Stuff at the Seasons (Attn Al-Adin, Betony Rue, Grrface, Kevin, plus Rumiko)

After arriving at the Four Seasons with his companions and arranging for a meeting room, Derek tells the others "I'll be back shortly. I need to meet briefly with the Spring Soverign, to inform her of this mission and a few other things of note."

He then goes to request an audience with the stunning Rumiko.

Grrface walks into the lobby at the Four Seasons. While Betony and Derek go off to their business, Grrface finds one of those comfortable easy chairs that swanky hotels so often litter their lobby with and plops into it. He sinks into it, adjusting his position for maximum comfort, then he gives a growly sigh of contentment.

He sits there watching the front entrance to the hotel, and every so often glancing around looking for his companions.

Betony Rue, headed into the kitchens, hoping the dinner rush would be over. The room smelled of steam and spices in way that made Betony Rue a little uncomfortable. Betony expressed her wish of finding Vivian to some random manling and getting an answer went off in her search across the boiling vats and heated ovens. At last Betony found the woman surrounded by blown leaves and approach. She inclined her head in a sign of reverence most wouldn’t think her capable of.
“May I have a private moment of your time? I’d like your wisdom on exotic topics.” The Jasons woman winced a little as if in pain. Betony Rue didn’t like speaking in riddles but the hustle and bustle of mortals around her demanded it.

Betony didn't flay the idots feet like she wanted to. Instead she just yelled at him, calling him stupid, inbred, a maggot, along with several other discriptors. The maggot insult seemed a little overboard, given he was obvliously not an insect larva. Still, she felt better storming out back to the lobby.

Derek's eyes widen as the chinchilla transforms into Betony Rue. He thinks cute and fuzzy is about as far from Betony's nature as things get, and am guessing this transformation isn't going to do anything to improve her disposition.

"Uhhm... Yes, thank you," he replies to Tiffany. "I was hoping to speak with Rumiko, if she is available, about a couple matters of some importance."

Derek smiles back at this striking and powerful woman. Though he'd intended to simply report to the Spring Sovereign, Derek realized that the Vizier, closely connected as she was to all the Courts, was possibly the person in the freehold most likely to have knowledge of some things he had questions about.

"Yes, I believe you can," Derek replies, putting on the charm. "If we could go somewhere private and speak for a few minutes?"

Betony Rue managed to reign in her anger, given the Vizer’s power, position and most importantly, the respect Betony Rue had for her. Besides, it wasn’t the first time she had been transformed into an animal. The Hag preferred hedgehogs and porcupines though, and would often pluck quills either as further punishment or just to get surgical instruments.
So Betony Rue simply remained with a fuming silence on the subject, though her face was as stoic as ever.
“I would also like to speak with you. We,” she indicated Mr. Noble “are on the same general mission.”

"Sounds good to me," Derek replies. "If it wouldn't be too much trouble, I'd also like to speak privately with you about a matter unrelated to this mission, but that can wait until this is taken care of. I'll go get the others."

Betony Rue follows. She’s apprehensive of walking through walls. She makes sure she steps forwards when at the wall, so if her foot connects she can have warning enough not to slam into the barrier with her face.

Grrface notes the large woman's arrival and decides to introduce himself. He rises laboriously from the comfortable chair, and does a funny little bear waddle over to her.

He smiles, speaking in his grumbly voice. "I don't think we've met. I'm Grrface." He extends a furry black paw to her.

Grrface makes his way over to his two colleagues. Looking from Betony to Derek.

"Did you find what you were looking for?"

He looks to Tiffany, smiling.

"Hello, Miss. Have we met? I'm Grrface."

Derek replies to Grrface, "Lady Rumiko is not available at the moment, but the Vizier has kindly offered to help us."

To Tiffany he says, "We have two other companions who do not appear to have arrived yet, but since your time is valuable I suggest we get started, and I can leave a message asking them to come to your office when they arrive."

Derek enters Tiffany's office and and looks around, trying to get a feel for her sense of decor and what, if anything, it might say about her.

Grrface nods to Tiffany. "Mother Goose it is, then. Pleasure to meet you."

He follows the group back into Mother Goose's office.

Grrface walks into the room, looking around in wonder and admiring the effect. Then his eyes fall on the platypus and he has to keep himself from growling at the sight of the cage. His dreams were haunted by thick bars and chains held fast by his keeper. He quickly composes himself and takes a seat, though he is obviously doing his best to ignore the caged animal.

Looking over the decor tells Derek mostly that Tiffany has a taste for the absurd. Looking at the platypus and remembering what had happened to Betony Rue earlier, he can't help wondering if this poor beast was someone who had really pissed her off.

After sitting, Derek says "Vizier, Mother Goose, thanks for taking the time to talk with us.

"We've been looking into the recent incidents of missing children in the area. Betony Rue was on it first, in fact, along with a couple associates who haven't arrived yet. I got involved a bit later, and got in touch with Grrface after he posted something on the freehold bulletin board indicating he was interested in looking into these sorts of occurrences. We hadn't really found any leads until one of our absent associates talked to some of the area children about the disappearances. The children told him he should check out the mirrors, which causes us to suspect some or all of these children might have been Taken, so we're planning to go into the Hedge to check that out. It's probably best the sovereigns know, in case we don't return. Beyond that, well, any advice you might have would be appreciated, and..." Derek looks and gestures to Betony Rue and Grrface, wondering if they have anything to add, or any questions for the Vizier.

Al-Adin emerges from the background, where he had done a good job hiding.
"i'm here. Just...hiding."

Derek smiles at Al-Adin's appearance and gives him a "thumbs up" signal. Now if Kevin would get back from his shopping excursion they'd all be together.

Frosty walks into the Four Seasons wondering if he’d be able to keep busy and hoped so. He scans the reception area for the winter sovereign knowing it would likely not be a short search unless lucky which there was no such thing. Locating a Hotel employee he politely asks if there was a security office he could be directed to as he wished to inquire about a job.

Having gotten some direction Frosty thanks the staff member and heads for the stairs while scowling at the elevators with obvious distaste. As he makes his way through the lobby he takes a moment to look over everything as though to either remember it or perhaps make it yield some secrete. Provided nothing stops him Frosty begins the trek up the stairs taking two at a time casually as it fit his stride, all the while attempting to remember how many steps per section and other tidbits of the stairwell from his last visit so long ago.

Once able to reach the office, hopefully labeled, 345 he knocks and waits.

Derek replies to Tiffany's offer to contact Arch. "That would be great, thank you. Is there any other advice you might give us on this matter, based on the little we've been able to report, or are you aware of anyone else who might be looking into this matter, or very interested in it?"

With a scowl and a quiet hmm, Frosty looks down the hallway a moment before heading down it thinking it somehow appropriate that the path to security would be dismal. Coming into the office he locates a guard if no Marlo and asks where he could find him in a casual polite way as if it wasn't an odd occurrence for a random person to come and ask such a thing.

Frosty simply hoped that it all wouldn't lead to a goose chase while wishing he had a cool mug at hand.

"Fairytale Land... hmmm...." The mention of this local attraction triggered a thought on Derek's part. "Maybe we're going at this from the wrong direction... I'll have to discuss that with the others."

"Well, if you could contact Arch, that would be excellent, Mother Goose. Even if she isn't able to guide us on this endeavor due to business of her own, I'd feel a bit more comfortable knowing she's aware what we're up to, in case we run into trouble on the other side."

"If you've got time, there's another matter I'd like to discuss, one that doesn't have anything to do with this mission we're on. It is going to sound, well, pretty strange..." He looks around at his companions and back to the Vizier. "They're going to think me insane," Derek thinks to himself, but decides to go with it.

"But while it's pretty odd, even by the standards of what we've all experienced, it seems pretty important, maybe the sort of thing the rulers should know about. Plus, I could use some advice if you have any, or a suggestion who else I might talk to about this. Let me start by just asking a question... are you, and the soverigns, aware that there are other supernatural beings in the city despite our kind, and fetches and other things fey? Things like..." he takes a deep breath, steeling himself against what he's sure will be disbelief "... vampires, and wizards, and werewolves?"

Betony Rue's expression doesn't change but she's all ears inside. She had very little opportunity to research the occult since arriving and the information of other supernatural creatures besides the fey was something she had never heard. She knew of fey that pretended to be such things but they always turned out to be insane changelings. Mr. Noble didn't seem one to be tricked by such deception, so gave him the benifit of the doubt for now. If such things truely existed to know about it would be important.

Al-Adin is about to say something stupid when he thinks to himself "What would Nightfall say." Then keeps his mouth shut, and merely shakes his head.

After Derek's mentioning of other supernaturals. Grrface speaks up. "Werewolves, Derek? Come on. You can't be serious. Aberrations of the hedge, servants of the fae, maybe. But Dracula and the Wolfman?"

Mother Goose, however, seemed to be on the exact same page as Noble. Grrface was forced to sit and reconsider what he might know about what's living in Sacramento. He particularly didn't like the idea of vampires, drinking the blood of the living.

"Grrface, I don't blame you for having trouble buying what I'm saying. I had trouble believing it myself, and I was there. But it was real."

Derek next turns to Tiffany. "I wouldn't say... come across them. Rather, I was drawn into something involving them... and something also involving the Hedge in some manner. This is all going to sound bizarre, but let me explain.

"Twice now, while doing something else, I've found myself suddenly somewhere else, each time with other people. After some time there, I end up back where I was before the incident, with no time apparently having passed in this world. That's one reason that made me suspect the Hedge was involved, but there are others, and the last time, I got definite proof.

"The first time was when we were out trying to get some information about these missing kids... Bethony, Al-Adin, Kevin and me. I felt disoriented for a second, and then I was somewhere else with a bunch of people I didn't know, and one I did. Kyle was there too, so you can check this with him." Derek considers mentioning Kyle's state of dress at the time, but decides that is irrelevant to trying to get his points across, and that it probably wasn't that unusual for Kyle anyhow.

"That time, there were about a dozen of us, all confused as to what was happened, all drawn from different activities, some even ready for bed. We all were suddenly in this room.. really seedy-lookign place, with dingy, peeling yellow paint, stains, a single bulb hanging from a wire, the whole place smelling sort of rotten.. and most bizarre of all, the place had no doors, no windows, no entrances or exits of any kind we could find. There was no way to tell how we got in or out of there." He shudders before continuing, remembering his immediate reaction that first time.

"All I could think was, I'd been Taken again, along with Kyle and all these others. Kyle was the only changeling, but some of these others were... well, they were different. And when I did Kenning, trying to figure out what was happening, I didn't find out anything notable about the room, but I did detech a couple of the people to have some magic about them. One of them, a man named West, he said he knew there were vampires and werewolves and changelings, and he... he looked at Kyle and me, and said he could tell what we were. He also stated he was a friend to Arch and Karma. Kyle and I both sort of freaked, because it seemed like he could see right through the Mask. Nobody other than this West fellow seemed to be able to do that, though.

"There was another person, a woman who called herself Ankh. She seemed to be a friend to this West. As a bunch of the people started getting nervous, she said she was a wizard of some sort... she referred to herself as a mage, I think, and was talking about spirits, and saying she could tell the room wasn't alive. There was another guy, a man named Matthew... the Kenning indicated there was something magical about him, too. He also talked about spirits and a.. a shadow realm, twilight, things like that. And there was another man there with him, who said his name was Grip of Steel. At the time that struck me as a pretty weird name, but you know, if you or I ran into a Summer Ogre that went by a name like that, we wouldn't think a thing of it. It just seemed odd because I was thinking about him as a human. But he wasn't, or at least not a normal one. I found that out later.

"Some of the people there seemed like just normal humans. There were these two women, they seemed to be a couple, theey kept looking at Matthew and Ankh like they were cracy. Kyle and I had been careful to not say a thing about changelings, even though this West guy seemed to know what we were. I kept trying to figure out what was going on, and this Ankh did the same, said she was doing some sort of magic. The kenning didn't tell me anything about the room, but I thought I'd try something else. I tried to block out everyone I could detect there and see if I could harvest some emotion from the room itself, or some unseen presence there, or whatever was behind what was happening. It didn't work, maybe I just wasn't good enough at harvesting. And then things got more strange. A bunch of the people there suddenly disappeared again. Kyle was one of them, so was this Grip of Steel, West, some others. And here's the thing that really got to me. When the people disappeared, there was a cool breeze that seemed to come from nowhere, and it carried the scent of an afternoon rain, and of jasmine." Derek pauses a moment and takes a breath before taking the big dive.

"For the life of me, it seemed just like the sensation you might get off one of our kind with a very strong mantle... a Spring mantle."

He looks at Tiffany, and at each of his companions. "I haven't had a chance to talk to Kyle about any of this yet, but he can confirm what I'm telling you." Meeting each person's eyes, he adds "And I'm willing to swear an oath on the Wyrd that as best I understand it, everything I'm saying is true and happened just like I am saying it happened." He lets them think on that, a most profound statement for a changeling to make. "There's more, lots more, but... well, are you all following me so far?"

Silence fills the room as Betony Rue thinks over what Mr. Noble has said. She wasn't sure what to make of it just yet. If there was more, better to hear everything before drawing conclusions. But the silnce kept on and Mr. Noble didn't seem to start up again.
"Well get on with it, then." she said, growing tired of waiting.

Al-Adin has gotten a bag of popcorn from somewhere, and is listening with rapt attention. As in he hasn't blinked in a few minutes now, and his mouth is semi open, and his eyes as wide as saucers as he listens to the story with wonder and amazement.

"Thanks, Mother Goose, I appreaciate that." Not as interested a response as he'd expected or hoped, but since everyone seemed to be following his account, and nobody was rolling their eyes or throwing popcorn, he continued.

"I forgot, right before people stopped disappearing, there'd been this scream that came from nowhere, and then suddenly two sets of clawmarks appeared on the walls. That's important when I get to the second time.

"Anyhow, there were four of us left in the room. This Matthew guy, Ankh, some guy named Marius and me. Matthew, who seemed to be pretty unflappable and to have a pretty good handle on all this stuff about twilight and spirits and so forth, he suggested that maybe we were still there and the others weren't because we seemed to be the ones most actively trying to figure out what was going on. Other than the kenning and trying the harvest, I'd been asking everyone questions to see if we had anything in common that might have explained why we were all there in the first place. I'd seen a couple of these people at this art gallery show a day a day or two before this happened, and a few of the others had said they'd been there or had seen coverage about it in the newspapers. Kyle was there, too. I figure that's what Matthew meant about me trying to figure things out. I wouldn't like to think some other sort of supernatural creature could detect kenning or harvesting.

"Ankh had another suggestion, that maybe we were each there as representatives of our different societies. She was a mage, Matthew admitted he was a werewolf, which I later found out was true, then there was me, so maybe this Marius guy was a vampire. He didn't say, and I didn't say a thing about changelings. I did suggest that if someone knew about these things, maybe they could do whatever gave them that knowledge to try to figure out whether the scented breeze had some connection to the different things she'd mentioned. Marius said that things that do this sort of thing - this room thing - usually wanted something, and suggested we try to figure out what this thing wanted. And then suddenly I was back out on the street with Betony Rue and Al-Adin and Kevin, like nothing had happened.

"Then just today, while we were eating dinner together," Derek motioned to his companions "It happened to me again. This time it was just three of us - Matthew, me and a guy named O-Yama, who hadn't been there the first time - plus some unconscious, naked blonde man. The room was just the same - it even smelled a bit of jasmine. Matthew thought maybe that meant the place was "put on hold" when nobody was there. He also said he thought the room itself wasn't as important as who was in there, and that he wondered if anyone in the room was human. O-Yama stated he was a vampire." Derek shrugged. "He didn't have fangs or wear an opera cape, but.... well, anyhow, he said vampires referred to themselves as Kindred. Matthew referred to werewolves as 'the People', so maybe those are their names for their kind. I couldn't say anything about what I was without violating the Freehold Pledge, and I was worried anything I said might tell these others things about changelings we wouldn't want them to know. but from these different types Ankh had mentioned, Matthew clearly suspected I was a changeling. I don't know if he had any idea what that meant.

"Anyhow, O-Yama mentioend that there was some vampire called Bethem, apparently a very powerful one of their kind, that had been slaying other vampires. He wondered if the room might have something to do with this Bethem, though he admitted that was just a guess, and Matthew said someone or some thing had been killing werewolves, too. About that time, the room started smelling of old pennies, and some of the stains on the wall started... well, bleeding, but in a perfect circle, and a potted flower appeared in the middle of the room. At the same time the sleeping guy started to stir, so we decided to wake him up. Matthew did that, and when he woke up, the guy freaked out. He didn't seem to know who he was, first he tried to hide in a corner, he kept shaking his head, rocking, seeming out of it, saying things like 'Go away, not right now.' He said his name was Jacob, and he thought we'd brought him there. I told him we didn't bring him there, that someone or something had brought us there, and that I'd been there once before. He asked how long we'd been there last time. He stared right at me. I wondered if he could see through the Mask.

"I tried to calm him down, and I asked him if anything like this had ever happened to him before. He said he'd never been taken, said he wanted us to go away and that he wanted to go back home, but there was a look of pain in his eyes. He didn't look like a changeling, but the look was sort of like that you see in some of our kind. Suddenly, there's this howling sound, and these claw marks appeared in the bloody circle, and the potted plant suddenly flew through the air and smashed on the wall, the dirt and plant sticking there. Jacob started running around and screaming for us to get out of his head, and then suddenly.... he was gone.

"Matthew and O-Yama started talking about what it might mean, and I suggested they and I share information, so I gave them each one of my professional cards, and we all exchanged numbers. I tried to commit their numbers to memory ..."

Spoiler:

Derek pauses, then continues, "... tried, and completely failed, I guess, because I can't recall them.... but I should have the card with their numbers right here..."

(((OOC - Did the card come back with Derek, and if so, does it have O-Yama's and Matthew's phone numbers on it, as Derek got both from them?)))

((OOC note - waiting on info from Sweets re: whether the card w/ numbers came back from the room w/ Derek. Sorry for the delay.))

(OOC - roadnottaken stated that per discussion w/ Sweets in chat, the car did indeed translate between the room to mundane reailty)

"...and here it is!" Derek says, pulling out the card with O-Yama's and Matthew's phone numbers, glad to not look like a complete moron in front of everyone else after telling this tale then being unable to show any evidence.

"Anyhow, after we shared the contact information, it occurred to me that blood, clawmarks and a plant could possibly relate to the three in the room being a vampire, a werewolf and a changeling, with the plant perhaps supposed to represent the Hedge, or my spring nature, so we went about looking at those items. I couldn't tell what sort of plant it was - I know about as much about botany as I do Malaysian politics - and O-Yama said he couldn't determine anything about the blood. Matthew said conclusively that the claw marks were not those of a werewolf, which jibed with what one of the supposed mages had said the first time, that they thought the claw marks came from a human hand.

"I was still thinking this might all have something to do with the Hedge or the Others or changelings... with something fay... and just as we were looking at those items and deciding we didn't know much, suddenly in the room appeared a most loathesome hobgoblin with a big spiked club. The mark of the Hedge was clear and unmistakable upon it, and it could clearly see through the Mask and tell what I was. It accused us of being on its land and me and our kind of bringing it there. I tried to reason with it, but as is typical for ugly Hedge creatures with big spiky clubs, it didn't want to listen to reason. It charged at me, but the other two rushed it, and as he did so, Matthew transformed instantly into some huge, hairy form... a monstrously giant wolf on two legs, very much a werewolf. This wasn't a dropping of the Mask... it was something distinctly different. Anyhow, at that instant, I was back in the restaurant." He pauses for a moment, then says "I assume the same thing happened to O-Yama and Matthew, and I certainly hope it did, and that both are alright. They seemed nice enough fellows, and especially for being undead and a werewolf. I haven't had a chance to call them to talk yet, though... I should probably do that."

He turns to the others, then to Tiffany. "Anyhow, that's what happened. So... do you, or any of you," he says, looking to the others "have any advice in dealing with these other beings, or any idea what this room might be about, or of anyone that might know? The whole experience, both times, has been interesting, I can't deny that, but it's also rather disturbing, and I'd prefer to get to the bottom of it before it happens again, and I'd particularly hate for it to possibly interfere with our mission into the Hedge."

Betony felt the Wyrd tug a little on her. "Offer secrets of Fey mystery" whispered her pledge. Almost involuntarily she found herself search the lore of her mind for some sort of answer.

Spoiler: