V - Crossing the First Threshold

The Legend of the Sibling Swords is proven further when the group realizes that the third Sword has always been with them.  Much to Sir Felix' surprise, his own sword - the Silver Dancer - is the mythical third sword that will mediate between the two blades.


Though David clearly has recovered from his imprisonment, it becomes apparent as well that his role as High King has ended.  Caliburn refuses to allow him to draw it.   When an attack from armored spellcasters reaches inside the walls of Tara Nar, the Oathcircle is forced to find a way to reach Lenore and Morwen without leading the enemies there.  Steel and Glamour clash in a magical storm of anger and rage.  Sir Felix learns the armored soldiers that are adorned with a Golden Falcon on their temples are actually members of what was once known as the Crystal Circle.  And their loyalties lie now towards Danwyn, whose powerful Geas forces them to serve him.    With the Geas tied to their True Names, Seamus has Sir Felix unleash a long kept gift from the founder of the Crystal Circle - a Time-delayed Naming effect - to release one of his alternate secondary identities which he had prepared in the past in any event that a Geas must be overcome.


Flynn Wordweaver soon learns that Caliburn has made a choice:  Lenore is its chosen new High Queen.  And the group escapes via another secret trod to hide in the last place where the enemies would look for them: a chamber deep inside the castle itself of Queen Mab.


There, the group realizes Lenore must prepare to face against Danwyn - sword against sibling sword - for the fate of the realm.  And David, Morwen, and Merlin (Seamus' alternate identity) head back out to distract their foes, find Faerylith, and buy the others time.


*


Lady Songbird however struggles to find a way back to the group.  Fate seems to have other plans for her as she encounters a group of commoners who had been hiding in a Trod hoping to evade the worse parts of the war.  When her anger gets the better of her, the commoners lose one of their own in exchange for having her promise to spare the rest.   And when Lady Songbird finally finds her way to the Kingdom of Apples, she revisits the Patrician and sees how much has changed in her absence.  Even the once loyal servants who stood by her side no longer speak to her in the same way.   And when she finally meets Danwyn, he does the unexpected.


He transforms one of the greatest threats of Concordia - Joseph van Noceti III - into a pitiful servant that is obsessively hoping to be of service to her with but a single usage of Naming.  And then he does the next big thing:  He hands her the Triumph Casque of Sorrows and tells her he would rather the greatest weapon through-out Concordia was in the hands of a person he trusted.  Does he truly have no idea of her eventual plan to take him down?


*

And all over Concordia, Sidhe holdings are finding themselves attacked by doppelgangers wrapped in leathery straps and bonds.  Reeking of Glamour and anger, the now referred to as Tithed Ones continue to assault Sidhe all over the world, speaking through the mouths of their targets, and seeking revenge for the abduction of their bodies.


The Tithed Ones are the souls of the human bodies the Sidhe steal.
Somehow, they are back.  Powered by a Glamour seemingly from deep within.

[npc] Self Proclaimed High King Danwyn ap Gwydion

High King Danwyn ap Gwydion
Sidhe High King of the Concordia, Grump
Seelie of House Gwydion

Charismatic.  Handsome.  Inspiring.  Powerful.

There are few words that can describe Danwyn as anything but a man who deserves a kingly compliment.  His electrifying presence emotionally awakens others and his majestic standing makes it difficult for anyone to question his motives.

Lady Songbird recalls faint memories of once being his Queen.  And in their hands once was the most powerful Treasure through-out the Dreaming: The Triumph Casque of Sorrows.

Now, stationed within the Kingdom of Apples, with Queen Mab as his strongest supporter, Danwyn rallies more and more support under his banner.  And Lady Songbird, now reawakened to her Leanhaun past, stands beside him.

Some suspect a more sinister plan behind his eyes, however.  Joseph van Noceti III already serves him and the Gray Sword already is in his possession.  Does his appearance herald the coming of Winter?  Or is he the only Salvation that truly exists?

[npc] Queen Morganna

Queen Morganna
Sidhe Queen of the Kingdom of the White Sands, Grump
Seelie of House Gwydion

With a tempter that is almost legendary and a Machiavellian eye for details, Morganna can be a wild card when matters of politics are concerned.

If anything, her loyalties lie first and foremost to her people, and if it would mean making dealings with unsavory folk to protect her land, she will do it.  But be warned, she will always have an ace up her sleeve.

Or three.

IV - The Meeting With The Mentor - Part Three

Sir Felix finds  himself staring down the barrel of a shotgun.  With Flynn Wordweaver crippled by the earlier blast, and Lady Songbird runover by the van, the young Pooka Knight is forced to deal with the battle by his lonesome. 


As Sir Felix uses all the tactics he could muster to bring the banal retainers down, Flynn Wordweaver finds himself addressed and is magically healed by Caliburn itself.


Lady Songbird summons the power of the Glamour itself and calls upon the Wyrd, to use her powers to have the women present to charge at the van and disable it. 


When the battle ends, they discover the cold iron cage inside the van that contains a disheveled man whose Glamour was so faint, he reeked of Banality.  As the three draw him out and attempt to awaken him, Flynn discovers to his horror that Caliburn does NOT recognize David Ardry as the High King.  Only as David.


* 


As the group try to find a way to bring David safely back to Tara Nar, they are forced to separate when paramedics arrive to help the crippled Lady Songbird.  Evading the public eye, Flynn slips through the wall of the mall with David and attempts to Soothsay a way out.


Unfortunately, other forces learn of David's rescue and begin to converge at the same mall.  Among them, the ever infamous Duke Dray.


*


Elsewhere, Lady Songbird finds herself visited by a shadowy figure.  The thing that has been labelled the Clipper stands before her, and reveals to her a long forgotten truth:  She is of House Lheanan and she had used her own Treasure, the Locket, to make herself forget that fact.   Clipper, as it turns out, was one of her most loyal subjects in the past.


*


In hopes of bringing peace sooner, Lenore and Morwen declare a united front.  They hope that the ongoing war can be brought to a sooner end if they at least unite in the name of peace.


*


Flynn Wordweaver realizes that the reason David Ardry is not being recognized may be due to the  emergence of the Gray Sword.  The old legend of the Sibling Swords come to mind.  A third sword may yet emerge and when the three are united, the True High King will be determined.


And in the Kingdom of Apples, Danwyn ap Gwydion raises his hands to the sound of support and adulation given by the growing crowd of both Dreamers and Kithain.  On his belt, the Gray Sword hangs.  And in the shadows, Joseph van Noceti III waits for new commands.

[item] Silver Dancer

The third of the epic weapons collectively called the Sibling Swords, Silver Dancer has been revealed to be mediator between the Sword of Purity (Caliburn) and the Sword of Darkness (The Gray Sword) and may be the very thing that will determine who shall be the next High King of Concordia.

The blade is enchanted to ignore all forms of metal, making other weapons and armor incapable of deflecting it.  In the hands of a master swordsman, the blade can be a vicious weapon.  But in the hands of a novice, the weapon would probably seem useless as it cannot be wielded effectively to defend oneself.

With the two other Sibling Swords now having chosen their wielders, Sir Felix must unravel what role he is to play as the possessor of the third blade.

IV - The Meeting With The Mentor - Part Two

Various stories on the disappearance of the High King have spread out in Concordia.  Everything from masked marauders assaulting the party, to King Meilge pacifying the panicking people by not speaking of the disappearance immediately.  Caliburn's disappearance and reemergence in the hands of the Eshu, however, remains the unifying truth.


Lady Songbird finds herself recalled to the Kingdom of Apples where she is formally stripped of her Fiona title and, to her surprise, holdings.  She instead gains the position of Goblin Town's Advocate and discovers that Cadmium Redd has met an unexpected fatal accidental death.

The Parliament of Dreams struggles through the months to work together in the absence of the High King, but soon infighting and politicking lead to the Parliament of Dreams breaks down and pretty much dissolves.  Prior to its destruction, however, a panel is made to investigate the disappearance of David, and culminates with King Meilge himself being called to the stand for questioning, and all Gwydion present find no lies from him, even after he temporarily revokes his status as Eiluned during the proceedings with the High Lord's permission.  Given the horror that his face suffers from, however, he was permitted to wear his mask during the proceedings.


Morwen meets with Lenore in time and the two find a common ground in their concern for Kithain society.  After much discussion, Morwen declares she is willing to support Lenore's rule so long as she is permitted to be her direct Regent and have input on her decision-making.  Lenore considers.


Sir Felix learns of the Red Branch knights fragmenting from opposing sides as well, and inadvertently uncovers the existence of another secret faction growing, who identify their fellow members by grabbing the wrist with one hand.   He tries to learn more about the factions without risking too much danger.


Lady Songbird soon finds herself kidnapped by a group of commoner rebels and gets introduced to the wily and charismatic Fenarius, a Pooka who seems to be intent in destroying the Sidhe rule.  She eventually learns Fenarius is more than meets the eye, for rather than a Pooka, he actually happens to be one of the Thallain known as a Beastie.


Flynn Wordweaver and Sir Felix encounter as well ghosts wandering lost in the Dreaming.  They begin to worry what greater events are unfolding that the lack of a unified Concordia will have to contend with.  While Felix and Lenore learn from Duke Dray his convictions that he lives, due to the fact his oath to kill David remains unbroken ("Therefore, he must be still alive.")  Flynn visits the Patrician and first hand witnesses the frighteningly powerful presence of Danwyn.  Danwyn nearly forces Flynn to reveal the whereabouts of Caliburn, but is saved by a sudden twist of fate:  the dark twin Duke and Duchess Kali and Siva attempt to kill the self-proclaimed new King.


Escaping the assault, Flynn finds himself pulled by Caliburn away to a new location.  There, confused, he finds his two friends, Sir Felix and Lady Songbird drawn to the location as well.  Uncertain to what happened, Sir Felix suddenly noticed a billboard that seemingly intones, "The Return of the King" and before the three could decide what to do, the street light nearby shifts to green.  


The High King may just be in one of the nearby cars!  Acting quickly to try to locate him, Lady Songbird gets run-over by the van which she suspects contains him.  Flynn Wordweaver shoves the doors of the van open only to get shot at point blank range by a shotgun.  And Sir Felix closes in on the van, worried that he would have to face the vehicle that radiates an immense field of Banality all on his own.

[npc] Duchess Kali

Duchess Kali
Kasmeara
Unseelie Court, Wilder
Sidhe of Ailil
Member of the Shadow Court

One of twins born who has been constantly quarreling through-out their reincarnations, Kasmeara once found herself captured by her rival, Sarinius after years of  fighting against one another into stalemates.   Rather than submit to his victory, Kasmeara slew herself as a final bid to escape. Little did she know, Sarinius would kill himself as well, choosing to die til the Dreaming allowed them to challenge one another again.

With black hair that reaches down to almost to her knees, Duchess Kali has changed her choice of clothing to a darker shade as well.  While retaining a tight-fitting preference to fashion, her approach to the darker tones mimics the Duke Siva so much that it may be intended to cause confusion in others.

Her love of intrigue is matched only by his passion for lies.  But be warned, they both revel in destruction above all pursuits.