A Midsummer Knight's Dreaming
After our heroes return home from the battle with the Dauntain named Father
Winter, they enjoy several weeks of relative quiet. Sir Pensius uses the time to
help bring the captive childlings of the Dauntain back to their fae seemings. He
is joined in this endeavor by Lady Tourmaline, who is beginning to spend more time
at the Temple. In addition to chatting with Pensius, she is also tutoring Chamone
in sorcery, behind the backs of Chamone’s guardian (Count Tormentil) and appointed
instructor of Arts and Realms, the snobbish Lady Isabeau. As a result of this dual
tutelage and her own legacy as a sidhe of the sorcerous House Eiluned, she rapidly
increases her magical abilities.
Jenny spends her time assessing the treasures she has clandestinely taken from the
Dauntain’s treasure room. She took with her a sword she had used to fend off the
tentacles of the hideous chimera Ashadar. It looks to mortals like a broken-off car
antenna and to fae a rather nice chimerical sword. She asks Franklin if he knows
what the sword can do, but Franklin’s knowledge comes up short. He does agree to
train her in its use, doing so over the next couple of months. Eventually Jenny takes
the sword to the Baron of Silversisle, the unseelie sidhe duelist Carnelian. As she
arrives at her appointment with the Baron, she is surprised that Erendil is also
there. He is evidently taking advantage of Baron Carnelian’s tutelage to increase
his weapons skills. The Baron seems charmed by the eshu, and tells her that her weapon
is a rather nice chimerical blade with a few advantages built in, but it is not a
major treasure. It will not break and does not seem to need sharpening, and it confers
upon its wielder a small degree of luck. Jenny thanks him for his help and departs
with her hand politely kissed by the suave Baron.
She also took a pearl and gold necklace and a guitar from the Dauntain’s trove. As
she plays the guitar, she finds all her little aches and pains disappear. She cannot
figure out what (if anything) the necklace does, so she seeks out Vance, the eshu
fortune-teller she met at Balboa Park a few weeks ago. He tells her that the necklace
is very valuable dross but has no magical abilities. It is quite an expensive haul
and Vance tries to purchase it from Jenny, but she is not interested. Instead, she
takes the necklace to Boom-Boom, the nocker mistress of the Isher Weapons Collective
in National City, and asks how much of it will buy a very nasty, customized suit
of armor. Jenny and Boom-Boom come to an agreement; the price is half the necklace
and the right to name the armor and have its name become part of Jenny’s adventures
and storytelling. Boom Boom names it Rochambo and places nasty spikes on the knee
areas so that it can be used for what its name stands for. Jenny is pleased.
Edward spends his time hunting in Balboa Park, where he manages to catch and eat
an escaped meerkat and a wandering peacock as well as several small woodland animals.
He saves the peacock feathers to incorporate into his dreamcatcher charms he sells
to the gullible in Balboa Park. He “rescued” a few items himself from the Dauntain’s
treasure room, but cannot yet figure out what the naked talking Barbie doll, the
paper airplane, and the pendent in the shape of a small broken sword do, if anything.
Erendil decides that he should work on his weapons and decides to ask the unseelie
Baron Carnelian, a well-known swordmaster, for help. Carnelian gives him some expert
help which Erendil finds very useful.
As our heroes go about their business, certain pieces of news and gossip come their
way. A chapter of the new organization Ravagers Anonymous has opened in the Duchy.
It is run by a seelie sidhe night named Sir Bilton Wildmarsh, a noted reformer and
do-gooder. It promises anonymity and an effective 13-step program to help fae overcome
their addiction to ravaging mortals. The Duke supports the effort but some of the
duchy’s more conservative residents find it scandalous. Pensius mulls on the wisdom
of having RA meetings at the Temple. There are also rumors that the local selkie
colony has been “liberating” captive marine mammals from Sea World, and that a local
group of pooka have been playing practical jokes on Zoo goers (“Mommy, that bear
talked to me! Really!”). This is just the faerie way of warming up for the coming
tourist season...
There is news that more southern Cambria freeholds have been raided and destroyed.
The occupants are found knocked out of their fae seemings, with few intact memories
of the event. Others are not found at all, and a few are found dead at the scene.
In most cases dross and treasures are missing. Baron Marcus, troll commander of the
Borderlands Hall troll militia, has not had much luck tracking down the perpetrators.
The rumors that Marcus is either incompetent or in league with the raiders is spread
by around. Some dismiss these rumors as attacks on a prominent commoner noble who
also happens to be the lover of Valerian’s heir, Lady Rowan, but some wonder if they
are true. The Baron has found one piece of ominous evidence at the scene of a crime:
a cold iron dagger. As if that wasn’t enough to stir up the populace, a young sidhe
was found dead recently, drained of all blood. The “V” word is on everyone’s mind...
Around mid-April, Sir Pensius receives a scroll inviting all denizens of Cambria
to Pennons, the annual martial tourney and get-together for the kith of the Kingdom
of Pacifica. This year it is being held at Borderlands, Hall, the home of Baron Marcus.
The mundane location corresponds to Potrero Park, and the dates (May 21-25) correspond
to the mortal Society for Creative Anarchonism war, held every year at that time
and place. Pennons goes on just slightly out of sight, upwind, and sideways in time
to the mortal festivals. The accumulated dreams of over a thousand low-banality historical
re-creationists iare much appreciated by glamour-hungry fae, who bask in the generated
glamour of the mortals but are forbidden to Ravage or do any lasting harm to the
mortals (the “don't bite the hand that feeds you” rule).
The heart of Pennons is three tournament events; the Queen’s Champion/Marshall of
Pacifica tournament, the open melee combat, and the nocker’s Mechanical Tourney,
where nockers send fantastical mechanical devices up against each other in a wild
combat. There are also merchants with a wide range of chimerical and non-chimerical
items for sale, feasts prepared by the best boggan cooks of the Duchy, numerous
bardic circles, both official and casual, a scavenger hunt for the childlings, arts,
crafts, and sorcery contests and demonstrations, and Countess Felinah’s infamous
chimera hunt. And of course, no fae event would be complete without the unstated
but important past-times of politicking, scheming, seduction, subterfuge, scandalous
gossip, and practical jokes. There are opportunities to volunteer, and Pensius decides
to offer his services in running the scavenger hunt.
Erendil decides to use his theatrical abilities and entertainment contacts to stage
a “revised” version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the tourney. He casts Jenny
as Titania, himself as Oberon, Chamone as the little Indian boy sought after by Titania,
and Toby as a faerie child (that gives a whole new meaning to the term “eating the
scenery”). He tries to persuade Franklin to play bottom (oops, err, “Bottom”) with
little success. He decides to enchant some mortals to play the “Mechanicals” in the
play-within-a-play, and chooses to impress the populace of the Duchy by casting the
major roles of Lysander, Demitrius, Helena, and Hermia with famous Hollywood actors.
Erendil tries to persuade Pensius to allow Chamone to come along with him on his
trip to Hollywood to smooze and “convince” various actors to do his play. Pensius
is hard to persuade until Erendil mentions the possibility of converting some of
these low-banality celebrities to his church. Pensius quickly changes his mind and
he, Erendil, Chamone, and Franklin (as bodyguard) head off to La-La Land.
Erendil (or rather Aaron Hunter, Movie Star) gets them backstage at Universal Studios
and on the set of a new Bruce Willis movie. He doesn’t convince Bruce to join the
cast of the play, but he does get the others to wondering if he had anything to do
with Bruce and Demi’s recent breakup. Aaron makes some more contacts and sets up
a visit to a special effects house and a cocktail party throw by Steven Spielberg
that evening. Aaron doesn’t have much luck convincing any of the top special effects
guys to work on the show, but Pensius makes some friends. They have more success
at Speilberg’s party: Speilberg is charmed by Chamone extreme cuteness and is interested
in casting her in a children’s book project he is starting work on. Erendil manages
to easily persuade Leonardo DiCaprio to play Lysander in the play, and rounds up
Uma Thurman, Gynneth Paltrow, and ?? to play the other roles. He also receives a
few rejections, one especially nasty one from Sarah Michelle Geller. In a snit of
annoyance he uses a cantrip to disguise himself as her current boyfriend and then
goes over to attempt to seduce another woman, close to where the annoyed Sarah is
hanging out. He manages to slip away just before the glasses start breaking...
On the first day of the tourney, Pensius breaks out the Temple’s large pavilions
and other tourney gear and the group drives down to Potrero. After looking for a
good campsite for a while, Pensius gives up and assigns the task to Franklin, who
finds a nice, shady site. The group settles in for the evening after the usual fighting
over implied insults, food, and who gets the best sleeping bag. (I know more happened
here - Pensius’s attempt to seduce Uma Thurman, Erendil and Edward’s spat, Edward’s
stealing food for the mortals, etc. but the details escape me. Help me out)
In the morning, Jenny, Franklin, Erendil and Edward (surprise!) head on down to enter
the lists (that means signing up for the tournament). Jenny runs into an extremely
handsome troll she does not recognize, and asks for directions. He kindly sends her
on her way after she figures out that he is actually Baron Marcus, and therefore
not a wise romantic conquest unless she’s prepared to duel an enraged sidhe lady
over him.
She arrives and discovers that Sir Armaund, our favorite snooty underling, is Master
of the Lists. He shows surprise at Jenny’s desire to fight, and after remembering
her efforts in the Dauntain battle, looks at her with some respect. He signs Franklin
and Erendil up without any comment, but shows obvious disdain at the concept of a
pooka wearing a breechcloth and carrying a coupstick participating in the tourney.
After many mildly insulting comments about whether Edward REALLY wants to do this,
he grudgingly enters his name in the lists. He hands all the participants copies
of the rules and tells them to read them.
The rules of the combat are simple: combat is entirely chimerical, no real weapons
and armor allowed. Whoever receives three chimerical wounds (that hit past any armor
and are not shrugged off) loses. For the first round, Jenny is paired with a young
sidhe knight, who is polite to her but clearly thinks he can take any eshu. His confidence
does not last. He and Jenny seem evenly matched, but after about a half-dozen exchanges
Jenny wins. Her opponent is gracious in defeat.
Franklin faces a sidhe knight and does him in within about 3 exchanges. Erendil,
newly trained by the watching Baron Carnelian, fights a fast-paced battle against
a sidhe knight from the Duchy of Orange. Both combatants are lightly armored, fairly
dexterous, and resilient; the battle lasts quite some time. Erendil wins. Edward,
paired up with the seelie redcap knight the group remembers seeing at the Carnival
back in February, has no luck counting coup on his opponent. The redcap dispatches
him rather quickly, while the stuffy Sir Armaund watches, content that one of the
two most embarrassing entrants has been defeated. Now he just has to get the redcap
to lose...
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