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Cam is out flying. There's a decent cloud of atmosphere around the gold plane, now, millenia of demons making air around themselves for comfort and not sealing it up because why would you bother. There's a small forest, here - the effect is kind of ruined by the lamps it has to grow under, but it's still pretty.
He feels an open summons and lets it grab him -
the Connecticut Yankee summons Demon Cam
from_scratch
connecticut_yankee
"If it's not immediately visible, we can ask for directions. Politely and/or terrifyingly."
connecticut_yankee
"Oh, now that's just evil. You don't see me quoting Brittonic epics you've never heard of. Well, mostly because current Brittonic epics aren't any good. But the point stands!"
from_scratch
"If you did it I could likely just make them. I'll make you the book I quoted if you like. Actually, I'm not positive the line's in the book, it might just be the movies, but I can make you those too. But right now we're busy."
connecticut_yankee
"Right.
That circle of monoliths has got to be our landmark. See anything that looks like a High King might live there?"
That circle of monoliths has got to be our landmark. See anything that looks like a High King might live there?"
from_scratch
"Hmm -" Cam banks for a better look. "You'd know better than I would. That thing?" Point.
connecticut_yankee
"Could be. If not, it's as good a place to start as any."
The thing is not obviously a castle, but it is taller and more fortified than most non-kings have reason to care about.
"I'd suggest walking up and asking if the person we're looking for is here, but I haven't got the faintest idea how to pronounce the man's name."
The thing is not obviously a castle, but it is taller and more fortified than most non-kings have reason to care about.
"I'd suggest walking up and asking if the person we're looking for is here, but I haven't got the faintest idea how to pronounce the man's name."
from_scratch
"'Go and tell your master that we have been charged -' - sorry, that one's definitely after your time. Also it is an extremely irreverent comedy with King Arthur in it."
connecticut_yankee
"Glad to know they're still talking about us Camelotites sixteen centuries from now.
That line might work. It'd get us to a king at least, eventually. I thought if Ireland has a king of kings we may as well make use of him, but really any one could do."
That line might work. It'd get us to a king at least, eventually. I thought if Ireland has a king of kings we may as well make use of him, but really any one could do."
from_scratch
"Feel free to plagiarize Monty Python, they're some awkward combination of not yet born and already dead and either way cannot complain."
connecticut_yankee
"Then let's try it. Once we're in front of whoever sits in the big chair, I'll demand to see his boss. If he claims not to have one, he's our guy."
from_scratch
"Right. Would you like a glowy rock to hold so it looks more like you're magic than me and I can knock people over without it looking like I'm doing it more freely?"
connecticut_yankee
"Glowy rock, good idea. Not sure how that lets you knock people over more, but it'd help draw their attention."
from_scratch
"Glowy rock provides a focus for ambient magical effects which is clearly in your possession." Hank gets a piece of quartz with a blue LED in the middle of it. The color of the light shifts slowly to green.
connecticut_yankee
It is very obviously magical. Even to Hank, who knows how light bulbs work.
"Perfect. Here's hoping it goes better than last time."
"Perfect. Here's hoping it goes better than last time."
connecticut_yankee
"Even the worst-case scenario is that that they end up knowing the magician is the one in the hood, and that's no so bad."
Hank knocks on the door. It's common knowledge that a knight in black armor means Adventure and should be let in. That goes double if it's scary-looking armor. The door opens.
Hank knocks on the door. It's common knowledge that a knight in black armor means Adventure and should be let in. That goes double if it's scary-looking armor. The door opens.
connecticut_yankee
Hank tries to match his voice to the armor. "We have a message for your master. Where can we find the king you answer to?"
The answer he gets is "I am Muirchertach mac Muiredaig of the Goidels, High King of Ireland, and I answer to no one," so they're in the right place.
"You will soon." Hank raises the Glowy Rock and gestures toward Muirchertach mac Unpronounceable.
The answer he gets is "I am Muirchertach mac Muiredaig of the Goidels, High King of Ireland, and I answer to no one," so they're in the right place.
"You will soon." Hank raises the Glowy Rock and gestures toward Muirchertach mac Unpronounceable.
from_scratch
And Muirchertach collapses.
And then abruptly both Hank and Cam are thrown hard into the nearest wall.
And then abruptly both Hank and Cam are thrown hard into the nearest wall.
connecticut_yankee
Hank is stunned in multiple meanings of the word. The next thing he knows is that his vision is swimming and at least this helmet is pretty cushioned, by armor standards. After what seems to be no time at all, he finds himself on the ground wondering whether anything happened while he was out.
from_scratch
The ensuing fight happens very fast. Everyone else in the room collapses except for one nut-brown woman in a cloak, who Cam blindfolds. That doesn't last long, but next the glowy rock and the windows are all covered in tar; the fires and candles in the hall are snuffed out with a hiss of steam. There's a squeak as the fairy's weighed down to the floor and then glued before she can simply pick up the weight, and then Cam roars, "POISON -"
The fairy shrieks.
"If the king's your summoner and you like him enough to work for him," Cam tells the fairy, "you do not want me unsummoned, right now. You want me to denature the poison in the capsule in his stomach before it dissolves. It is too big for you to get it out through his throat without killing him. Are you calmed down? Can we talk?"
"Y-yes," says the fairy. "Oh, please put the lights back on."
Cam reignites one of the fires.
The fairy shrieks.
"If the king's your summoner and you like him enough to work for him," Cam tells the fairy, "you do not want me unsummoned, right now. You want me to denature the poison in the capsule in his stomach before it dissolves. It is too big for you to get it out through his throat without killing him. Are you calmed down? Can we talk?"
"Y-yes," says the fairy. "Oh, please put the lights back on."
Cam reignites one of the fires.
connecticut_yankee
Hank is gradually regaining his senses. Once he's pretty sure the room is darker because the windows are blocked and not because of the head injury, he checks that the thing that hit him was in fact just a wall and not any kind of train.
"If he's her— she's a— a mover?"
"If he's her— she's a— a mover?"
from_scratch
"Evidently," says Cam. "This king summoned you?"
The fairy, still glued to the floor, nods unhappily.
"He's completely safe unless I am unsummoned or I decide to stop adding layers to the capsule," Cam tells her.
The fairy, still glued to the floor, nods unhappily.
"He's completely safe unless I am unsummoned or I decide to stop adding layers to the capsule," Cam tells her.
connecticut_yankee
Everyone asleep, good. Mover captured, better. They're not in any immediate danger then. "But," Hank asks her, "if the king of Ireland can summon daeva, why is he only king of Ireland?" His entire plan for international relations depended on being unassailably more powerful than everyone else. Muirchertach could be a problem.