Adventure: The Sylvan Crown

((I think I'm going to come back and wrap this up. I was waiting until it was over to introduce some new characters, and people just kind of dropped off from it. If your character is highly involved in the plot, feel free to contribute. Otherwise, I'll write the resolution as it relates to them and other characters. Seriously, I want to finish this, and put these characters out in the world.))

(If you want Fujimi can join the adventure ^^)

((I mostly want to just wrap it up with those who are already locked in...I had a few characters in it I wanted to bring to the arena...but one especially, is not ready until the end of this.  But if you ever want a pyromancer fight, in the arena or on some new adventure, bring it on.    ))

"Up the stairs!" she urged. Most of the crew was already to the second floor, but Irlana, Jessica, Miryala, Annie, Allison, Halia, and the Duchess were only now fleeing the area where the stocks were.

That's when the Marquesa's spell took effect. A magical darkness covered the area. From outside, it resembled a curtain of shadow. From the inside, it was like being in an underground cave without a light source.

Miryala let loose some expletives as she tripped and fell to the floor. That's when the biting stopped. The women near the stocks started screaming. "It's bitting me!" "What is it?" "I don't know!"

That's when Miryala felt it. It was as if the teeth of a dog were closing on her backside. A scream nearby told her that Halia was experiencing the same thing.

In between grunts, Irlana shouted, "It's an evil spell. We have to get out. It's getting more powerful."

On the stairs, Niniane looked at the curtain of shadow, and started walking back down. "We have to save them." Nessa put a hand on her shoulder, "The Marquesa's magic is very dark. We need to stay safe to help them if they manage to get out."

A different kind of grunt was heard from within the shadow curtain, and out of it flew Jessica, who landed face-down on the floor. The Marquesa's body guard was advancing on her, sword drawn. Niniane charged down the stairs and pushed her back. Grabbing Jessica, she helped her to her feet. Another grunt, and the Duchess landed near them. Jessica readied a fireball, driving the crowd of nobles back, and threatening the bodyguard's approach.

A crazed squeal was heard, and Halia wound up on sitting on the floor, legs open, face flush with shame. In moments, a screaming Annie landed on top of her. Nessa helped them get to their feet, as Caterina ushered the Duchess up the stairway.

Miryala landed next, still clutching her butt, and Alison ended up landing near her, her foot accidentally kicked her in the sore backside.

The women climbed to their feet, and made for the stairs. Jessica and Niniane held back, staring at that dark curtain.

Finally, Irlana walked out of the shadows into sight, her hand now covering her backside. Jessica immediately ran to her. "Thanks for, um, throwing us to safety." "Anytime, my dear." "What were those things biting us?" Alison asked. "Demonic spirits. Do you have a mark?" "No, but the pain was..." "They feed on anguish...each time you screamed, they were becoming more and more solid--in a few minutes, their bites wouldn't have been just in our mind, they would have been devouring us." "How do you know all this?" Jessica asked. "Long story...but right now..." Irlana stepped forward, knocking the advancing bodyguard to the ground. The Marquesa, who was starting another spell, lost her concentrarion retreating from the magically-strong woman. "Let's get upstairs, with the others, before she tries something like that again." Irlana finished.

Upstairs, the woman gathered in a room that looked like a mages' library.  "This must be the Marquesa's study." Annie said, eruditely.  "Good guess, genius," Jessica snarked.

"Be careful what you touch," Irlana warned, "her magics include a nasty kind of diabolism.  I wouldn't be surprised if she has pacted with demons, and that makes some of her magical accoutrements dangerous."

Halia ran over to the duchess.  "We have the crown.  Here."  She handed all three crowns to the Duchess, who eyed them carefully.  Holding one of them, she said, "Feather Firebrand, I summon thee!"  There was no result.  Trying the second crown, she repeated the incantation.  Again, nothing happened.  "It must be this one."  Again, the results were disappointing.  

"It must be none of them."  "Or you're doing it wrong," Jessica suggested.  The duchess shot her a dirty look.  "I know what I'm doing.  One of my, um, spies saw the Marquesa do it once."

Miryala, meanwhile, was fixated on a small box sitting on top of an armoire.  It was up rather high.  "Irlana, help me."  

Climbing onto Irlana's shoulders, the corpulent elf managed to reach the box.  Instead of getting it down, and then looking inside it, Miryala opened the box.

It was then, that Feather Firebrand chose to appear.  With a gesture to Irlana's legs, she caused the whole group to tumble.  Irlana, Miryala on her shoulders, box, and box contents.  Perhaps due to the fairy's magic, Miryala's backside managed to land on the contents of the box.  "Ooooow!" she said.

Climbing to her feet, Miryala peeled a ring of thorns from her backside.  "I had a hunch," she said, try this.  "Put that down,or I''ll make you suffer even more than your fat human friend over here did!" Feather Firebrand threatened the elf.

Instead, Miryala walked over to the duchess, and handed her the crown.  Feather charged threateningly at her, but Chorinna said, "Feather Firebrand, I summon thee."

The fairy stopped mid-flight, as if standing at attention in the air, and then, seemingly against her will said, "And what do you need of me?"

"Bingo," said the Duchess.

"We have it....you'll split the reward amongst yourselves. Now, let's find me something to wear and we'll head back down and confront her. What time do you recon it to be?"

"About and hour or two before dawn." Jessica said.

The duchess found a small rug that wrapped around her like a towel. "Let's get this done."

The small army of adventurers, led by the Duchess, made her way down the stairs, confidently. The Duchess held the thorny crown behind her back.

The nobles backed up at the unflinching manner the adventurers, some of whom they had been torturing only minute ago, made their way back down the stairs. Even the Marquesa looked on curiously, although she adopted a sarcastic smile and a power stance to try to maintain her superiority.

"Well, I'm surprised you'd show your face around here again, as it is nearly as red as we made your backside, Chorinna."

The Marquesa's words didn't rattle the Duchess. "Your reign of terror is over! Feather Firebrand, I summon thee!" The Marquesa gasped as her favorite pet appeared at the call of her rival, a rival she thought thoroughly defeated.

"So that's why you brought this gang of rabble to my party. You won't be leaving her with that...Marisol?"

Marisol the bodyguard approached Chorinna. Irlana stepped in front of her defensively, but the gesture was unnecessary. At Chorinna's will, Feather flew to Marisol's feet and ensured she slipped on a bit of pie goo, landing face first in a smashed cake on the floor, he sword conveniently falling out of her reach.

The Marquesa eyed the room. The confused nobles were backing away from her, and there seemed nowhere to run. "You can't keep that...it's not yours...you stole it...she said as she backed up."

That's when one of the nobles stepped forward. With a wave of her hand, her appearance changed. She was dark eyed, dark-haired, and mysterious, and spoke with an accent often heard among nomadic people who occasionally visited the city. "That's strange of YOU to say." The Marquesa recoiled in surprise, and was that a glint of fear in her eyes? "Y-you! You stay out of this!"

"And why should I," the mysterious woman continued. "You say the crown does not belong to her...but of course, you stole it from ME!"

"Beware, fortune-teller you're treading on dangerous ground here. You've witnessed my magics tonight." The mysterious woman laughed, "And I have magics of my own!"

Duchess Chorinna stepped forward. "This is all very confusing. Maybe Feather can fill us in? Explain this! I command you."

The fairy hovered between Chorinna and the Marquesa. "This fortune-teller did indeed possess the crown for many years. She commanded me to pleasure her, in intimate ways. She sometimes made other requests that I was obligated to follow."

The mysterious woman blushed at this information coming to light. She gestured to the Marquesa and continued Heather's story. "This highborn charlatan came to me one day. She asked to know her fortune, but I could sense her interest was in something else. I gave her the reading she paid for, and she left. The next day I woke, magically tied to my bunk. When my family heard my cries and freed me, I knew what had happened. I checked, and the crown was missing."

"Taken by the Marquesa here," Feather continued. "Who used me to punish social rivals, or anyone who insulted her in any way...also anyone she just didn't like."

Chorinna chimed in, for the benefit of the gathered nobles, "A fairy. This extraordinarily potent, non-lethal prankster. This is why her parties make and break reputations. Some of you have suffered from her pranks, on the Marquesa's orders. Others have been too afraid of the Marquesa to cross her. I tell you, that age is now over."

"Oh, how noble, the Marquesa snarked. Now the power will pass to you. You will be the arbiter of social standing. You will use the fairy's powers as I have."

"The crown is rightfully mine! Return it to me!" the mysterious woman said.

"Both of you underestimate me," Chorinna smiled. "Over the years, Feather, you've done many unpleasant things at the behest of these women. I bet you have some ideas of what you'd like to do to them in return." Chorinna wore a wide grind as she cracked the crown in half. "I release you from your servitude. Have your revenge on your former masters!"

Feather hovered, confused for a moment. Freedom was something she hadn't experienced in so many years, nearly a century by her best guess.

Then, she shouted with her tiny voice..."To the stocks with both of them!"

Neither the adventurers nor some of the less timid nobles were hesitant to oblige. The Marquesa and mysterious woman were soon in the stocks together, facing the crowd.

Feather flew in front of the Marquesa, tweaked her nose, and rubbed her tiny butt on it. The Marquesa's face crinkled up in anger. "You'll pay for this, I swear!" "Oh, I'm just getting started. And since this genius over here broke the crown, I'm also free to do what I want. The only one about to feel punishment here is you...well, and 'Madame Zara' over there."

Feather turned to the crowd again. "I think some target practice is in order. Most of these pies and cakes have already been smashed, but I bet you can find some lightly-used ammunition on the floor."

The nobles were happy to oblige. Jessica and Irlana happily picked up whatever slop they could find.

Feather flew a bit higher, out of the way. "Fire!" she ordered. Dozens of pastries took flight, some of them missing entirely, a few of them connecting with the mysterious woman, the majority of them making contact with the angry face of the Marquesa."

"Really, you throw the best parties. Taste these pies...oh, I guess you did!" the fairy taunted. With a gesture from her, the stocks spun around, and the backsides of the two women were facing the crowd.

"Part deux!" Feather called out. With a small series of gestures, the Marquesa's expensive gown started tearing down the back, then the seams at the arms. In moments, it was a heap of cloth, and the noble host's black bra and frilly purple panties were visible.

"No prizes for what comes next!" Feather said, as an unseen power at her command wedgied the panties into the Marqusa's backside. While they hovered there, as if pulled by an unseen hand, a similar force undressed 'Madame Zara.' She was apparently not wearing underwear, and her breasts now were swinging free, and her backside exposed, hairy lower lips seen between the cheeks.

"Well, I see you haven't changed, Zara." "Let me go." "Oh, I think not. But since I can't wedgie both of you..." At Feather's command, the invisible hand pulling on the Marquesa's panties tugged violently, causing them to rip. With a wave, the bra seemed to have been cut at structurally important intervals, and fell to the floor. Feather snapped her fingers and a pair of paddles appeared behind the two women. With a nod, the paddles set on spanking the backsides in front of them. Feather delighted in using her magic to spin the stocks slowly, so that the crowd could witness both the reddened backsides and pained faces of the women.

After a very long time and lots of hits, the stocks stopped, with the backsides facing the crowd. That's when a pair of squash gourds appeared behind them. Feather flew in front of Zara's nose. "You sued to really like the pleasure I could provide you, with my tiny body. Let's see how you like what I have in store for you."

With that, the magically-floating gourds inserted themselves between the legs of the bent-over women. In and out they slid, and the stocks started rotating again. Feather danced in midair as she watched Zara's expression go from shock, to ecstasy. The Marquesa was fighting the orgasm as best she could, but it was to no avail. The crowd laughed at the contortions of her face as she resisted, then couldn't help herself.

"Well" said Feather, "it's nearly dawn. The doors will unlock soon, and I intend to be far from here when that happens. It's been fun."

"Not so fast," came a voice no one had heard before.  A bright light appeared in the air, nearly blinding everyone for a moment.  Then it hovered near where Feather was flying, and the light dimmed a bit, allowing everyone to witness a fairy, about Feather's size, in a long green dress, and wearing a crown.

"Oh, shit..." Feather said, out loud.

With a flick of a wand,  Feather seemed immobilized in mid-air, although her face and eyes seemed still able to move.

The figure in the crown began to speak.  "I am sorry for what happened here.  I am Ysa, queen of the fairy folk of the blackwood.  I suspect few of you have seen a fairy before tonight, and that is with good reason."

Turning around to address more of the crowd, she explained, "We fairy folk disdain human company.  When there are human settlements nearby, we train our young to avoid them using the strictest discipline."  Her eyes gestured back to Feather, "There are always one or two, who, despite our best efforts, never learn.  You are in many ways our opposites.  You have large bodies and limbs.  Your lives are short.  You exist in great numbers, and rarely give or take wise counsel."  The fairy queen paused momentarily, as if realizing she was insulting sentient beings that were much larger than she.  She cleared her throat and continued.  "We try to keep our folk away from your folk, but sometimes our young ignore our warnings and play pranks.  Feather's pranks were egregious, and invited reprisal, not only against her, but against our kind in general.  One human attempted to burn the forest in which we reside.  Something had to be done."

Ysa dipped her head, as if sad about what she was going to say.  "I bear some responsibility for what happened here.  We punished Feather by attaching her powers to a powerful magic item, a crown, made of magic thorns, from the wood where we live.  We thought it would teach her discipline.  But we underestimated human greed.  A hedge witch who had previously had good relations with us and was one of the only humans we showed ourselves to stole the crown and used it for her own gain.  Under her selfish whim, Feather’s anger grew more concentrated, her powers stronger, her own desires even darker and more twisted.  We were in the process of executing a plan to steal the crown back, no mean feat since this witch knew our strengths and weaknesses, when a greedy noble visited her to have her fortune told.  The Marquesa knew enough of the ways of magic to understand the power in the crown, so she returned at night, cast a spell on the witch to keep her sleeping, bound her magically, and stole the crown from her.  If the fortuneteller had used Feather’s powers mainly for financial gain and sexual pleasure, the Marquesa added to that agenda the social ambitions of an aristocrat.  She used the powers to punish any who stood in her way, for her own pleasure, and more rarely, to reward those who remained loyal to her."

She turned to Feather.  "My child, what I have to say is difficult.  I take some responsibility for binding you to that crown in the first place, but what is most important, is that, though the crown goaded you into fulfilling the will of its owner, you still had free will to exercise.  The things you did...I know it hurt not to do them, but you weren't forced.  Your will grew to be cruel like your mistress.  Because of this, you can't return to the fairy world."

Feather's eyes looked panicked.  Ysa allowed her to speak.  "You can't!  Where will I go?"

"You seem to enjoy life among the humans.  You will live among them...as one of them."  Ysa sprinkled dust on Feather, then made a gesture with her wand.  Feather suddenly dropped to the floor, where she began to grow.  She grew to full human size, and her wings shrank until they were nonexistent.  "What have you done to me!?!" she shrieked, trying to stand on wobbly, untrained human legs without the balance of her wings.

"You will remain human for a period of five years.  In that time, you will eat, drink, and...do all things as a human.  In order to remind you of the life you lost, once a day, you will be able to change into a fairy for five minutes.  Beware that your clothing won't grow or shrink with you. As a dairy, you will still be able to make fairy dust, but you won't be able to in human form. Of course, your human form can still use it. I can't take ALL of your magic powers away, you'll have to learn which ones you still have."

"Five minutes!  Five years?"

"Yes, you will also age as humans do.  If, after five years, you have proven yourself as gentle and mature as a good fairy, we will discuss the intro of your reintroduction to fairy society.  But if you are found to be half or a quarter as vile as you are now, you will lose the ability to change for five minutes a day.  This is my verdict as Queen, and also the counsel of my advisors."

"Fuschia!  That bitch!" Feather screamed, surprised at the richness and volume of her human voice.  

"No one mentioned Fuschia, Feather.  Your feud with her is part of the reason we are having this conversation.  Let it go.  I will return to the fairy world...I leave you with your new friends."

And with that, the fairy queen turned into a bright light again, and disappeared from the room.

To her surprise, her human "friends" weren't laughing when they found out that Feather had had a hand in their humiliations.  She soon found herself in another set of stocks, next to the two women she had just punished.  Nobles took turns spanking her backside and many of them huddled in front of her to smudge floor-cake over her protesting features.  Of course, the Marquesa was also the object of their attentions, although Madam Zara was mercifully forgotten, then vendetta against her being mainly Feather's and not that of the adventurers or attendees.  After a while, she was released and replaced with Marisol, the Marquesa's chief bodyguard, who received a similar treatment.

This carried on, for what must have been 45 minutes.  In that time, the Marquesa's maids and servants kept out of sight the best they could.  Most of them never ventured into the main ballroom again the rest of the night.  Many of them had been soundly beaten by the party of adventurers.  Only Nessa stayed in the main ballroom for the whole time, enjoying doling out spankings to the women who had intimidated her as a lowly servant for so long.

Everyone stopped what they were doing.  A bell was ringing.  Huge clanging sounds were heard as metal gears engaged, and large locks slide open.  It was dawn, the party was officially over, and the doors were open.

The nobles made a point to return to their carriages as soon as possible.  After what had happened, the mysterious Madama Zara made herself scarce quickly.  Chorinna sent Nessa to bring the Enferian guard.  It would take some time, as they were far from the city, but she offered Nessa her fastest horse.

"That's not how I imagined this happening, I apologize for the hardship," Chorinna said to all of the adventurers, although her eyes seemed poignantly focused on Annie.  "Please feel free to visit my castle to collect on the reward...and if a few of you wouldn't mind, can you stay with me while I wait for the guards to come take care of these three?"

Most of the adventurers took the carriage they arrived in back to the bodice.  Niniane, Jessica, and Irlana stayed in case the prisoners tried anything funny.

In time, the guards came, took the Marquesa, the newly-human Feather Firebrand, and Marisol into custody.  The Duchess and the adventurers returned home.  In the days to come, several of the adventurers would visit Chorinna's castle to collect on their reward.

The tyranny of the Marquesa over Enferia's social scene ended, as did her annual party.  Locked in a windowless cell with Feather and Marisol, awaiting trial, the Marquesa was spitting a string of expletives.  "@#$#%% duchess!  @##$^^ elf!  @#@$@ adventurers.  I'll get them...I'll get them all.  I swear it by my infernal pact."

--fin--

In the upcoming days, Feather Firebrand, the Marquesa, and maybe Marisol will be new characters. The Duchess Chorinna will be a new sponsor. Now you can see why I wanted to finish this. The fairy had to become human to be a bit more accountable.