.

>explain a situation in clear, mundane terms
>"As usual I have no idea what you're talking about"

Are you just going to block ANY reference to our abilities when talking to Sami? Making it impossible to discuss decisions with our host is incredibly frustrating.

>>91933
The last time this came up the subject of "IP" and "making deals with the cats" was deemed sufficiently hairy, crazy and scary that we should NEVER speak of it to Sami for (reasonable) fear that she would never trust us afterwards.
At current, we could potentially pose a question about it to her if we avoid speaking about all the game-mechanical, and admin/network/cats referencing parts of it.

>>91934
That's what I DID. I didn't talk about any game mechanics. I didn't use any special terms. She still acted like I was talking gobbledy-gook.

>>91936
Basically any time any of us have discussed game mechanics, she's ignored it or treated it as gobbledygook. (Which was too bad- I liked that metaphor I gave to describe how our silly rpg mechanics let us grow stronger over time, after she was incredulous over us having new abilities, and she didn't even react). I would expect that to continue.

I think one of the few examples that made it onto her radar was a metaphor for how we could use IP to influence die rolls. (We're gamblers trying to cheat our own dice). She wasn't impressed.

>Are you just going to block ANY reference to our abilities when talking to Sami? Making it impossible to discuss decisions with our host is incredibly frustrating.

There are two factors here.

One is Sami herself; she simply does not want to deal with the elements she doesn't understand. This is not an unusual phenomenon and my late wife was particularly bad about it. She trusted me to handle our finances for example, and didn't want me to go into the details. (She in turn was my support system, telling me things would be OK when our finances weren't where I wanted them to be and trying to keep me from stressing out). Plans that directly involve her are one thing, she doesn't want to think about what you could potentially do to her if so inclined. The terminology doesn't matter -- she considers the physical world her problem and the supernatural world to be yours.

The other factor is that deciding what to buy and when to use your influence is supposed to be a player decision. Nem was curious and open; Sami is not. The fact that she's no longer fretting about what you could be or could be doing to her is actually an improvement and a demonstration of how much she trusts you now compared to before.

>I think one of the few examples that made it onto her radar was a metaphor for how we could use IP to influence die rolls. (We're gamblers trying to cheat our own dice). She wasn't impressed.

Speaking as the narrator, the fact that you can do stuff like that scares the hell out of Sami but because you've demonstrated you really do mean well she's just trying not to think about it.

>>91972
>supposed to be a player decision
I'm not trying to give the decision to Sami, I'm trying to get her input on it, to see how much it will affect her disposition on us.

I explained it in a way she could understand, so that excuse is thrown out too. It sounds like you're just taking a black & white approach here to what things she will or won't address.

>>91973
Sami still just doesn't want to think about the fact that we can influence reality in the way we do. So, even if it's worded in a way she can understand, she just goes NOPE and ignores the hell out of it.

>>91973
Her whole adult life has been defined by a traumatic break from childhood through discovery of the supernatural and her having it in her nature rather violently. A lack of curiosity to the degree of not wanting to know things that could make a life and death difference to her isn't... absurd, for all that it is a little alarming, confusing and difficult to work with. She came here and is dealing with this situation now through a combination of guilt, self-destructive tendencies and feeling trapped in her traumatic issues, not because she is happy, cheerful and interested in the wonderful things magic can do for her.

>She came here and is dealing with this situation now through a combination of guilt, self-destructive tendencies and feeling trapped in her traumatic issues, not because she is happy, cheerful and interested in the wonderful things magic can do for her.

You summed that up beautifully. In short, Sami's not Nem. She has no problems giving input on her next actions but anything to do with magic (from her perspective, it's all magic) she'd just as soon not know about.

Hey, is the UI still showing that we have Draw Memory? There seemed to be a consensus we should go along with the Cats and let them remove that ability and lock it down. Unless it's a package deal and they're holding out until we surrender Phantasm too?

I might just be noticingg because it was mentioned in a quest dis thread, but in the recent update (compared to the thread start image above it) Sami's eyes have significantly changed color to be a lighter blue. (Not really sure what that represents though.)

>Hey, is the UI still showing that we have Draw Memory? There seemed to be a consensus we should go along with the Cats and let them remove that ability and lock it down.

I've seen two votes definitely for it and since it's not an urgent factor I haven't done the deal yet. So right now, you still have draw memory.

>I might just be noticingg because it was mentioned in a quest dis thread, but in the recent update (compared to the thread start image above it) Sami's eyes have significantly changed color to be a lighter blue. (Not really sure what that represents though.)

Yes they have changed colour and it's less recent than you think. It's just more obvious as she's in a well lit area (which also tells you they're not glowing)

>>/quest/651361
Dude, that crosses the line from disagreeing with another suggestor to berating them and being belittling and majorly rude. That's really not called for. Show some basic respect.

...and if you're going to go on an offensive rant, at least have the decency to get your facts right first. (Sami sure thought that, and purchasing programs is a core intended purpose for IP, not a literal waste, and nothing Kome suggested had anything to do with messing with our senses, negatively or otherwise).

>>92398
Bill goes through the shadows in the back and vanishes. Sami's heard of the Fae world and has no intentions of following him if that's where he's gone. She COULD look around some of his 'organized chaos' if she can do so without disturbing anything, or she could sneak some more wine, or she could just behave herself and wait patiently.
Mm, I made sure to couch my 'disagreement' with Kome in the shape of claiming that Sami isn't stupid enough to even consider it, while it was obviously one of Sami's thoughts under consideration. I was making a point of trying to limit alienating Sami while reinforcing the 'don't do that' message.

P.S. Babysitting crazy headcase bitches gets tiresome. Can we please move on from Sami showing off that she's so horribly self-destructive yet? I'm liable to either drop out or start negatively suggesting if this keeps up.

>P.S. Babysitting crazy headcase bitches gets tiresome. Can we please move on from Sami showing off that she's so horribly self-destructive yet? I'm liable to either drop out or start negatively suggesting if this keeps up.

You're free to do either one. Sami is the sole survivor of a mass drowning and messily killed someone by transforming into a monster before she was ten. She's lucky she's not more messed up.

Also Sami has PLOT ARMOUR which isn't just used for combat but for anything that could end her adventure early. So feel free to experiment.

:: REDEEMER NOTES ::

:: General ASSESSEMENT ::

"Redeemer: Grace the Seamstress

This curse has two primary driving forces -- guilt and grief -- which in turn creates a secondary driving force of rage. Most of the surviving guilty parties had strong enough regret to insulate them from spreading the curse, but one of the council members was without feeling and I had to put him down before it caught up to him and created a new infection site. Feelings have a much greater impact than fact in this instance.

Of the drowned children, there was only one soul with unfinished business -- apparently she was worried about her best friend, the only survivor by the name of Sami Jones. By the time I had arrived, Sami had already left town with her family, much like most of the other bereaved. Rosemary was patient and lucid.

She seemed to have a calming influence on the nearby soul of The Piper, but once I promised I would deliver her message to Sami and she passed on, it seemed to enrage the Piper. There seems to be two layers to whatever is holding him here, and the only one he will admit to is a personal injustice of a debt owed. Offering payment didn't seem to change anything, and I suspect it's a matter of WHO and not WHAT. The mayor on the other hand is beyond consolation, and until he can forgive himself he will remain entwined by the curse.

It's my general assessment that we have two options to dispel the curse - either get a Cleaner in to brute-force it or we need to find Sami Jones. A lot of this curse seems to hinge on the fact she survived."

:: EFFECT ON MORTALS ::
"Redeemer: Grace the Seamstress

This curse will definitely have a corrupting influence on the natural living, and the more guilt, grief or anger they have the faster it will take hold. Thankfully there's a feeling of unease and the curse itself seems to have drawn quite a lot of vermin to the town so only the desparate or criminal would hold up here.

If we find anyone living here it's going to be a priority to get them OUT before dealing with them. They'll probably be in ill health, so the stronger we can make them first, the better they can resist the influence and the easier they'll be to deal with."

:: NOTE RE: SAMI JONES ::
"Redeemer: Grace the Seamstress

I've left this note in case I can't find Sami. The problem is Rollen people avoid strangers, especially Fae and doubly so for anyone with the smell of Rotland on them and Sami doesn't seem to leave any sort of trail. I've been told that she has blue eyes, and this is extremely uncommon for Rollen but they have very strong communities and may hide her if you start asking around without a believable cover-story. I would suggest that you say something along the lines of 'I found something Rosemary would have wanted her to have' and then let them find you. They'll likely relay the message back to Sami and my guess is she'll be curious enough to follow up. Tread lightly; Sami has a formidable fae form that can render the immortal. Do NOT reveal you have a message; the Rollen will not react well to communications from the dead.

Should you locate her personally, tell her that Rosemary says:
'Dear Sami - Please don't feel bad about what happened. It wasn't your fault, and you're not a monster. You'll always be my best friend. Nobody blames you, not me, not any of us. I hope that some day you can go back to being the Sami I knew. Love, Rosemary'

You can reveal the source. Rollen generally aren't hostile to the truth, just very cautious around unpredictable beings from outside the mundane.

WIKI ENTRY: (Redeemer Organization) The Rotland Redeemers

The Redeemers are a group of former mortals who through misdeed or misadventure have managed to return to the world of the living. In general, there are two kinds of Redeemers -- those who undid a Curse they were responsible for, and those who were victims of a Curse and refused to succumb to it. In all cases, their original bodies are destroyed in the process, which is why they always appear human upon returning to the world. Redeemers may resemble Pantheon, but can easily be told apart by the particular smell of wet earth that follows them around and their unusual eyes.

Redeemers actively work to remove the very Curses that created them. The abilities of a Redeemer vary greatly as it tends to be based on the variables that created the curse and their own personal attributes.

Redeemers are known for voracious appetites and vices. It is suspected that death heightens their appreciation for the pleasures of the flesh. There doesn't appear to be any side-effects from mortals interacting with them as the standard 'undead tropes' don't seem to apply. In terms of physical resistance, they tend to be extremely resistant to incapacitation -- drugs have only a very minor effect and they are immune to illness, and they heal quite quickly. In terms of mortality, their bodies appear to be relatively 'human' in terms of resilience to damage -- they can be killed, but they can return quite quickly. Notably they still suffer mortal pain so while Redeemers aren't quite afraid of death as their mortal kin are, they fear the PAIN of death as much as any mortal.


WIKI ENTRY: Grace the Seamstress

Grace the Seamstress is a currently active Redeemer who came into profession when she was a child. She 32 (appears mid-twenties) and stands at just over six feet, four inches tall, with earthen coloured skin, black eyes, and extremely long, jet black hair which is actually a form of Curse in a thread-like physical configuration. She is notably fond of pipe tobacco, port, and women. She has a calm, quiet demeanor and tends to favour efficient speech, although in the right circumstances she can be fond of more eloquent speech. Her title of "the seamstress" refers to her spider-like abilities. While kind and compassionate, when pressed to violence she is both vicious and restrained, only killing when necessary although she may leave her victims in agony (although usually not crippled). Grace is friendly to Cats, hostile to the Pantheon and tolerant to everyone else which makes her a much smarter individual compared to the median.

Definitions of Note

The following information is available on Quest terms:

Corruption
Corruption occurs when CURSE begins to impact the mind of other creatures. The effect of the curse is similar to someone suffering from schizophrenia (breakdown in the relation between thought, emotion, and behavior, leading to faulty perception, inappropriate actions and feelings, withdrawal from reality and personal relationships into fantasy and delusion, and a sense of mental fragmentation). The CURSE will cause alien thoughts to drift into someone's mind. The ability of the CURSE to corrupt someone is largely dependent on their health, mental state, and like-experiences.

Faith, Faustia
Faustian faith is centered around community and friendship. It is somewhat similar to Christian faith, minus the threat of Hell, substituted with the threat of dark creatures who thrive in a world without friendship and love. Thus the faith is that the stronger a community is, the more resilient it becomes to the evils of the world. This is parallel to the core culture of the people of Rollien, who have tight-knit communities (although are secretive and suspicious of outsiders, once accepted a person is a friend to the community as a whole).

Glamour
A "Glamour" is an old term for faerie illusionary magic. Glamours can be used to hide the ordinary or conceal supernatural elements. In terms of the quest, a Glamour can be used to fool a basic scan.

** WIKI ENTRY: SKYIA THE DRAGON OF WELSER **

Skyia is a Serpentine faerie from the Unseelie Court. Like most Unseelie Dragons, she guards Welser from outside threats but also makes it clear to the town that she is not their benevolent protector but rather that she allows them to live within her territory.

Unlike most dragons, Skyia did not extract tribute -- this may have been due the events at Ronnalin -- instead she menaced the mayor and council. She is known to have killed the captain of the guard (and the mayor's personal head of security), the deputy mayor, and ransacked then burned down the Merchant's Guild. The first merchant caravan attempting to flee the city was destroyed -- most of the guards slain while the rest simply vanished.

Skyia made it clear to the purse-holders that neither fight nor flight would be an option. Still, she gained a reputation amongst the common folk to be not entirely evil -- that while she was a terror she would occasionally bestow a boon on those brave enough to approach her. It was no easy nor safe task, but some brave, desperate individuals were able to brave her lair and return to tell the tale, often richer for it.

Eventually, word got out that the town would pay handsomely for the one who was able to deal with Skyia once and for all, and one of those was the minstrel knight Sir George the Wanderer. Sir George was armed with faerie steel and a charming instrument. When he entered Skyia's lair she ambushed him from the shadows, knocking his saber to the ground and coiling around him -- but when Sir George saw his foe he was struck by her beauty and spoke eloquently of it, washing away Skyia's outrage. He charmed her with his CONCERTINA and his song, and when she was vulnerable instead of going for his weapon he kissed her and they made love.

They spoke for some time and Sir George learned about the council corruption -- that the corrupt city guard would blackmail or press false charges on strangers or new merchants. She also told him that the Mayor had met the Piper, who offered to rid them of their vermin problem. When he was successful, not only was he paid but the Mayor asked if he might charm the vermin to the wealthier town of Ronnalin, to which the Piper complied and his fee was paid twice.

Sir George had heard of the tale of Ronnalin and was outraged. While Sir George learned of the treachery of his people, from him Skyia learned of their nobility and together they ousted most of the old council, leaving only the terrified old mayor as a figurehead and a warning to any others who might take Welser down a dark path.

As a member of the Unseelie Court, Skyia is free to have whatever pets she would like without particular social consequence, but politically she is Unseelie in name only. Having a daughter with the noble Sir George has changed her significantly and while still dangerous (especially if her loved ones are threatened) she is not capable of the same cold blooded acts she used to. She is currently mortal and has bound her lifeline to her husband; the death of one will cause the death of both.

Left as a figurehead as in still alive and in town now?

>When he was successful, not only was he paid but the Mayor asked if he might charm the vermin to the wealthier town of Ronnalin, to which the Piper complied and his fee was paid twice.
Oh geeze. Sami's gonna be pissed if we share that. Probably not a good idea at dinner, at least.

>She is currently mortal and has bound her lifeline to her husband; the death of one will cause the death of both.
Huh. Well, not sharing that info with anyone. Actually, I'm half surprised the cats are that well informed, you'd think that's the kind of thing Skyia would want to keep secret.

>Huh. Well, not sharing that info with anyone. Actually, I'm half surprised the cats are that well informed, you'd think that's the kind of thing Skyia would want to keep secret.

The fae piggyback on their network. The only way to keep a secret from the TEN is to never use it, and it's too much a disadvantage not to.