Really hope barge wasn't a clipped way of trying to say barghest...

Let me guess: it's been 30 years and you're talking to Cecil II

Toxoglossa 2026/02/27(Fri)02:34 No. 1122673 ID: d10be1
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“Hmm, I wonder what’s up…” Kol murmurs, suddenly on guard.

A minute or two later, Cecil comes hurrying out of the house. Before the mice can greet him, the bird holds up his hands and pantomimes zipping his beak shut.

The guardians share a glance with one another before wisely shutting up.

He waves frantically for the trio to come inside and looks around, as though he was being watched from somewhere.

Ah. We attracted attention from the Fey at large, so of course they're gonna scry us.

Maliciously comply by doing agehao faces while you silently walk in.

>>1122673
👌👉👀👍
👉✍️👍🤨
👉👂👏🤨
👆☁️👀👄🤨
👉🗿👂👄🤨
👉🐦🪽🪽👆🌕🙅👍🤨
👍🌕

A month is ALSO long enough for Fey courts to get up to shenanigans

Toxoglossa 2026/02/28(Sat)02:40 No. 1122708 ID: d10be1
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Silently, the mice follow Cecil inside, past a long trail of muddy boot-prints. The bird leads them to a familiar door underneath the main stairwell, which he unlocks with a trio of keys.

The group enter the private chambers of Cecil’s collection. He leads them past shelves of intimate paraphernalia: each colorful piece hand-crafted by a master dildo-smith.

The mice notice that, since their last visit, the collection seems to have been neglected a bit. A few pieces have fallen over or rolled onto the ground, while the mage-lights on a few shelves appear to have lost their charge and gone dark.

Toxoglossa 2026/02/28(Sat)02:40 No. 1122709 ID: d10be1
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Cecil opens a door at the heart of the collection leading to a familiar, windowless chamber. Inside is a couch, a standing lamp, a folding screen and resting on a cushion, the bowerbird’s favorite toy: his “joy”.

Mr Ochre sighs happily at the sight of the phallus, as if seeing an old friend for the first time in years. He then turns his attention to the room itself; checking all of the corners, behind the screen, under the couch, even peeking inside the lamp.

“Okay, we can talk now.” He says, finally. “Apologies for the secrecy, but unfortunately while you were gone, the situation has… evolved. Thankfully I had this room warded against scrying years ago.”

He spreads his hands and continues, “First of all: welcome back and congratulations on the successful theft! You actually arrived earlier than I had expected, so I'm a little under-prepared. I do hope that your time away was a pleasant enough one and that Argus wasn’t too... demanding of a master.”

>>1122708
Hehe, that's what having a big noodly boyfriend does I guess. No need for sex toys.

>>1122709
Demanding? Well, to a degree, but he was quite benevolent.
What's the situation?

First thing's first, what happened here? Why are people suddenly scared?

Though we can probably make a fair guess. The Court of the Reflected Sky either attacked, or are about to attack. They're clearly keeping a very close scrying eye on the city if precautions like this are needed. But what kind of threat is there if it isn't even safe to talk out in the open?

That leaves the truly important question, what's the status of the Academy? The other guardians? Is it safe to go there and try to link up with them?

Ask what the status of their Colorful Deity lover is. They're usually outside and... Scryable?

Given the gardeners reaction its possible there might be some taboo keywords that trigger alarms, scrying, or might incite immediate response from the Fey.

Its also possible ANY mice of their approximate appearance are persona non-grata currently (hopefully no Fey tracking cought them entering the manor).

Oh shit, we need to ask about Clio too. If the courts came here really gunning for someone, knowing full well that we were stuck with Argus, it would've been her. Has Ochre heard anything from her since that night?

I hope no fey have been causing trouble around town, looking for our trio

Oh Argus was very demanding~

Hey is Flashing Feathers fine? I am assuming they've simply fucked off somewhere at worst.
...Can Casey say their full, colorful, name in angel form?

So... the Fey.

Actually, once you 'beat' him he was downright helpful. Even mixed in some lessons about dealing with fey and improving your abilities in there.

>>1122736
>>1122714
If Ochre isn't in any overt distress, I think it's safe to say Flashing Feathers, wherever he is, is probably fine. After all, he's not the one that kicked the fey hornet's nest.

The collection seems underused. Flashing Feathers might have swayed Ochre to 'neglect' his hobby through colorful means.

That or Ochre has been too stressed to actually enjoy his hobby outside the sanctum...

Toxoglossa 2026/03/01(Sun)23:40 No. 1122784 ID: d10be1
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“Honestly, he worked us pretty hard.” Casey replies. “But, overall he’s a nice guy. He helped us out with some training, and gave us one of his heartspace gates to use in case of an emergency on the moon.”

“Great Fates! Would that work?” Cecil asks, scratching the underside of his beak.

“He’s not sure. But he says he’s tough enough that it won’t kill him… probably.”

“Spite me. Well, I’ll trust his knowledge on the matter. Hopefully we never need to use it.”

“So... what’s going on? Why all the secrecy?” Kol asks.

Cecil sits down and puffs out his cheeks. “Right, where to begin? First off, the theft of the Aegis was apparently more destabilizing than I had anticipated. In his own way Argus was keeping its power contained and now that it is in our possession, it is considered ‘in play’.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Gabe asks.

“It means that agents of various courts have made their way to the city in order to steal it back. Citizens are reporting an influx of fey poking around the city, asking questions and trying to hunt down the thieves that stole the Aegis. For the most part, they're just a nuisance, but we need to be on guard: they could easily undo all of our hard work.”

“How’s Flashing Feathers holding up?” Casey asks.

The dapper bird sighs and plucks at his vest anxiously. “It’s been… difficult. He doesn’t like being under a roof, so finding a space safe from prying eyes together has been, er, challenging. Fortunately, since he wasn’t included in the plot to steal the Aegis, he's fairly safe from their attention. I’ve asked him to keep tabs on court agents in the city from the sky.”

“What about Clio and Nemo? Are they alright?” Kol asks.

“So far as I know, yes. I received a message written in thieves guild code a few weeks ago. It said that they’ve been moving between safe houses and are being careful. However, it mentions that Nemo is concerned about Clio, but no details about why.”

“Shit. We need to find them, soon.” Casey paces around the pedestal, her tail whipping around anxiously.

“Yes, I agree. However it may have to wait until after we deal with our… bigger problem.”

oh right! What happened with Ometra? Didn't quite get closure on him, yeah?

How big? Not barghest sized this time I hope

Is there something going on with the new World Tree?

(Half-joking just to add some levity to the situation, but we have a pretty good track record for it so far) Is it something we can solve with sex?

>>1122784
The bigger problem being us needing to complete our mission on the moon first?

You know, we could just leave the Aegis on the moon if it's THAT much a problem

>>1122852
Honestly, that would probably be the best course of action. It's too powerful and attracts too much attention to keep. The courts will never stop hunting for it so long as it remains "in play," and there's nowhere it can be hid on the planet that we can be sure that it will be safe long term. If it can't be destroyed, it's gonna have to stay up there, where nobody can have it.

Better yet, since the gravity on the moon is so low, Gabe could just make a gate outside its orbital influence once they're on it and they could literally yeet the thing off into deep space.

Bigger problem is either big undead doggo, or the 'Barge' warning.

Are the Fey agents obvious or incognito/veiled? Dangerous (kidnapping or immediate assault) or able to disguise themselves (codewords and 'prove its you' might ne needed...)?

Regarding the Aegis being stolen, aren't there literal rules and procedures to do such?

Also worth asking about the Dullahan. We completed their request and have likeely earned their assistance/advice.

Besides leaving the Aegis on the Moon or yeeting it into space, one could potentially send it into THE GHOST ZONE via a willing ghost/undead. The Fey likely can't go there by any easy methods, or return / speak of the trip. And it would be pretty hard to find.

We might need to keep the Aegis untik the amoon quest is done though - the Aegis might be needed to keep Argus alive if we do the Jeartstone trip (and conveniently, brings it out of play again).

Toxoglossa 2026/03/05(Thu)03:42 No. 1123002 ID: d10be1
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“Bigger problem?” Kol asks, “How big are we talking? Bigger or smaller than the barghast?”

“Actually it would be better to show you. Gabe, would you mind gating us to my aerie? Its, oh… forty paces west and about sixty feet up?”

“Uh, sure?” Gabe flexes his fingers, having not done much magic in a while, and opens a gate. A few moments later, they step out onto the unpainted wooden slats of the platform. Workmen’s tools sit under a tarp on one corner, and a railing has been hastily thrown up to ensure some semblance of safety.

“There! Below the point!” Cecil shouts over a gust of wind.

The mice follow his gaze and gasp. Sitting in the mouth of the Moot Point harbor is a massive ship of fae construction. It’s keel stretches the full with of the port, and at it’s center sits an alabaster-white tower easily as tall as the statue of Madam Moot.

Cecil grips the railing and explains, “I believe that to be a royal barge! Belonging to one of the high courts!”

Kol pinches the bridge of his nose as he feels the stress already hitting him. “Cecil, that’s pretty fuckin' big!”

>>1123002
okay ha ha ha look maybe i wasn't clear before but incautiously fucking about with fae is really bad ha ha

Though it's just a *fancy* boat, right? It's not a *dangerous* boat, right? I worry about the nature of our message, is all, because the thing is that one boat, singular, is a really obvious target for something but also possibly a really obvious cause of the danger, too.

Like, two hypotheticals: What if the ship blows up, vs what if the ship wants to blow something up. I'm uneducated on the purpose of the ship, is what I'm saying.

>>1123002
Hmm. Alright. That certainly is inconvenient. Let's go back inside before saying much of anything, then ask if this changes your plans much. You have what you need to go to the moon; can't you just... go there? Once the gate beacon is in alignment anyway.
I guess we don't have a good way of getting back aside from Argus's heartspace. We might want to look into alternatives since that should be our last resort.

...oh! It's been a while, maybe we should check on our skeleton friend's progress.

What's our timetable Cecil? because it looks like we might need to leave in a hurry.

Open up a few portals beneath the waves. With luck, you can legally push the barge away, or manipulate the captain according to Fae law.

Well, that sure do seem like some kind of Problem... but this doesn't actually tell us anything about it, other than Big and Fey.

Ometra available for another Law consultation? It seems likely that we'll need it.

One would think a month enough time to find their head... but retrieval is another matter.

Okay, yeah, that definitely qualifies as a "bigger problem."

What has the boat and it's inhabitants done so far? And what are the rest of the Guardians doing about it?

Toxoglossa 2026/03/06(Fri)02:30 No. 1123047 ID: d10be1
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“A royal barge! I guess we finally pissed off the courts enough for them to show up in person!” Casey raises her voice as the wind whips at them, “We received a telepathic message while in Argus’s gallery warning us about a barge! I didn’t think it was a literal ship, though!”

“A message? From who? Ometra?” Cecil asks. “They left shortly after you were defeated! They said they were going to go hunt down their head! I haven't heard from them since that night!”

“What do they want?” Casey shouts, pointing to the royal barge.

Cecil shrugs, “No one knows! They haven’t responded to any messages from the city! They arrived roughly a week ago and haven’t moved or issued any communication! I suspect that they have been awaiting your return!”

“How’s it even standing up? It looks like a single wave would knock it over!” Gabe looks down at the oddly top-heavy structure as it sits impossibly still. “Can’t we just, you know, move it?”

“Ah, that is- in fact- the problem!” Cecil replies, pointing at the harbor. In a full circle around the barge, the water is eerily calm: reflecting back the full length of the tower as though it were resting in a gigantic mirror. “The field prevents any water from moving around the ship! The harbor is essentially blockaded! The senders have been organizing a gate relay to try and bypass it, but there aren’t many members skilled enough to open ship-sized gates!”

Ach, if they're causing problems for the city it can't just be ignored. But at the same time until their intent is known the trio can't just go over there.

An envoy will be needed

Directly dealing with a High Court... these mice ain't that good at trickery without help, but there ARE other ways to deal with them.

Not MANY other ways, for instance even should Vivian want to help... she probably shouldn't.

In all truth, the best way to deal with the ship is to snag someone good at fey from the dead wiki order of spirit guides? and just walk up to the ship.

>>1123047
It prevents water from moving, ok. Why does that prevent ships from going around? Does it also prevent other things from moving the water, so that ships wind up smacking into the area like an iceberg? ...here's another possible solution: push boats around the edge of the area, along the beach. Dig through the land to create a water bridge if you have to.

>>1123002
... Okay, so...
What if we made a canal?

On the, uh, left hand side there, the port is made by- look, the little stick-out bit of land. I don't know the term. However, the water *inside* the port and the water *outside* the port can move, yeah? Near the coast and outside the coast, respectively. If the water is of any appreciable depth on the outside, we can make a current of water flow out of a gate so powerful it slices right through there.

I think.

There might be people there? The canal doesn't have to be that deep inland, even. we just need to make the shore a little further away, make a hole around the calm field, so people can pass. It's destructive and terribly disruptive, but it's all I can think of.

>>1123076
Yeah, a water bridge, sort of deal. A torrent of high pressure water aimed at the shore at the correct angle will, in short order, mean less shore.

Here I am asking for caution when I more or less ask to water-laze a significant amount of real estate, haw. Still, a solution is a solution.

Is this going to turn into some kind of hijinks chaos scenario where the aristocracy complains and get their asses whooped due to Fae law, leaving a power vacuum?

If I had to hazard a guess, the delegation on the barge is here to demand we explain what we plan to do with the Aegis now that we have it. They want to know if we're going to be a threat. Assuming they're from one of the more reasonable high courts. If they're from the Reflected Sky, we could be in for trouble. If that was the case though, I would think they would've already pulled something rather than just sit there silently.

>>1123099
...well, the magic IS reflecting the sky.

>>1123100
It is, indeed, a big fuckin mirror.

I suppose we should probably go talk to Vivian before deciding on a course of action in regards to the barge. If anyone could clue us in on who this might be and how to approach them, she could.

>>1123100
>>1123103
………what if they know of our mission to go to the moon? Is this some kind of elaborate trap to catch us in the reflection and trap us while we're trying to get to the moon?

Surely there are laws (fey or otherwise made with mortals to prevent wars) against passively-aggressively blockading an entire port from travel and trade?

Otherwise, this is practically a naval siege. They could easily move the ship a bit away to allow proper naval movement and are actively harming the town with their passive-aggressive occupation of the dock.

One solution to this could be having a Fey of importance/fame attempt to arrive via ship to Moot from outside and be blocked. That might require the ship to move aside.

Also, 'no sender capable of opening a ship-sized gate' isn't true now that a (well trained) Gabe is here! But that also would immediately get the courts attention.

As for a more mechanical approach to moving the ship, the water in the field itself is immobile, so that might mean it can be 'pushed' away so long as sufficient force to move both the water in the field AND the barge is provided. Unless the magic makes it work on 'immovable rod which respects planetary motion' logic.

Portal cutting the 'immovable' water and mining out a canal might also work? That said these are things best not done till we know what a royal barge can do and what their intents are.

That saud

That said best not do anything to the barge until we know what it can do if provoked to aggression, or its owners intents are discerned.

If the water is immobile, wouldn't kill/trap any sea creature caught within the field (imagine being incased in rock, but with water). Or is it more like an ice sheet (only the surface is immobile)?

Worst case scenario: Angry fey royalty want revenge or retribution/compensation on the mice.

Best/funnier case scenario: Fey royalty wants a Booty Call from a trio of mice that have become literal kamasutra art (and possibly caused some religious experiences).

Either way, we might end up adding 'fucked with royalty' to the checklist. Not as impressive as fucking a Deity or Thy Maker, but...