We rejoin our heroes a few days after the triumphant return from New Mexico. The McGuffin... I mean, the piece of the dreaming has been given to Lucia for safe keeping, and Magda has started to notice a few changes in her demeanor. She's becoming more commanding, more imperious... and demanding lots of redecorating. Magda confronts her about the dangers of carrying the piece of the dreaming but is coldly rebuffed. Upon an appeal to their old friendship Lucia berates her for presuming a relationship above her station. Magda is left kneeling (how did that happen?) and severely annoyed. She goes to confer with Miles and Milton is also called in.
Meanwhile Dill is trying to build a cellular phone and after dissecting a few mockingbirds and installing their bits into an electroic mess he has one... in fact, it works better than expected, tuning in to a person's conversation without dialing. He uses it to talk to Miles and finds out about the excitement. On the way there an unfortunate encounter with a waxing machine leaves him waxed, and a later atempt to remove the wax leaves him hairless.
Much conference on the piece of the dreaming occurs without a real plan forming. Victor arrives, having noticed a large disturbance in the force, and asks Miles about it. He seems genuinely scared by the size of the thing, comparing it to dangerous stuff like wish rings and so on. But then, Victor seems genuine whenever he says anything. "He even has deceitful knocks" is just one comment made about him recently.
Miles performs some scrying and finds that if Victor is given the mcguffin then he will go with them on an expedition to Arcadia and throw the thing in. Seems harmless enough, but they don't tell him about it anyway - though Miles promises to look into it and let him know later. Surprisingly he is mollified by this. We arrange to have dinner with the Duke to discuss what to do with him. Dill goes home and rehairifies himself using alchemical mynoxodil.
Dinner is in the Duke's private study at the court of Boston... or
not so private, as Magda spots a sluagh spying on them. There's a
flurry of activity and the sluagh is luckily captured. He won't talk,
though. The conspirators adjourn to an anonymous Au Bon Pain where
they don't think they will be spied on, and they fill the Duke in on
the situation. The best plan seems to be to take the article in
question to Arcadia, but that will be a major undertaking. And how
will they get it from Lucia? Or keep it from Victor. Suddenly, a
plan occurs to Miles: they will bring Victor in and use his public
speaking skills to charm it out of Lucia even in her present state.
They break up the huddle. Miles and Duke Ten go to Victor and fill
him in on what is going on and his role. Victor is shocked to hear
about the piece of the dreaming and agrees that the best plan is to
get rid of it. He and the Duke prepare pomp and circumstance for
tomorrow.
Dill, meanwhile, spends the night getting rid of the hair that grows
everywhere in his lab.
The next day the Countess is summoned to Boston with full formal fanfare and other foofarah. She is commended for discovering such a treasure of fae heritage and now of course it will need to be returned to Arcadia: such vulgar errand-running is beneath her of course... Victor, delievering the speech, steps down as if to take it from her, but Magda steps forward and the speech changes to tell Lucia to give up her burden to Magda. Or was the speech always going that way and it's just hard to tell? It's always that way with Victor. Anyway, things have gone off well.
The next couple of days are a flurry of preparation for the mission. Magda becomes more devoted and dutiful by the hour, until Miles arrvies and persuades her to let him carry the fragment of the dreaming for a few hours. This has a considerable antidote effect, and surprisingly Miles does nothing terrible with it.
Meanwhile, Milton looks up the sluagh that was captured in the local Sluagh Registry and finds out his name is Hyronimous Nightshade. Pursuing some connections he talks to a family sluagh who tells him in a thin yet gravelly voice that this young punk used to work as a spy for the Count, but now is working for Victor... as is his wont, Milton has not yet shared this information with anyone else.
We leave our heroes just as they are about to set off into the dreaming. What adventures await them there?
Player Notes:
Amusing suggestions on what to do with the piece of the Dreaming -MIN: