Session 102: The Clock Strikes Nine

Levi gathers the party together in the Green Room so that they can discuss what is going on. The party remarks that it is odd that the heads of the Court of Blight and the Court of Carrion and Decomposition are not present--in fact, none of their Courts are present, only their champions. Illevaere expresses their disdain toward Prospero, remarking that they want to see him inflicted with disease since it is not right for him to be safe in his manor while his lands fight with plague. The party assumes that the non-stop dancing of revelers is likely a disease, but Illevaere does not know if it is their place to cure the disease. The party discusses what their next steps should be, focusing on escaping the manor and not necessarily plotting against the Barbed Countess.   As they speak, Black Bill happens upon them and approaches, telling the party that he hopes that there is no ill-will for the encounter at the farm and his focusing on the antler, rather than the scarecrow. The party unanimously agree the Black Bill's actions were a hinderance and that he was a dick. He attempted to defend himself by stating that it should have been expected that he would not rush up to battle a scarecrow, and that he rightly believed that everyone else had it handled. Despite his best arguments of a cultural avoidance of scarecrows, the party still considered him a dick. Seeing that the group was unmoved, he took his leave.   The party continued to deliberate what their actions should be when the clock in the Black Room struck nine. The haunting chime echoed throughout each of the rooms, reverberating with a deepness that seems to shake the windows. During the chimes, the music halts. Everyone--guest, dancer, fey laird--halts, freezing with a look of discomfort. The party also feels the deep melancholy pass over them, overwhelming them and filling them with a sense of painful dread that seems eternal, though once the ninth chime's echoes fade, the feeling is gone, lingering only on the edge of memory like a faded dream. The music begins again and the dancers take to their movements once more as if nothing had occurred at all.   However, as the music begins again, a sensation of music clouds the minds of Ilbryen, Tertius, Mitch, and Myohn in the Blue Room, and they focus on nothing else as they begin to dance. Illevaere recognizes this as a disease, but a magical one since it came on suddenly coinciding with the chiming of the clock. Illevaere uses the mother's grace of Caena to cure Ilbryen who recovers immediately. As they absorb the disease and their body resists it, Illevaere feels the clouding of the brain and the jerking of muscles that seems to be a part of the disease and ultimately their body cleanses the disease within them. Aisling uses her ability to lay on hands to cure Mitch and then Tertius.   The party then begins to prioritize finding a way to exit the manor. Bolvaic heads to the window and smashes his maul against it, but it seems to simply bounce off of the glass without so much a crack in the stained glass. Illevaere discovers that they can misty step through the window to the outside and once out there, they examine the window to see if it can be broken from the outside. Illevaere discovers that there seems to be some sort of magical wall of force protecting the window. They discover that there is no miasma of disease in the air--the village is far below the hill and the manor is protected by a heavily guarded gate and wall at the hill's bottom. They are able to look into the other rooms and they discover that Crepe Myrtle, Freydis Dahl, Marlow Clyst, Mira of the Shallow Pool, Mynki, Yegor Sokolov, Kaela the Emberfrost, and Porter Gallagher have all succumbed to the dancing disease. Though Illevaere sees that Anwyn Brookmist is with Porter and she lays on hands to cure him of the disease. Illevaere also sees that a secret door opens in the Yellow Room and several servants return to the dance floor, one ready to clean up the urine in the White Room left by Bolvaic and Caelum Thunderstrike. Illevaere also notes that Lira Windwhistle is in the Black Room and seems to be frozen in terror. And they note that the giant clock within the Black Room is made of a blackened wood with the bark still on it. They recognize it as wood from the Eldest Oak of the Court of Blight.   Illevaere offers a ritual prayer to Caena, asking for her protection of her companions, then misty steps back, returning to the manor. Anwyn and Porter arrive to tell Aisling about the disease that Porter fell victim to and her curing of it, though she does try to blame the marks on Porter's neck as a result of the disease. Illevaere returns to the party and relates what they had seen to the party and Bolvaic decides to head off to the Black Room to investigate the clock with Aisling following. Bolvaic stops on his way as he passes the Ashen Lady and informs her of everything that they have discovered and asks about the wood of the Eldest Oak being used to manufacture the clock's casing and what its possible effects might be. The Ashen Lady states that her Court is not the friendliest with the hosting Courts, since a pyre and burning of bodies would halt the spread of disease. During their conversation, Bolvaic mentions "the other one", and The Other One assumes he was calling him. After the confusion was sorted, he lets Bolvaic know that he saw Dökkálfar in pants during the Hunt for the Hart and he took a couple of items and offered to show them to Bolvaic, but Bolvaic said that he had other issues that took precedence at the moment and said he would speak to the Other One later. Bolvaic tells the Ashen Lady that he is going to investigate the clock and the compulsion disease further, and she calls over Smolder to follow Bolvaic's command to assist him. Smolder sardonically agrees and heads off to the Black Room with Bolvaic,   Bolvaic approaches the clock and tries to smash it with his maul--the strike is solid, but does not break through the force blocking the clock, but the blow is hard enough that he feels the reverberations of the force wall rattling deeper below the room. He attempts to set fire to the clock, but he cannot touch the wood behind the wall of force. After searching for any hidden passages, Bolvaic begins to smash at the floor and walls to find a secret passage.   Meanwhile, Illevaere speaks with the Emissary of the Stag King (the Bratty Bottom). They ask what their thoughts are on the party and the Bottom seems disappointed at the party, though more so because he finds it to be a bore. When Illevaere asks why they are here, the Bottom responds that Elen of the Ways is off galivanting with Wraithshade Orla, and the other Emissary of the Stag King is off trying to appease Ephudol. Illevaere was asking more about why the masquerade was here and not somewhere else, but the Bottom did not seem too concerned about that. He did not realize that some of the guests were compelled to dance and assumed that the blood was simply because mortals bleed. He did pass on a bit of gossip--that Bolvaic and Caelum both urinated on the dance floor, something that he found amusing. When Illevaere stated that Mynki was also affected by the dancing disease and compulsion, he agreed to find her and dance with her to disillusion anyone from her being so affected. He does bring up how interesting the fallout would be if someone slept with her.   Zadock had been instructed by Narahm to escort Coraline Tidebloom to the dance--her first gala. He is meant to instruct her on a proper mortal to focus her intentions of marriage upon. Zadock admits that most that he knows well are already spoken for. Though Coraline thanks him for escorting her in a gentlemanly way, and asks if in the coming days, he might consider and inquire a bit more about the champions.   Myohn was affected by the compulsion disease and began to dance. Ultimately, the Swan Queen called for the Iron Swan who came and cured Myohn of the malady. Myohn apologized to the Swan Queen for his ignoring her to dance and assures her that it would not happen again. She forgives him, but reminds him of the tasks she had set forth for him. She had asked for a recruit to her Court to oath while in an Autumn Court. She mentions that Aisling seems to be a good choice, especially since they are friendly. She assures him that she does not wish to lose her Swan Song Champion, but she could be the Champion of the Swan Mays, thus keeping Myohn in his role. She also reminds him of her interest in the Metatext carried by Ilbryen, saying that she still desires it.   The Goblin King approached Ilbryen, still referring to them as Cobb. Eventually, Ilbryen responds and he directs them to give as much information as he can on their companions so that he can properly orchestrate their upcoming heist. Ilbryen says that they are good at reading, Illevaere is good at rotting, Levi is good at smelling, Aisling is good at make-up, and Bolvaic is good at smashing things. A bit underwhelmed at these descriptions, he tells them that they will have to meet up later so that they can properly announce the Goblin Heist as his herald. Ilbryen asks for more information on the heist, and the Goblin King says that his arch rival, a nilbog named Gnik has an artifact that allows him to win any bet and he keeps it safely in the vault of his casino. He says that he wants to heist to operate with the tenets of the Goblin Court in mind. He asks Mitch to recite the five tenets of the Court: mischief, mayhem, sneakery, rumpus, and ruin. Mitch recites what each of them signifies:   Mischief: A true goblin never truths where he might trick. To part the seeing from the being is the greatest goodness goblins get.
Mayhem: A true goblin never does as he's told, never tells as he's done, and never follows a rule, least of all this one.
Sneakery: A true goblin never does what gets seen when he might to have done it where it wouldn't. More secrets is more better to goblins.
Rumpus: A true goblin never quiets when he might clatter, nor stands still when he might scatter. The louder the mess, the finer the bless.
Ruin: A true goblin never leaves a thing as he found it, for unbroke things is unfun things. To topple, tear, and tatter is to tell the truth of goblinkind—that all fine things is finer once they’re wrecked.
  Ilbryen points out that the rule of Rumpus opposes the rule of Sneakery, but the Goblin King points out that the rule of Mayhem means that they do not follow those rules. When Ilbryen points out that the rules are useless, the Goblin King points out that the rule of Mayhem means that you disregard all rules, including the rule not to follow the rules.   Bolvaic eventually breaks through a section of wall, discovering that there is a secret passage behind it that opens to a spiral staircase. Word is sent to the others to join them as Bolvaic and Aisling hurry down ahead of everyone else.