(Loyalty Is,) Funderland Findings

[James Turner]

"Seemed you did, glad I could help."


His face was placid, the bomb defused for now. Though this divided front in front of their "prisoner" was a really bad look and just reinforced all of the points he'd just made about them. He'd let the Beast's bark and growl as that was their way. He was glad he wasn't the only one who thought that Sonnie was riding that line real closely though.


"What are the consequences of the pledge if you break it? You were kidnapping normal people until you met one that'd been a fetch then Anne suddenly took a personal interest. Is that right?


"What's happening with Anne and Lloyd's wife now? Is the base still in the Orchard or was that just the meeting point?"


She clearly has a deal with The Others. She has to be dealt with.

[Saber Sloth]

Bobby falls to silence as the Monkey Girl laughs and the Goatman growls. Flamehart, looks to the Darkling, then to the Fairest. Coals wide and strained at emotion, and outbursts from the Beasts.

He keeps his quiet, but then decides it would be...better to just continue on with the Darklings questions.

"Everyone woulda known us to be Oathbreakers, the Pishogue upon us." he shudders. The shakes his head. "No, Lloyd wasn't no Fetch, his wife was, and we thought that'd be it. A Fetch who didn't know anything. But his wife Returned. Lost and pissed and dogging us. She knew something was wrong. Then, next I know you guys, you're Freehold's sniffing around.

"I don't know where Lloyd's wife is now, don't even know her name. She's burned and a Wizened. That's all I know." he breathes, smoke and steam, "The Orchard is the Orchard. It's how we got so many, so easy. Hedge fruit to get 'em to sleep, ship 'em off. Have 'em work to get more fruit. Iron Meg decides who goes where. If they stay and work at the Orchard, or not.


"I don't know where Anne is. She's, got her fingers in a lot of pies," he clears his throat. "She'd come to the motel if she wanted to see us inperson. Most times, it was all calls. Or we'd hit up the Market, meet a rep there." he shrugs, knowing it wasn't what they wanted to hear.

"But to get to the Orchard. You'd just need to knock on the bathroom door in room 17. My and Allie's room, the Door lead to like this office in the barn. Barn's part of the Orchard."

[Sonnie Wu]

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Dude, it's cool!" She held a hand up towards Bugul. "I'm cool. We're all cool. Everyone's being cool. Just relax, hombre!" Sonnie got what the Woodwalker was trying to get across, more or less, and it would have worked, but it actually felt unnecessary. Sonnie had already calmed down (in her own fashion). The growling anger from moments ago was gone in the fit of manic laughter that had assailed her. Her mood swing had swung her back to relative normalcy.

"Starlight!" She put an arm around the Fairest's shoulders with a grin, "You really do love me!" A smooch was applied to one of those perfect cheeks... only for Sonnie to come away spitting mud. "Girl, what have you been doing? Blech..."

After those distractions, her attention was refocused on the Elemental. So much great info! Was anyone writing this down?

Aha! She knew it! The stain really was Sleepy Goblin Fruit Juice used to kidnap people! A triumphant nod was given to Bart and Ellie on that point. "Hey, you guys still have that carpet piece?"

Room 17... wait... why did that sound familiar? "Oh, that was the second room we checked!" Her eureka moment was proudly stated out loud. "The room... where the... fire started..." The Steepscrambler looked dejected for a moment, but then a second eureka moment hit her, "Oh, but the bathroom door was still intact! Dude, I knew that was weird! Score one for the good guys!"

  failure

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2020-04-09 19:02:25		Sonnie Wu rolls 4 to Do I speak Goat? Res + Comp (10 Again)		5, 7, 7, 3		failure

[James Turner]

He gave a nod to Bugul, it hadn't been the time but like Titania's aid he appreciated Bugul's.


Just be cool honeybunny.


He smirked to himself but kept that thought to himself. John nodded remembering Orchard, Motel, Room 17, Knock on bathroom door. He listened to the man intently with a frown, it didn't seem like he was going to be able to be the one to talk him into breaking his pledge. Too much gravity there.


"So you were taking other Lost to work the Orchard primarily? Sounds like Meg is running this op with instructions from Anne. Makes sense, I bet there are other doors and other cells working the same job elsewhere.


"Cell Phone call or room call? Who's your contact in the Market? What can you tell me about The Orchard itself? Would you be able to draw a map?"


He looked to the rest of the room and motioned to the seats. They might be here awhile so they might as well all get comfortable. If the man started drawing a map that'd definitely be time for a snack break. He wasn't their prisoner quite yet.


The Door was in tact for now Sonnie, as soon as word spreads of this we might miss our opportunity. But opportunity for what? What exactly was our aim here? I was pumping him for intel to feed to a Monarch my court didn't possess, then for them to distribute to the other Monarchs what they needed to know.


I miss having a leader with a clear vision.

[Bugul]

Bugul cares little for Titania's interjection. She had already excused herself and Bugul doubted she understood the cause for his grumbling. So his eyes remained Sonnie as Robert speaks and then the Claviger spoke of her understanding.

Bugul supposed it was possible he misread Sonnie's intent, but it mattered little. Her words were antagonistic in the eyes of the Goatman and endangered John's gleaning of information. If Robert clammed up in response where would they be then? Now was not the time to shut away the mouth that speaks.

Nonetheless, his point seemed to be made, so Bugul merely huffs and rolls a shoulder, his tensed mane relaxing once more as he looks between John and Robert. As they discuss the Orchard, Bugul is back to his usual brooding self, silent thoughts playing in his mind while his tongue held fast. However, at the mention of its use, the Goatman's eyes spoke of a quiet rage, even as his lips did not.

All Orchards burn.

Yet Bugul knew that his Wrath would do him little good until they knew more. They might need the Orchard later on, but Bugul wondered if his convictions would allow Anne's asset to remain.

"The task ahead requires a hand of temperance," he uttered, "I... cannot be trusted to provide as much without leadership, not in a task such as this, but I will aid if asked. You should confer with your monarchs. You must be swift and wise. We know not when the door will close forever, but we can be sure the husk of Abraham's grave will soon be torn asunder."

The words were directed to his fello Sacramento Lost as a whole. Bugul felt it was unlikely for the Men who owned the ruin to leave it in place for long.

[Saber Sloth]

"No," Bobby shakes his head, "You ain't getting it. We weren't stealing the Lost back into the Hedge. We were taking people. Humans." he chokes out a laugh, "We aren't - I ain't a good person." shaking his head.

"Cell calls. Haven't taken them since..." looking up. "She couldn't keep us safe, so. She broke It, I ain't bound to the Wyrd to my promise no more. S'why I'm talkin'.

"But. We'd meet up outta town, or when the Market came through. Every few months the Great Spider Bazaar moves through. Sets up for a week. Leaves. That's when we'd meet up with a go between. Normally another Elemental. The Levinquick. Or these twins, one's a Fairest though. Fireheart and a Flamesiren. All of 'em Autumns."

Drumming his fingers on the table.

"I could tell ya what the Office looks like, and some of the Barn. But I haven't seen more of the Orchard. There's a lot of Doors linked to that Barn. Took Allie and walked through, and then through again."

Bobby breathes out another sigh, "So, you gonna try and get a'hold of your Monarchs before y'all blow into the Orchard?"

[Sonnie Wu]

Still hanging an arm around Titania, she listened to the Elemental curiously.

"Well, duh. Of course we'll wait and talk to the bosses. We're not dumb." As far as Sonnie knew, Circe was the only other member of the freehold that could fight. Going without her (and possibly even with) would be suicidal. She glanced at Bugul with an appraising eye. He was a fellow Beast, he might know how to scrap.

Her eyes grew wide at the mentioned of a Great Spider Bazaar. Goblin Markets were always something that fascinated her. "Ohhhhhh... Is it run by spider people?"

An image of a folksy market square where all the stalls were operated by dashing humanoid spiders (wearing top hats!) may or may not have been running through her mind. Multiple limbs hawking wares, trading for coins made of webbing, a food court where they served fly soup...

The Steepscrambler shook her head. The market wasn't the important part... right this minute. "In the meantime, we're getting good recon from you," provided he wasn't lying, but she assumed John could tell. "So the doors all connect to this barn? Hmmm... do you know where are the mortals kept at night?" The faint inklings of a rescue plan might have been forming in the recesses of her monkey brain.

[Titania]

The gentle brush of Sonnie's tender, supple lips sent a jolt through her spine "W-wha", she says, instantly jumping back and straightening her back, still unable to disentangle herself from the beast's caress *ahem* hold. Yes, hold. And strangely enough, she doesn't remove the arm from her mud stained clothes.
Blood flows from her extremities to her head, coloring her cheeks with a delicius warmth.
It was a good thing, because the rush of sugars got her pretty head into thinking. Why was their guest so talkative all of a sudden? Mere minutes ago he had wanted nothing to do with them, and now he was pouring his heart's content.
Suspicious. She's an open book, her inner turmoil broadcast for all to see.

[James Turner]

"Robert. Why did you swear the oath? If you can answer that then you can determine if you're a good person or not. Not my place to judge."


He shrugged, the cold of his mantle was enough for him. He wouldn't have done what Robert did but he also wasn't in his situation. He didn't have anything to lose, Robert was Spring and he was Winter. Their ways were different.


"If you can think of any other doors sure. If not tell me about the office, what's in it, what kind of information does it contain? What about the Barn, layouts are helpful. I can get you paper and pen if you need. What was its purpose? Any little thing could help. Guards, number of them, security measures?


"We'll discuss our next course of action after we have more information and amongst each other."


He offered a reassuring smile but he knew Robert knew he was an outsider and a 'prisoner' at that. He'd wait for Robert to run dry on his information before looking to the rest of the group. He had no Monarch to contact but he was certain Sonnie would try Sera...again. With that they had two courses of action. The Market or The Door.

  1 success

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2020-04-11 22:01:58		Keeping Robert Honest rolls 8 to Wits + Empathy + Specialty (10 Again)		1, 1, 6, 4, 9, 3, 1, 5		1 success

[Bugul]

Bugul says nothing, returning as he has already done to the role of a brooding sentinel. Speech and manipulation were not the Goatman's forte. He was a ponderous speaker and this conversation called for tongue quicker than his.

He listened and waited, though none had addressed his previous comment, it seemed to bother the Beast very little, if at all. He had said all he had wished, but the clock was ticking.