shifty louts

Tiny Fables Session 9: A Tip of the Hat at The Winter Cotillion

Players

Summary

The Month of Star. The Fifth Fair of the Eighth Week

The group heads away from the Merfolk lair, eventually finding themselves back at the Crabapple orchard looking for fae soldiers to tell of the Merfolk's plans. The group finds a pair of drunken fae soldiers loudly chatting and gossiping about the needy, immature Prince Slyvester who “actually isn’t the true heir to the throne”

The group surprises them, and the soldiers drunkly call their captain with a seashell whistle, where they meet the captain of the patrol, Captain Aphid, who demands to know what they told Thumble-and-Thimble and Dusk, the two drunken soldiers.

The group learns about the fate of the old King, Nectarius, who died drinking honey and was found by Prince Sylvester and Royal Advisor Tylwig1.

The group tells the soldiers of Merfolk's plans and how they both have a boat and a wizard amongst them. The soldiers speak of knowing the Merfolk but not of their new warship, so Captain Aphid transports the group to the Fae Kingdom across Heartache Lake via magical cushions and pillows in a haze of lavender and vanilla smoke.

faedrink

The group is magically transported and finds themselves surrounded by buildings made of repurposed clay and porcelain vases that are held high above the lake on wood stilts. Silver wire wraps around them in ornamental spirals. A large silver teapot decorated with gems, flowers, and intricate metalwork dominates the “skyline”, the Prince’s Palace.

Fae civilians pass through, showing off garish, trendy clothes. Others huddle in small groups to exchange the latest gossip.

A golden statue of the former king Nectarius stands over the market square, holding a vase. A fountain of honey lurches slowly out of it into a basin below. A gold plaque reads “Long live King Nectarius who died doing what he loved most, eating delicious honey”

The group is soon whisked away and given an audience with Prince Sylvester at the Palace. The inside holds stained glass windows covered in ivy. A grand staircase to the silver throne, flanked by dense bushes of flowers, where the Prince, a Shakespearean melodramatic fae, reclines on his throne, sobbing relentlessly. Tears cascade as they fawn over a glass slipper placed upon a pedestal near the throne itself.

slyvester

The group introduces themselves and speaks of the Merfolk’s plans, which don’t seem to interest the Prince, who asks if they will stay for the Cotillion this evening as his honored guests. The Prince recalls another of their kind being present and amongst the retinue of Lady Twiggler. The group agrees to attend, which seems to brighten his spirits, and he asks for more information regarding the Merfolk.

After some back and forth, Cherry blurts out that she heard he isn’t the true king, which sends a gasp in the court. The Prince calls Royal Advisor Tylwig and sends palatial guards to reprimand Captain Aphid and his soldiers for spreading such salacious and unfounded rumors. The group’s suspicion of Prince Sylvester grows!

It was at this point that I fast-forwarded to the Winter Cotillion but framed the passage of time as an all-day fashion montage of them getting ready for the Cotillion.

I asked what the players were wearing, and each described the following

Jack: A black trench coat with dyed jet black hair parted over one eye; a pink strip runs through his hair

Crocus: A purple suit with yellow polka dots, with a purple top hat. White gloves

Dill: An ill-fitting and tight dill green tailcoat

Cherry: A puffy, cherry red princess dress adorned with worms on the dress itself

The group arrives via a bumblebee drawing carriage to the Grand Hall within the Palace grounds. There are even more gaudy costumes in a variety of color clashes as all the fae preen themselves for this Winter Cotillion’s theme: Tip of the Hat!

The group soon meets Dr. Connla and his two friends, Lavinia and Genie, all of whom fawn over the newest guests, flirting in equal turn. The group asks if they’ve seen another like them at previous Cotillions, and Dr. Connla tells of the drunkard who Lady Twiggler keeps around like “a bumblebee on string” and who is a coarse and uncouth drunk, but is kept around to be made fun of by the fae court.

They also learn the nature of the Prince’s obsession with the glass slipper, as it was his lost love who attended a prior Winter Cotillion and disappeared without the Prince learning her name. The fae court believes the Prince has thrown more Winter Cotillions to attract his lost love once more

Crocus regails them of needing to speak with the drunk to get money that is owed. The fae say he usually arrives with Lady Twiggler, who just so happens to arrive with much fanfare with horns, glitter, confetti, and fae paparazzi. She holds an absolutely besotted Cornelius (who is dressed in red and ultramarine livery) by a collar and chain as she makes her way to the Grand Hall.

The fae crowd surges toward her, as she holds the Court in awe; however, soon two Fae Nobles, Sir Towednack Bockstump and Sir Louse Sasserpipe2, call for a gentleman’s duel to have the Lady’s hand for the dance. Fae soldiers clear a space as slingshots are passed to the two nobles.

It’s here where I had two players duel to the death in the court. We did competing DEX rolls and rolled damage accordingly. The fate of the duel saw Sir Bockstump win the hand of Lady Twiggler, who tittered in delight with two devastating shots to Sasserpipe, who succumbed to their wounds on the floor of the Grand Hall.

Jack learned that Lady Twiggler seemed to encourage their duel, with various rumors spread about them on either side.

The group debates what to do next as they discuss the glass slipper, and how perhaps if they find the Prince’s lost love, that will solve Merfolk claim that the Prince is poisoning the lake somehow. They also speak of attempting to get Cornelius out of the clutches of Lady Twiggler after the sudden outburst of ultra violence.

It's here where the gang splits up Scooby Doo style as I bounce the “camera” around as they go about their various hijinks

I have a good command of this type of game pacing from running various Call of Cthulhu modules where players often split up to track and chase down leads, so I can sense when a “scene” needs to shift onto the next one, while still adding to the overall mission the players are attempting to accomplish3.

The players oriented themselves around the Cotillion in this fashion

Results

Crocus and Jack join up to get Cornelius out of the Grand Hall and to their bumblebee carriage as Cherry and Dill join back up and find Prince Sylvester crying once more over the Glass Slipper away from the Cotillion. Cherry offers to help the Prince find his love, whom the Prince calls “Apricot and Milk” for her intoxicating smell.

The Prince agrees and gives Dill the Nettle Sword to protect them on their quest to find his lost love as the group makes their way back to the bumblebee carriage as they leave the Fae Kingdom

nettlesword

Aftermath

Treasure Found:

Foes Encountered:

Rumors:

Deaths:

XP Awarded:

Notes

  1. The group clearly believes that Prince Sylvester is somehow behind his death. Something I encourage by playing along when they bring up rumors regarding the Prince.↩

  2. Clever readers will notice these two Fae Nobles were the fae knights beetle joust back in Session 3. I decided to keep their feud on going and felt it was appropriate to return to it here.↩

  3. I actually sometimes prefer this style a bit more than troupe, as I feel that the players all get a little something of their own, but still manage to accomplish a goal. It’s a bit hard to do as each needs something and it's tricky to keep that pace up across the entire session, but a rewarding feeling nonetheless.↩

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